The Philosophy of Film Noir

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Publisher : University Press of Kentucky
ISBN 13 : 0813171709
Total Pages : 265 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (131 download)

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Book Synopsis The Philosophy of Film Noir by : Mark T. Conard

Download or read book The Philosophy of Film Noir written by Mark T. Conard and published by University Press of Kentucky. This book was released on 2005-01-27 with total page 265 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A drifter with no name and no past, driven purely by desire, is convinced by a beautiful woman to murder her husband. A hard-drinking detective down on his luck becomes involved with a gang of criminals in pursuit of a priceless artifact. The stories are at once romantic, pessimistic, filled with anxiety and a sense of alienation, and they define the essence of film noir. Noir emerged as a prominent American film genre in the early 1940s, distinguishable by its use of unusual lighting, sinister plots, mysterious characters, and dark themes. From The Maltese Falcon (1941) to Touch of Evil (1958), films from this classic period reflect an atmosphere of corruption and social decay that attracted such accomplished directors as John Huston, Alfred Hitchcock, Billy Wilder, and Orson Welles. The Philosophy of Film Noir is the first volume to focus exclusively on the philosophical underpinnings of these iconic films. Drawing on the work of diverse thinkers, from the French existentialist Albert Camus to the Frankurt school theorists Max Horkheimer and Theodor Adorno, the volume connects film noir to the philosophical questions of a modern, often nihilistic, world. Opening with an examination of what constitutes noir cinema, the book interprets the philosophical elements consistently present in the films—themes such as moral ambiguity, reason versus passion, and pessimism. The contributors to the volume also argue that the essence and elements of noir have fundamentally influenced movies outside of the traditional noir period. Neo-noir films such as Pulp Fiction (1994), Fight Club (1999), and Memento (2000) have reintroduced the genre to a contemporary audience. As they assess the concepts present in individual films, the contributors also illuminate and explore the philosophical themes that surface in popular culture. A close examination of one of the most significant artistic movements of the twentieth century, The Philosophy of Film Noir reinvigorates an intellectual discussion at the intersection of popular culture and philosophy.

The Philosophy of Film Noir

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Publisher : University Press of Kentucky
ISBN 13 : 9780813191812
Total Pages : 268 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (918 download)

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Book Synopsis The Philosophy of Film Noir by : Mark T. Conard

Download or read book The Philosophy of Film Noir written by Mark T. Conard and published by University Press of Kentucky. This book was released on 2007-08-17 with total page 268 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From The Maltese Falcon (1941) to Touch of Evil (1958), the classic film noir is easily recognizable for its unusual lighting, sinister plots, and feeling of paranoia. For critics and fans alike, these films defined an era. The Philosophy of Film Noir explores philosophical themes and ideas inherent in classic noir and neo-noir films, establishing connections to diverse thinkers ranging from Camus to the Frankfurt School. The authors, each focusing on a different aspect of the genre, explore the philosophical underpinnings of classic films such as The Big Sleep (1946), Out of the Past (1947), and Pulp Fiction (1994). They show how existentialism and nihilism dominate the genre as they explore profound themes in a vital area of popular culture.

Philosophy, Black Film, Film Noir

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Publisher : Penn State Press
ISBN 13 : 0271046880
Total Pages : 368 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (71 download)

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Book Synopsis Philosophy, Black Film, Film Noir by :

Download or read book Philosophy, Black Film, Film Noir written by and published by Penn State Press. This book was released on 2008 with total page 368 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Examines how African-American as well as international films deploy film noir techniques in ways that encourage philosophical reflection. Combines philosophy, film studies, and cultural studies"--Provided by publisher.

