The idea of the project crosses generic, disciplinary and cultural frontiers. At a time when writers and artists are increasingly describing their practices as projects , remarkably little critical attention has been paid to the actual idea of the project . This collection of essays responds to an urgent need by suggesting a framework for evaluating the notion of the project in the light of various modernist and postmodernist cultural practices, drawn mainly but not exclusively from the French-speaking domain. The overview offered by this volume promises to makes an original and thought-provoking contribution to contemporary literary, artistic and cultural criticism.