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William Troy (1903-1961) was a highly regarded literary critic
during the 1930s and 1940s. Among his contemporaries, he ranked
with Edmund Wilson, Kenneth Burke, and F. O. Matthiessen. Indeed,
in the preface to the posthumous, 1968 publication of his Selected
Essays, which won a National Book Award, Allen Tate placed Troy
among the handful of the best critics of this century. Troys
criticism was informed by an intelligence so balanced that, where
many theoreticians took up positions in logical traps, he easily
avoided them. At the very moment when scholars and critics were
either treating literature like polemics or investigating ideas as
if belles-lettres were a sub-category of history or philosophy,
Troy acknowledged both the centrality of literary ideas and their
distinction from ideas in other forms. When confronted with a text,
he analysed it with a firm sense of its inherent meaning and of its
cultural implications, in a style that expresses seriousness of
commitment precisely and clearly. The Bookman presents a selection
of Troys remaining writings on such major literary figures as Henry
James, e. e. cummings, Ernest Hemingway, Edith Wharton, F. Scott
Fitzgerald, T. S. Eliot, Andre Gide, William Faulkner, James Joyce,
Albert Camus, Jean Cocteau, Willa Cather, W. H. Auden, Virginia
Woolf, and Emile Zola. Troy produced a body of work that is
timeless, permanent, and exemplary -- perhaps as much as, if not
more so than, the work of such other critical contemporaries of his
as the Anglo-Americans Yvor Winters, I. A. Richards, William
Empson, George Jean Nathan, and R. P. Blackmur. Published in
conjunction with Film Nation: William Troy on the Cinema, 19331935
(ISBN 978-1-78976-173-3), The Bookman is clear evidence of Troys
role as one of the foremost critics of his age. Inclusion of a
substantive index makes the work an essential and accessible
gateway to a wide range of literary criticism.
This first comprehensive English collection of the interviews of
Jacques Rivette (19282016) documents his career through chronology,
filmography, bibliography, and image stills. A comprehensive
introduction places this work in the wider context of
twentieth-century social change. Rivettes films, like many of the
works of the French New Wave, seem to have avoided the aging
process entirely, remaining as playful, fresh, and quietly
spectacular as the day they were made. Indeed, his body of work may
be the most impressive of the French New Wave. Celine and Julie Go
Boating (1974) has been recognized as possibly the best film to
emerge from the post-New Wave era, even as Paris Belongs to Us
(1961) is one of the best pictures to emerge from the New Wave
itself. Rivette was hardly the most prolific director, however, and
the length of his films has often counted against him. Nonetheless,
his clinical, self-reflexive essays in film form reveal him as a
cinematic purist whose commitment to the celluloid muse hardly
diminished from the heady days of the early 1950s to the end of his
career in 2009. Beyond inspiring the New Wave movement and
continuing to reflect, and reflect on, its central tenets, Rivettes
enduring contribution to the history of film is unquestionably
evident in his sensitive treatment of the histories and destinies
of women, especially through strong roles for actresses. During the
six decades of his career, nonetheless, he struck a subtle balance
not only between female and male characters, but also between
political and personal obsession, between myth and fiction, between
theater and cinema, in films that, in addition to having influenced
such contemporary filmmakers as Claire Denis, Jim Jarmusch, Olivier
Assayas, and David Lynch, continue to redefine the art of cinema
around the world.
Analyzing Film: A Student Casebook is a film textbook containing
fifteen essays about sixteen historically and artistically
significant films made between 1920 and 1990. This casebook is
geographically diverse, with sixteen countries represented:
Germany, Russia, Spain, France, the United States, Denmark, Japan,
India, England, Italy, Sweden, Czechoslovakia, Cuba, Hungary,
Australia, and China. The essays in Analyzing Film are clear and
readable-sophisticated and weighty, yet not overly technical or
jargon-heavy. The book's critical apparatus features credits,
images, and bibliographies for all films discussed, filmographies
for all the directors, a chronology of film theory and criticism, a
glossary of film terms, a guide to film analysis, and a list of
topics for writing and discussion, together with a comprehensive
index.
