A theoretical work, a mediation on the nature of representation - the Vorstellung/Darstellung distinction - in relation to theoretical practices of Hegelianism, psychoanalysis (especially Lacan), and Marxism. Explores the works of Kant, Lacan, Hegel, Althusser, Marx, Jameson, and Zizek.

This subaltern is the postmodern sublime object continuously effaced from view - a central part of the social order paradoxically relegated to the extreme periphery. Hartley contends that in the United States the subaltern is exemplified by the Chicano, an American who can never be American enough. By looking at the history of the term "representation" in philosophical discourse, Hartley provides a deep understanding of the problems that hinge on representations' failures.