The Philosophy of Neo-Noir

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Publisher : University Press of Kentucky
ISBN 13 : 0813172306
Total Pages : 222 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (131 download)

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Book Synopsis The Philosophy of Neo-Noir by : Mark T. Conard

Download or read book The Philosophy of Neo-Noir written by Mark T. Conard and published by University Press of Kentucky. This book was released on 2007-01-05 with total page 222 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Film noir is a classic genre characterized by visual elements such as tilted camera angles, skewed scene compositions, and an interplay between darkness and light. Common motifs include crime and punishment, the upheaval of traditional moral values, and a pessimistic stance on the meaning of life and on the place of humankind in the universe. Spanning the 1940s and 1950s, the classic film noir era saw the release of many of Hollywood's best-loved studies of shady characters and shadowy underworlds, including Double Indemnity, The Big Sleep, Touch of Evil, and The Maltese Falcon. Neo-noir is a somewhat loosely defined genre of films produced after the classic noir era that display the visual or thematic hallmarks of the noir sensibility. The essays collected in The Philosophy of Neo-Noir explore the philosophical implications of neo-noir touchstones such as Blade Runner, Chinatown, Reservoir Dogs, Memento, and the films of the Coen brothers. Through the lens of philosophy, Mark T. Conard and the contributors examine previously obscure layers of meaning in these challenging films. The contributors also consider these neo-noir films as a means of addressing philosophical questions about guilt, redemption, the essence of human nature, and problems of knowledge, memory and identity. In the neo-noir universe, the lines between right and wrong and good and evil are blurred, and the detective and the criminal frequently mirror each other's most debilitating personality traits. The neo-noir detective—more antihero than hero—is frequently a morally compromised and spiritually shaken individual whose pursuit of a criminal masks the search for lost or unattainable aspects of the self. Conard argues that the films discussed in The Philosophy of Neo-Noir convey ambiguity, disillusionment, and disorientation more effectively than even the most iconic films of the classic noir era. Able to self-consciously draw upon noir conventions and simultaneously subvert them, neo-noir directors push beyond the earlier genre's limitations and open new paths of cinematic and philosophical exploration.

Fatalism in American Film Noir

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Publisher : University of Virginia Press
ISBN 13 : 0813931894
Total Pages : 136 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (139 download)

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Book Synopsis Fatalism in American Film Noir by : Robert B. Pippin

Download or read book Fatalism in American Film Noir written by Robert B. Pippin and published by University of Virginia Press. This book was released on 2012 with total page 136 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book reveals the ways in which American film noir explore the declining credibility of individuals as causal centers of agency, and how we live with the acknowledgment of such limitations.

Existentialism, Film Noir, and Hard-Boiled Fiction

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Author :
Publisher : Cambria Press
ISBN 13 : 1621969282
Total Pages : 218 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (219 download)

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Book Synopsis Existentialism, Film Noir, and Hard-Boiled Fiction by :

Download or read book Existentialism, Film Noir, and Hard-Boiled Fiction written by and published by Cambria Press. This book was released on with total page 218 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Film Noir and the Spaces of Modernity

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Publisher : Harvard University Press
ISBN 13 : 0674261577
Total Pages : 342 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (742 download)

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Book Synopsis Film Noir and the Spaces of Modernity by : Edward Dimendberg

Download or read book Film Noir and the Spaces of Modernity written by Edward Dimendberg and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 2004-06-15 with total page 342 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Film noir remains one of the most enduring legacies of 1940s and ’50s Hollywood. Populated by double-crossing, unsavory characters, this pioneering film style explored a shadow side of American life during a period of tremendous prosperity and optimism. Edward Dimendberg compellingly demonstrates how film noir is preoccupied with modernity—particularly the urban landscape. The originality of Dimendberg’s approach lies in his examining these films in tandem with historical developments in architecture, city planning, and modern communications systems. He confirms that noir is not simply a reflection of modernity but a virtual continuation of the spaces of the metropolis. He convincingly shows that Hollywood’s dark thrillers of the postwar decades were determined by the same forces that shaped the city itself. Exploring classic examples of film noir such as The Asphalt Jungle, Double Indemnity, Kiss Me Deadly, and The Naked City alongside many lesser-known works, Dimendberg masterfully interweaves film history and urban history while perceptively analyzing works by Raymond Chandler, Edward Hopper, Siegfried Kracauer, and Henri Lefebvre. A bold intervention in cultural studies and a major contribution to film history, Film Noir and the Spaces of Modernity will provoke debate by cinema scholars, urban historians, and students of modern culture—and will captivate admirers of a vital period in American cinema.

