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Bradley J. Nelson's The Persistence of Presence investigates the connection between baroque emblems in their numerous cultural and social contexts and transformations in early modern Spanish literature. The theoretical foundation of Nelson's study is the concept of presence. The subject of presence was initially conceptualized in Heidegger's reflections on the ''metaphysics of presence,'' which in turn prompted Derrida's critical assessment of the term. In the introduction, Nelson states that by presence he refers to ''the way in which certain encounters or events compel us to transcend our mundane existence and to contemplate what appears to be a higher, more universal-more real-experience of meaning and being'' (3, his emphasis). However, as the discussion unfolds, it becomes apparent that Nelson's understanding of the term in the context of emblematics mainly relies on the work of Hans Ulrich Gumbrecht, whose theory of presence emphasizes the material, tangible, and spatial features of the relationship between the world and its objects including the impact of objects on human bodies (Production of Presence [2004], xiii). Applying Gumbrecht's theory, Nelson uses two key concepts for the