The ‘presentist condition’ of history: ‘no floor to stand on’

Image and description from Chris Lorenz's essay "Unstuck in time. Or: the sudden presence of the past". In: TILMANS, Karin, VAN VREE, Frank & WINTER, Jay (Eds.). Performing the Past. Memory, History, and Identity in Modern Europe. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, 2010.

According to the "List of Illustrations": "Image widely circulating via the Internet as ‘bathroom painted floor’; neither the original nor its maker can be tracked down".

Books on "Presence"

The topic of the "presence" of the past, alongside with others such as the historical experience, the ethical relationship between present and past, the human-animal relation, etc., has gained increased attention in the last decade by historical theorists, providing a most welcome supplement to the previous discussions focused on the production of meaning. 

Here is a short bibliography on the topic, which also includes some more empirical-oriented studies about the twentieth-century history that deal with "persistent pasts". Suggestions are welcome!

GHOSH, Ranjan & KLEINBERG, Ethan (Eds.). Presence: Philosophy, History, and Cultural Theory for the Twenty-First Century. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2013.

GUMBRECHT, Hans Ulrich. After 1945: Latency as Origin of the Present. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2013.

ANKERSMIT, Frank. Presence. In: Meaning, Truth, and Reference in Historical Representation. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2012.

MUNSLOW, Alun. The Presence of the Past. In: A History of History. London and New York: Routledge, 2012.

FROEYMAN, Anton. Frank Ankersmit and Eelco Runia: the presence and the otherness of the past. Rethinking History, Volume 16, Issue 3, 2012, pp. 393-415.

BEVERNAGE, Berber. History, Memory, and State-Sponsored Violence: Time and Justice. London: Routledge, 2011.

LORENZ, Chris. Unstuck in Time. Or: the sudden presence of the past. In: TILMANS, Karin, VREE, Frank Van & WINTER Jay (Eds.). Performing the Past: Memory, History and Identity in Modern Europe. Amsterdan: Amsterdan University Press, 2010, pp. 67-102.

PIETTE, Albert. L’acte d’exister : Une phenomenographie de la presence. Socrate Promarex, 2009.

BEVERNAGE, Berber. Time, Presence, and Historical Injustice. History and Theory, vol. 47, n. 2, 2008, pp. 149–167.

RUNIA, Eelco & BROUWER, Elizabeth (Eds.). History and Theory. Forum: On Presence. October 2006, pp. 305-375.

RUNIA, Eelco. Presence. History and Theory, v. 45, n. 1, February 2006, pp 1-29.

GUMBRECHT, Hans Ulrich. Production of Presence: What meaning cannot convey. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2004.

HUYSSEN, Andreas. Present Pasts: Urban Palimpsests and the Politics of Memory. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2003.

NANCY, Jean-Luc. The Birth to Presence. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1993.

STEINER, George. Real Presences. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1989.

Presence: Philosophy, History, and Cultural Theory for the Twenty-First Century, edited by Ranjan Ghosh and Ethan Kleinberg

Presence: Philosophy, History,
and Cultural Theory for
the Twenty-First Century

Book description (from Amazon.com):

The philosophy of “presence” seeks to challenge current understandings of meaning and understanding. One can trace its origins back to Vico, Dilthey, and Heidegger, though its more immediate exponents include Jean-Luc Nancy, Hans Ulrich Gumbrecht, and such contemporary philosophers of history as Frank Ankersmit and Eelco Runia. The theoretical paradigm of presence conveys how the past is literally with us in the present in significant and material ways: Things we cannot touch nonetheless touch us. This makes presence a post-linguistic or post-discursive theory that challenges current understandings of “meaning” and “interpretation.” Presence provides an overview of the concept and surveys both its weaknesses and its possible uses.

In this book, Ethan Kleinberg and Ranjan Ghosh bring together an interdisciplinary group of contributors to explore the possibilities and limitations of presence from a variety of perspectives—history, sociology, literature, cultural theory, media studies, photography, memory, and political theory. The book features critical engagements with the presence paradigm within intellectual history, literary criticism, and the philosophy of history. In three original case studies, presence illuminates the relationships among photography, the past, memory, and the Other. What these diverse but overlapping essays have in common is a shared commitment to investigate the attempt to reconnect meaning with something “real” and to push the paradigm of presence beyond its current uses. The volume is thus an important intervention in the most fundamental debates within the humanities today.

Contributors: Bill Ashcroft, University of New South Wales; Mark Bevir, University of California, Berkeley; Susan A. Crane, University of Arizona; Ranjan Ghosh, University of North Bengal; Suman Gupta, Open University Ethan Kleinberg, Wesleyan University; John Michael, University of Rochester; Vincent P. Pecora, University of Utah; Roger I. Simon.

Click here to buy Presence: Philosophy, History, and Cultural Theory for the Twenty-First Century.