In this volume, Kathy Pitt brings together Roy Bhaskar's (2002) theory of meta-reality and Norman Fairclough's (2003) theory and methodology of critical discourse analysis to explore the self and human actions. In so doing, the author crosses academic boundaries with the aim of achieving a more nuanced understanding of the notion of self. According to Pitt, while a number of postmodern theories and approaches—most notably the social constructionist approach—investigate the notion of self within society, Bhaskar's conceptualization of layered consciousness goes beyond viewing the self as socially constructed from “pre-existing ways of talking and thinking” (26). Namely, Pitt follows Bhaskar's idea that, although the sense of self is a product of both physical and social interactions, underlying this level of consciousness is a deeper singular level of consciousness, or “the ground state,” which is the source of human action and power. Furthermore, it is this uniqueness of the ground state that allows people to transcend their own bodies and connect with others.

To understand how, in the world of the perpetual prefabricated words and images, people can resist social forces and challenge the known and the predictable in their lives, and to understand the role of discourse in these challenges, Pitt examines the responses and reflections of five British visual artists. Because visual artists' actions and practices are often in conflict with the dominant social norms and discourses, the transcribed ten meetings with the artists serve as the primary data for the project. In addition, the author investigates how these artists “translate” their nonlinguistic creative experiences into words to gain a better understanding of how emotions and the “unthought” are linked to actions and thus can provide a better understanding of self. For Pitt, this paradox of using language to describe the dimensions of self that go beyond thought and language is both the acknowledgement of the power of language and an exciting challenge for further exploration of what it means to be human. Pitt also investigates how artists negotiate their memberships in different social groups—fellow artists, families, and audiences—and how they use language in this negotiation of their roles, spaces, and time-scales. She shows how language used to describe art, especially as it is used by the mass media, can, instead of bringing artists and public together, increase the barrier between them by framing art and artists as different.

Finally, Pitt shows how her understanding of self as an interdependent agent in the network of relations and actions is similar to that of the contemporary model of the “ecological self” (self that is interconnected with all living beings), but different from the “market” model in which self is viewed as a separate individual in competition with others for accomplishments and resources. Therefore, Pitt views self realization as intrinsically interconnected with others' fulfillment through the interlinking consciousness. Researchers interested in the interdisciplinary exploration of the notion of self will find reading this book stimulating.