How does film engage the imagination? By the brilliance of the film-makers' imagination, yes, but also by making the viewer strive to connect images, and to respond to all the film's elements: acting, framing, lighting, music and so on, to what's shown and to what's implied. All this is illustrated with a huge range of examples from films new and old. Part One covers the way the cinema has delved deep into history, into contemporary events, and into tales of the subconscious – indeed the w...

An illuminating study of Vladimir Nabokov's controversial novel with special attention to its film versions. From its first publication in 1955 Nabokov's Lolita has been denounced as immoral filth, hailed as a moral masterpiece, and both praised and damned for stylistic excess. In this fresh appraisal John Lennard provides convenient overviews of Nabokov's life and of the novel (including both Kubrick's and Lyne's film-adaptations), before considering Lolita as pornography, as lepidoptery,...

Hilarious and trenchant, Reliable Essays collects the most memorable works of criticism and travel writing from well-loved author and broadcaster, Clive James. With an introduction by Julian Barnes.'[An] intellectual as well as a joker, a wise man as well as a wit' – ObserverWhether discussing arts, politics or culture, Clive James opens up new avenues for thought whilst never being less than wonderfully entertaining. From...

A startling and at times unsettlingly prescient collection of J.G. Ballard’s greatest interviews.J.G. Ballard was a literary giant. Best known for his controversial bestseller ‘Crash’ and the memoir ‘Empire of the Sun’, he was a writer of unique talent – always surprising, frequently prescient.Such acuity was not exclusive to his novels and, as this book reminds us, Ballard’s restive intelligence sharpened itself in dialogue. He entertained many with insights into the world...

Almost everything you need to know in one essential guideSeeing a film is only half the fun. The real joy comes from arguing about it afterwards in the pub or on the journey home. But have you ever felt you needed to know a little more?This book offers a concise introduction to the appreciation and study of film. This second edition begins with an examination of early film theory before analysing how films are put together - framing, performance, setting, costume and editin...

'Damn, all my cheating secrets revealed. In book form' Stephen FryWhich philosopher had the maddest hairstyle? Which novelist drank 50 cups of black coffee every day? What on earth did Simone de Beauvoir see in Jean-Paul Sartre?How to Sound Cultured offers a wry and yet profoundly useful look inside the mirrored palaces of high culture. Covering such inscrutable characters as Heidegger, Montaigne, Kahlo and Lévi-Strauss (apparently not just a designer of jean...

For Alain Badiou, films think, and it is the task of the philosopher to transcribe that thinking. What is the subject to which the film gives expressive form? This is the question that lies at the heart of Badiou’s account of cinema.He contends that cinema is an art form that bears witness to the Other and renders human presence visible, thus testifying to the universal value of human existence and human freedom. Through the experience of viewing, the movement of thought that const...

Straight To Hell examines ten case histories of suicide in the 20th century. These acts of self-annihilation, committed by artists, writers, and philosophers, stand as the final testaments of individuals whose vision would ultimately drive them to oblivion. Contributors including cultural historian Stephen Barber, journalist Jack Sargeant and film-maker Peter Whitehead look back in detail on the enigmatic, often bizarre suicides of: Yukio Mishima, Mark Rothko, Harry Crosby, Guy Debord, Pier...

For more than thirty years, David Cronenberg has made independent films such as Scanners and A History of Violence which aim to disturb, surprise, and challenge audiences. He has also repeatedly drawn on literary fiction for inspiration, adapting themes from authors like William Burroughs, J. G. Ballard, and Patrick McGrath for the big screen; David Cronenberg: Author or Filmmaker? is the first book to explore how underground and mainstream fiction have influence...

A classic on the aesthetics of filmmaking from the pioneering Soviet director who made Battleship Potemkin.Though he completed only a half-dozen films, Sergei Eisenstein remains one of the great names in filmmaking, and is also renowned for his theory and analysis of the medium. Film Form collects twelve essays, written between 1928 and 1945, that demonstrate key points in the development of Eisenstein's film theory and in particular his analysis ...

Writing A Novel is not a set of rules and regulations. It is an atlas, a guide to finding your own way over the treacherous passes of your first novel.Pulling together his years of experience as a novelist and a teacher, Richard Skinner covers the basics of writing great fiction - narrators, characters, settings - with charm and rigour. But more than that, he argues that the journey towards a final manuscript is as important as the finished article itself.His appro...

In Imaging Reality: The Faber Book of Documentary, Oscar-winning documentary-maker Kevin Macdonald ( One Day in September, Touching the Void) and leading broadcaster/historian Mark Cousins ( The Story of Film) offer an expanded, revised edition of their 'definitive, inspirational' ( Independent) compendium on the roots and history of the documentary film.Imagining Reality takes the reader on a tour of the evolution of documentar...