This wide-ranging collection of essays on the cultural history of modern Europe is unified by a concern with how the relation between self and society finds expression in cultural production. The distinguished contributors trace the interaction of socio-political conditions with ideas of self and society, describe the ways in which culture makers respond to political and religious issues by creating new forms of art, explore notions of the self created in historical crises, and reveal how certain constructions of history and time are related to narrative structure and performance.