If the past is indeed a foreign country, then how can we make sense of its richness and difference, without approaching it on our terms alone? 'Pre-histories and afterlives' explores methods that have emerged in recent work by Terence Cave, to offer new ways of shaping the stories we tell of the past and the analyses we offer. In this volume, a dialogue emerges with these two new critical methods, exploring their uses in a range of contexts, disciplines, languages and periods. The contributors are Terence Cave, Marian Hobson, Anna Holland, Neil Kenny, Mary McKinley, Richard Scholar, Kate E. Tunstall, and Wes Williams.