I WOULD LIKE to express my gratitude to the following people for advice and criticism: Perry Anderson, Jan Assmann, Joachim Fest, Fred Flemming, Thomas Hauschild, Eckhard Heftrich, Nikolaus Heidelbach, Hanjo Kesting, Nele and Paul Maar, Christian Milz, Martin Mosebach, Thomas Poiss, Wolfgang Rihm and Hans Wollschläger. My thanks to Wolf Lepenies and the Berliner Wissenschaftskolleg, where the theses of this book were delivered for the first time, for their encouraging reception.