Jean Baudrillard (1929–2007) was one of the strongest and most original diagnosticians of the postmodern era. Philosopher and cultural theorist, he was also a photographer and, if these passages from his late Cool Memories sequence are any evidence, a poet.

Chris Turner has translated more than sixty books from French and German, including fourteen by Jean Baudrillard. His recent work includes translations of Pascal Quignard’s Sex and Terror and Roving Shadows (winner of the Prix Goncourt in 2002). He is a member of the editorial advisory board of the academic journal Cultural Politics.