A Russian Jew who spent most of his life in England and America,
Alexander Bakshy (1885-1949) was a theater critic and literary
translator. He was also an innovative theorist who applied to
theater the discourse of self-reflexive modernism, prizing
anti-illusionist medium-awareness. Indeed, he was something of a
pioneer in the area of "spectatorship" and medium-awareness, going
so far as to argue in favor of the modernist idea of overt
presentationalism on stage as opposed to disingenuous
representationalism. One can see this presentational, or
anti-illusionist, argument at work in a number of pieces in Drama
According to Alexander Bakshy, 1916-1946-an edited collection that
also includes a lengthy contextualizing introduction and a
comprehensive bibliography of this Russian emigre's writings.
Alexander Bakshy's writings deserve to be better known, for his
sound critical-theoretical approach remains relevant to
contemporary aesthetic debate. Like many performance-minded
scholars today, Bakshy had a daredevil willingness to assess the
theater seriously and to encourage the kind of experimentation that
promised to advance the expressiveness of dramatic art. Yet
surprisingly, the full applicability of many of his pioneering
ideas about the drama has yet to be tested-a disheartening state of
affairs that, one hopes, the present volume will help to remedy.
Robert Hatch's critical life spanned five decades. Starting in 1947
and continuing until 1984, he wrote about drama (and film) for The
New Republic, The Nation, Theatre Arts, The Reporter, and Horizon.
Along with John Simon, Robert Brustein, Richard Gilman, and Stanley
Kauffmann, Hatch was one of the most potent, influential authors in
the New York school of twentieth-century American arts criticism.
With style and erudition Open Hatch discusses plays and productions
from the following countries: England, the United States, France,
Russia, Ireland, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Czechoslovakia,
Norway, Greece, and Australia. Among the many works discussed are
The Master Builder, by Henrik Ibsen; The Three Sisters, by Anton
Chekhov; Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, by Tennessee Williams; The
Bourgeois Gentleman, by Molière; The Iceman Cometh, by Eugene
O'Neill; Measure for Measure, by William Shakespeare; The Good
Woman of Setzuan, by Bertolt Brecht; Exiles, by James Joyce;
Endgame, by Samuel Beckett; The Blacks, by Jean Genet; The
Caretaker, by Harold Pinter; Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, by
Edward Albee; Dutchman, by LeRoi Jones; and Leonce and Lena, by
Georg Büchner. Also included in Open Hatch are articles on the
following subjects: the idea of repertory; the Living Theatre; the
Actors' Studio; Broadway and Off-Broadway; melodrama; and scene
design. In addition, one may find in this rich collection
bio-critical pieces on such figures as Tyrone Guthrie, Orson
Welles, and John Arden. The precision, wit, and wisdom of Hatch's
writing chime in Open Hatch, as he reveals his sense of cultural
mission - and love of all the arts - by applying to theater and
drama the same high standards that are applied to fiction, poetry,
art, and music.
This play-analysis textbook contains 50 short essays on
geographically diverse, historically significant dramas -- among
them Major Barbara, Our Town, Hamlet, A Streetcar Named Desire,
Romeo and Juliet, Miss Julie, Electra, Death of a Salesman, The
Balcony, The Cherry Orchard, Mother Courage, The Merry Wives of
Windsor, and Old Times. The essays are supported by a Step-by-Step
Approach to Play Analysis, a Glossary of Dramatic Terms, Study
Guides, Topics for Writing and Discussion, Bibliographical
Resources, and a comprehensive Index. Written for university and
advanced high school students, these critical essays provide
practical models to aid and promote writing and analytical skills.
