Status Updates From The Crisis of Criticism

Dance This Diss Around by Homi Bhabha : He argues that “victim art” is not about the state of victimhood, but rather, survival. He then argues that expressing the human impulse to survive through art is essential for a culture’s health. Interesting! But he lost me in some places

Confronting Head-on the Face of the Afflicted by Joyce Carol Oates : She makes a simple but effective argument about the general cultural failings of Croce’s essay without even touching the political implications.

Discussing the Undiscussible by Arlene Croce - what a bitch. One of the arguments she’s making in this essay is that political art is killing criticism and that criticism is in crisis because of “victim art”. I can only assume all of the following essays will respond to this one in some way.

I picked up this book because bell hooks is included even after publicly criticizing the editor for excluding black voices in his previous anthologies. I’ve read his introduction and am curious to see how he’s put these various critics in conversation with each other.