W. J. T. Mitchell has had a profound influence in two distinct areas of twentieth-century American critical thought. As editor of the journal Critical Inquiry, Mitchell has done much to enable the development of theory in American cultural criticism. At the same time, as the single most persistent literary scholar to comment on the emerging field of study identified with "visual culture," Mitchell has consistently played the skeptic's role, conservatively championing the irreducible power of images, and remaining ever wary of the potential of academic cultural theory to explain images with words. This resistance to system building can be seen as a direct result of Mitchell's career-long struggle with his literary-critical "muse"--the poet and artist William Blake-- whose theories and art defy reduction. Yet, whether one considers Mitchell's influence on American cultural theory in terms of his role as editor or theoretician, his sometimes eccentric warnings against...