of fights and hooliganism at sporting events, but focuses instead on the sense of communion that watching athletics can produce—for example, through acts of cheering, chanting, or even doing "the Wave." Though he asks how modern media technology has changed the viewing habits of sports fans, his focus is on the sensation of presence—even if that presence is produced through the illusion of the screen. The energy of the crowd, in combination with the other aesthetic and emotional responses evoked by watching athletic aptitude, leads to the range of "fascinations" Gumbrecht incorporates into his method for describing and expressing appreciation for sport. Other writing In addition to his work on presence, materiality, and hermeneutics in the humanities, Gumbrecht's main areas of research, teaching, and publishing include: European literature of the Middle Ages and of the late 18th and 19th centuries; the history and critique of Western metaphysics; history and pragmatics of communication media; and, the epistemology of everyday culture. Gumbrecht's publications are extensive and in many languages. He wrote primarily in German during his early career, and in English after moving to the United States in 1989. He also writes in Spanish and Portuguese, and his works are regularly translated into French, Hungarian, Korean, Russian, and several other languages. Affiliations and responsibilities In addition to teaching at Stanford, Gumbrecht is affiliated with other universities and is a visiting professor or associate professor at institutions worldwide. He is an instructor and board member at the School of Criticism and Theory at Cornell University, a Fellow at the Carl Friedrich von Siemens Foundation in Munich and at the Institute for Advanced Study in Berlin, and a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He was also associate professor of Comparative Literature at the University of Montréal, Professeur Attaché at Collège de France, and an Affiliate Professor at the School for Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences in Paris. In addition to his academic work, Gumbrecht regularly contributes commentaries on contemporary culture to journals and newspapers in English, German, Portuguese, and Spanish, notably the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Neue Zürcher Zeitung, and Estado de São Paulo. At Stanford, Gumbrecht convenes the Philosophical Reading Group along with Italian Literature professor Robert Harrison. The professors initiated the group in 1989 to provide students and faculty with an opportunity to engage in philosophical close reading and analytical discussion on a weekly basis. Over an academic