Introduction

I am also anxious because, although shy, I have convinced myself that I will have to make contact with Baudrillard, introduce myself and attempt to ask intelligent sounding questions. I have seen Baudrillard lecture before and his physical appearance and demeanour surprised me greatly. Because he was a theorist seemingly obsessed with the power of appearances, of illusions and of seduction, I had expected a seductive, rakish man, imagining Baudrillard to look something like Antoine de Caunes, TV presenter of Eurotrash. Yet, as has been recorded elsewhere (Beard and McClellan, 1989: 61-2; Gane, 2000: 1), Baudrillard in the flesh was not this at all. He looked more like a retired trade union

boss: dour and serious, tough-looking, almost pugilistic or soldierly. I remembered thinking that Baudrillard must never have been a handsome man, nor a striking one.