The author is a close reader committed to a detailed yet objective
examination of the structure, style, imagery, and language of a
play. He is concerned with dramatic analysis that can be of benefit
to directors, designers, and even actors. Analysis of character,
action, dialogue, and setting can thus be translated into concepts
for theatrical production. The three key benefits of ANALYZING
DRAMA are: 1. Most so-called play analysis texts are books about
the methods and techniques of play analysis but contain few (if
any) actual play analyses. The book describes the methods and
techniques of play analysis while at the same time providing
numerous examples of such analysis. 2. The Topics for Writing and
Discussion and Study Guides provide a wide range of set tasks for
students. 3. Readings are not biased by any particular social or
political doctrine. Aimed at students, teachers, educated readers,
and drama aficionados with an interest in world drama in particular
and drama studies in general, as well as at theatregoers with an
interest in the practice of play analysis and criticism.
This play-analysis textbook contains 50 short essays on
geographically diverse, historically significant dramas -- among
them Major Barbara, Our Town, Hamlet, A Streetcar Named Desire,
Romeo and Juliet, Miss Julie, Electra, Death of a Salesman, The
Balcony, The Cherry Orchard, Mother Courage, The Merry Wives of
Windsor, and Old Times. The essays are supported by a Step-by-Step
Approach to Play Analysis, a Glossary of Dramatic Terms, Study
Guides, Topics for Writing and Discussion, Bibliographical
Resources, and a comprehensive Index. Written for university and
advanced high school students, these critical essays provide
practical models to aid and promote writing and analytical skills.
The author is a close reader committed to a detailed yet objective
examination of the structure, style, imagery, and language of a
play. He is concerned with dramatic analysis that can be of benefit
to directors, designers, and even actors. Analysis of character,
action, dialogue, and setting can thus be translated into concepts
for theatrical production. The three key benefits of ANALYZING
DRAMA are: 1. Most so-called play analysis texts are books about
the methods and techniques of play analysis but contain few (if
any) actual play analyses. The book describes the methods and
techniques of play analysis while at the same time providing
numerous examples of such analysis. 2. The Topics for Writing and
Discussion and Study Guides provide a wide range of set tasks for
students. 3. Readings are not biased by any particular social or
political doctrine. Aimed at students, teachers, educated readers,
and drama aficionados with an interest in world drama in particular
and drama studies in general, as well as at theatregoers with an
interest in the practice of play analysis and criticism.
Notable writers on literature and culture who occasionally penned
opinion pieces on the movies prior to World War II include Clifton
Fadiman, Mark Van Doren, Lincoln Kirstein, Edmund Wilson, Louise
Bogan, and Paul Goodman. All of these critics wrote seriously about
things other than the movies. Indeed, the early decades of film
criticism drew many moonlighters who tried their hand at it for a
few years, then moved on to their preferred metier. And such was
the case with William Troy (19031961). Troy, a distinguished
literary critic whose posthumous Selected Essays won a National
Book Award in 1968, was also a much-loved professor at Bennington
College, the New School, and New York University. Troy was the film
critic of The Nation from 1933 to 1935. To that post he brought an
educated, almost professional tone, which he sometimes used for
comic effect. He approached each piece of film criticism as an
occasion for some larger essayistic rumination. Indeed, his feeling
for the carpentry of the short review is superb, as the reader will
detect in his pieces on such important films as Bunuels Lge dor,
Langs M, Duviviers Poil de Carotte, Eisensteins Que Viva Mexico!,
Dreyers The Passion of Joan of Arc, Cocteaus Blood of a Poet,
Pudovkins Mother, Flahertys Man of Aran, Renoirs Madame Bovary, and
Fords The Informer. William Troy was thus one of Americas first
full-time professional film critics, if not the best of the lot. He
deserves some of the attention heretofore reserved for another
important early critic, James Agee, who himself began writing movie
reviews for The Nation in 1942. Published in conjunction with The
Bookman: William Troy on Literature and Criticism, 19271950 (ISBN
978-1-78976-172-6), Film Nation is essential reading for
cinephiles. Inclusion of a substantive index makes the work highly
attractive for classroom adoption in the field of cinema studies.
