The incomprehensible nature of the sublime emerges through a cast of personalities including Eartha Kitt, Geordi LaForge, Immanuel Kant, W. E. B. Du Bois, Malcolm X and the book's central character, Lacy Neva Igga, an American Studies professor who lives as a minstrel character trapped inside the head of a nameless woman. Kocher uses what T. S. Eliot called the "third voice" of lyric drama as a means for characters to address and interrogate literary culture. Third Voice asserts lyric beyond personal expression and drama beyond the stage, using the spectacle of minstrelsy as a deformation of mastery in an audaciously conceptual yet visceral performance.--Provided by publisher.