I.B.Tauris is delighted to announce the reissue in paperback in three volumes of the definitive, most comprehensive edition, in the finest translations and fully annotated, of the writings of this great filmmaker, theorist and teacher of film - and one of the most original aesthetic thinkers of the twentieth century. Now in paperback for the first time, Volume 1 documents from the definitive Russian texts the complex course of Sergei Eisenstein's writings during the revolutionary years in the Soviet Union. It presents Eisenstein the innovative aesthetic thinker, socialist artist and humourist, passionately engaged in the debates over the art forms of the future. Importantly, this was also the period of Eisenstein's great silent masterpieces, 'The Strike', 'The Battleship Potemkin', 'October' and 'The General Line', and of his controversial sojourns in Hollywood and Mexico.
'Filmosophy' is a manifesto for a radically philosophical way of understanding cinema. The book coalesces 20th century ideas of film as thought into a practical theory of 'film-thinking', arguing that film style conveys poetic ideas through a constant dramatic 'intent' about the characters, spaces, and events of film.
Theodore Dreiser's dissection of the American dream, An American Tragedy, was hailed as the greatest novel of its generation. Now a classic of American literature, the story is one to which Hollywood has repeatedly returned.Hollywood's obsession with this tale of American greed, justice, religion and sexual hypocrisy stretches across the history of cinema. Some of cinema's greatest directors - Sergei Eisenstein, Josef von Sternberg and George Stevens - have attempted to bring this classic story to the screen. Subsequently, both Jean-Luc Godard and Woody Allen have returned to the story and to these earlier adaptations.Hollywood's American Tragedies is the first detailed study of this extraordinary sequence of adaptations. What it reveals is a history of Hollywood - from its politics to its cinematography - and, much deeper, of American culture and the difficulty of telling an American tragedy in the land of the American dream.
I.B.Tauris is delighted to announce the reissue in paperback in three volumes of the definitive, most comprehensive edition, in the finest translations and fully annotated, of the writings of this great filmmaker, theorist and teacher of film - and one of the most original aesthetic thinkers of the twentieth century. Volume 3 follows on from the 1922-34 writings of Volume 1 and parallels Volume 2's essays on the theory of montage. In the period covered by this volume, Eisenstein's film-making ran into the difficulties generated by the Soviet authorities' increasingly restrictive definition of Socialist Realism, by the show trials and the purges, the Second World War, and the post-war proclamation of rigid cultural orthodoxy by Stalin's henchman, Zhdanov. Here we experience Eisenstein's reaction to this hostile environment, as filmmaker, theorist and teacher, from his public obeisance over 'Bezhin Meadow' to his private defiance with 'Ivan the Terrible'.
Brings together some of the most prominent and influential contemporary interpreters of Adorno's work in a wide-ranging collection of essays that explores Adorno's relation to themes and problems in postmodern thought.
This book provides an overview of the growing field of screenwriting research and is essential reading for both those new to the field and established screenwriting scholars. It covers topics and concepts central to the study of screenwriting and the screenplay in relation to film, television, web series, animation, games and other interactive media, and includes a range of approaches, from theoretical perspectives to in-depth case studies. 44 scholars from around the globe demonstrate the range and depths of this new and expanding area of study. As the chapters of this Handbook demonstrate, shifting the focus from the finished film to the process of screenwriting and the text of the screenplay facilitates valuable new insights. This Handbook is the first of its kind, an indispensable compendium for both academics and practitioners.
This is precisely the book I have been looking out for ever since working at my Das Drama. Theorie und Analyse (1977; The Theory and Analysis of Drama, 1988), and discovering from a few specimens the incisive usefulness and importance of Prague School theatre semiotics. There is everything one could possibly wish for in this monumental Theatre Theory Reader: Prague School Writings: all the by now canonical texts and many others presented for the first time in English, arranged in a systematic order which fully renders the sense of the scope and development of Czech theatre semiotics, and all of them in highly competent translations aware of the terminological complexities at stake and supported by helpful annotations. With such a rich harvest garnered, this anthology of Prague School Writings is bound to become nationally as well as internationally a prime work of reference and give to them a second lease of life in the 21st century. Manfred Pfister *** Modern theatre theory, no matter what its orientation, can trace its roots back to the structuralist and semiotic explorations of the Prague School in the early twentieth century. This comprehensive and informed overview is therefore most welcome in understanding the course and development of that theoretical tradition. It is not, however, of purely historical interest, important as that is. Whether they use the terminology of the Prague School or evoke the names of its contributors, analysts of theatre and performance today still find the strategies and articulations of those pioneers of ongoing relevance. This collection thus provides an important double service, providing contemporary theatre scholars with a clearer idea of where they have come from and an inspiration for where they may be going. Marvin Carlson *** I think it is a great idea not to group the articles according to the different authors but following a systematic that covers as many aspects of theatre as possible. This way, it becomes quite clear that the theories of the so-called Prague or Czech structuralists and semioticians were able to apply their theories when discussing most diverging questions related to theatre. The choice of texts is excellent. It makes more than clear that these theories are not outdated, do not only have historical value and are interesting with regard to the history of ideas only. Rather, it becomes evident that they are highly relevant in the context of discussions led today. Erika Fischer-Lichte *** The Prague School and the Czech structuralism have had a considerable impact on the development of semiotic studies and theatre studies at large in the 1960s and 70s. But this has been quickly forgotten and with the rise of poststructuralism and deconstruction in the 80s and 90s, they were not only neglected, but also unjustly disregarded or even forgotten. This is why the Theatre Theory Reader: Prague School Writings is a very welcome book which comes at the right moment, when postmodernism, poststructuralism and postdramatic theatre seem to have lost their momentum, as if the requirements of today’s quest for a new way of living and of making business had become so strong that we must go back to the basics. Structuralism and a critique of ideology are now back, at least as a sign to not give up thinking and theorizing in a world which has become self-centred and mad. The afterword by Pavel Drábek, Martin Bernátek, Andrea Jochmanová and Eva Šlaisová is a sort of book within the book, as it neatly puts in perspective all the important names and theories of the Prague School. It does this in a very user-friendly manner, where complex theories are summarized in a clear, yet precise, introduction. This makes the reading of the different chapters easier and immediately connected to our contemporary way of thinking. Patrice Pavis
The pioneering film director and theorist Sergei Eisenstein is known for the unequalled impact his films have had on the development of cinema. Less is known about his remarkable and extensive writings, which present a continent of ideas about film. Robert Robertson presents a lucid and engaging introduction to a key area of Eisenstein's thought: his ideas about the audiovisual in cinema, which are more pertinent today than ever before. With the advent of digital technology, music and sound now act as independent variables combined with the visual medium to produce a truly audiovisual result. Eisenstein explored in his writings this complex, exciting subject with more depth and originality than any other practitioner, and this is an accessible and original exploration of his ideas. Winner of the Kraszna Krausz Foundations' And/Or Award for Best Moving Image Book of 2009, "Eisenstein on the Audiovisual" is essential reading for students and practitioners of the audiovisual in cinema and related audiovisual forms, including theatre, opera, dance and multimedia.