This film analysis textbook contains sixteen essays on historically
significant, artistically superior films released between 1922 and
1982. Written for college, high school, and university students,
the essays cover central issues raised in todays cinema courses and
provide students with practical models to help them improve their
own writing and analytical skills. This film casebook is
geographically diverse, with eight countries represented: Italy,
France, the United States, Russia, Germany, Great Britain, Japan,
and India. The essays, sophisticated yet not overly technical or
jargon-heavy, are perfect introductions to their respective films
as well as important contributions to the field of film studies in
general. The books critical apparatus features credits, images, and
bibliographies for all films discussed, filmographies for the
directors, a glossary of film terms, the elements of film analysis,
a chronology of film theory and criticism, topics for writing and
discussion, a bibliography of film criticism, and a comprehensive
index. Understanding Film: A Viewers Guide bucks the trend of
current film analysis texts (few of which contain actual film
analyses) by promoting analysis of the chosen films alongside the
methods and techniques of film analysis. It has been prepared as a
primary text for courses in film analysis, and a supplementary text
for courses such as Introduction to Film or Film Appreciation;
History of Film or Survey of Cinema; and Film Directors or Film
Style and Imagination.
This film analysis textbook contains sixteen essays on historically
significant, artistically superior films released between 1922 and
1982. Written for college, high school, and university students,
the essays cover central issues raised in todays cinema courses and
provide students with practical models to help them improve their
own writing and analytical skills. This film casebook is
geographically diverse, with eight countries represented: Italy,
France, the United States, Russia, Germany, Great Britain, Japan,
and India. The essays, sophisticated yet not overly technical or
jargon-heavy, are perfect introductions to their respective films
as well as important contributions to the field of film studies in
general. The books critical apparatus features credits, images, and
bibliographies for all films discussed, filmographies for the
directors, a glossary of film terms, the elements of film analysis,
a chronology of film theory and criticism, topics for writing and
discussion, a bibliography of film criticism, and a comprehensive
index. Understanding Film: A Viewers Guide bucks the trend of
current film analysis texts (few of which contain actual film
analyses) by promoting analysis of the chosen films alongside the
methods and techniques of film analysis. It has been prepared as a
primary text for courses in film analysis, and a supplementary text
for courses such as Introduction to Film or Film Appreciation;
History of Film or Survey of Cinema; and Film Directors or Film
Style and Imagination.
Cahiers du Cinema: Interviews with Film Directors, 19531970 brings
together eighteen directorsOtto Preminger, Roberto Rossellini, John
Ford, Howard Hawks, Max Ophuls, Nicholas Ray, Orson Welles, Fritz
Lang, Alain Resnais, Jean-Luc Godard, Francois Truffaut,
Michelangelo Antonioni, Carl-Theodor Dreyer, Federico Fellini,
Robert Bresson, Joseph L. Mankiewicz, Jean Renoir, and Eric Rohmer
-- who are among the leading auteurs in the history of the cinema.
The interviews were all commissioned for the legendary movie
journal Cahiers du Cinema (the oldest such French-language magazine
in continuous publication), the first critical enterprise to treat
films, particularly Hollywood films, as a serious art form.
Co-founded in 1951 by Andre Bazin, Jacques Doniol-Valcroze, and
Joseph-Marie Lo Duca, Cahiers was edited, after 1957, by Rohmer
himself, including among its writers (and interviewers) Jacques
Rivette, Godard, Claude Chabrol, and Truffaut -- all of whom went
on to become highly influential filmmakers. Conducted in Cahiers
famously in-depth, critical and engaged style, the interviews in
this volume catch each director at a crucial juncture in his
development as an artist, and stand as a historical record of the
dominance of the Euro-American tradition in cinematic art. This is
the first such collection of its kind in English, edited with a
contextualizing introduction, critical biographies, career
filmographies, and a comprehensive index by the American scholar
James R. Russo.
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