Preface
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Abbreviations in Citations
Chapter One: Baudelaire the Moralist
Chapter Two: Nietzsche’s Problem of Socrates, or the Abyss of Absurdity
Chapter Three: Three Experiences of the Abyss: Fondane, Benjamin, Sartre
Chapter Four: “Le Gouffre” from Pascal to Baudelaire
Chapter Five: Geometric versus Poetic Method, or Baudelaire versus Descartes
Chapter Six: Fondane and Sartre Listen to the Objections of the Abyss
Chapter Seven: Cultural Nihilism: The Transvaluation of Experience
Chapter Eight: Of Turtles, Dogs, and Dandies: Metaphors for Splenetic, Poetic Trauma
Chapter Nine: Existential Failure: From Kierkegaard to Baudelaire
Chapter Ten: Restoring Memory to Experience: From Baudelaire to Bergson
Chapter Eleven: Repetition and Recurrence: The Meaning of a Moment
Chapter Twelve: Materialities of Urban Nihilism in Baudelaire’s Paris
Chapter Thirteen: Ennui: The Religious Experience of Modernity
Conclusion
Bibliography
About the Author