Mieke Bal, A Mieke Bal Reader, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2006, 496 pp., ill. b. & w.
In this collection of essays, Mieke Bal asserts that the goal of theory is not to create a new set of solutions for an old and tired set of academic problems; rather, the importance of cultural analysis lies precisely in its ability to create new concepts that engender critical approaches to theory, art and the inescapable politics that condition their production.
From her preface to the concluding essay, "Meanwhile," Bal demonstrates the importance of remaining "in-between," of engaging with theory and art at their limits, which beckon for disciplinary transgressions to ...