The Philosophy of Martin Scorsese

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Publisher : University Press of Kentucky
ISBN 13 : 0813172551
Total Pages : 264 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (131 download)

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Book Synopsis The Philosophy of Martin Scorsese by : Mark Conard

Download or read book The Philosophy of Martin Scorsese written by Mark Conard and published by University Press of Kentucky. This book was released on 2007-05-31 with total page 264 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Academy Award–winning director Martin Scorsese is one of the most significant American filmmakers in the history of cinema. Although best known for his movies about gangsters and violence, such as Mean Streets, Goodfellas, Casino, and Taxi Driver, Scorsese has addressed a much wider range of themes and topics in the four decades of his career. In The Philosophy of Martin Scorsese, an impressive cast of contributors explores the complex themes and philosophical underpinnings of Martin Scorsese’s films. The essays concerning Scorsese’s films about crime and violence investigate the nature of friendship, the ethics of vigilantism, and the nature of unhappiness. The authors delve deeply into the minds of Scorsese’s tortured characters and explore how the men and women he depicts grapple with moral codes and their emotions. Several of the essays explore specific themes in individual films. The authors describe how Scorsese addresses the nuances of social mores and values in The Age of Innocence, the nature of temptation and self-sacrifice in The Last Temptation of Christ and Bringing Out the Dead, and the complexities of innovation and ambition in The Aviator. Other chapters in the collection examine larger philosophical questions. In a world where everything can be interpreted as meaningful, Scorsese at times uses his films to teach audiences about the meaning in life beyond the everyday world depicted in the cinema. For example, his films touching on religious subjects, such as Kundun and The Last Temptation of Christ, allow the director to explore spiritualism and peaceful ways of responding to the chaos in the world.Filled with penetrating insights on Scorsese’s body of work, The Philosophy of Martin Scorsese shows the director engaging with many of the most basic questions about our humanity and how we relate to one another in a complex world.

The Philosophy of Science Fiction Film

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Publisher : University Press of Kentucky
ISBN 13 : 0813172810
Total Pages : 241 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (131 download)

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Book Synopsis The Philosophy of Science Fiction Film by : Steven Sanders

Download or read book The Philosophy of Science Fiction Film written by Steven Sanders and published by University Press of Kentucky. This book was released on 2007-12-14 with total page 241 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The science fiction genre maintains a remarkable hold on the imagination and enthusiasm of the filmgoing public, captivating large audiences worldwide and garnering ever-larger profits. Science fiction films entertain the possibility of time travel and extraterrestrial visitation and imaginatively transport us to worlds transformed by modern science and technology. They also provide a medium through which questions about personal identity, moral agency, artificial consciousness, and other categories of experience can be addressed. In The Philosophy of Science Fiction Film, distinguished authors explore the storylines, conflicts, and themes of fifteen science fiction film classics, from Metropolis to The Matrix. Editor Steven M. Sanders and a group of outstanding scholars in philosophy, film studies, and other fields raise science fiction film criticism to a new level by penetrating the surface of the films to expose the underlying philosophical arguments, ethical perspectives, and metaphysical views. Sanders's introduction presents an overview and evaluation of each essay and poses questions for readers to consider as they think about the films under discussion.The first section, "Enigmas of Identity and Agency," deals with the nature of humanity as it is portrayed in Blade Runner, Dark City, Frankenstein, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, and Total Recall. In the second section, "Extraterrestrial Visitation, Time Travel, and Artificial Intelligence," contributors discuss 2001: A Space Odyssey, The Terminator, 12 Monkeys, and The Day the Earth Stood Still and analyze the challenges of artificial intelligence, the paradoxes of time travel, and the ethics of war. The final section, "Brave Newer World: Science Fiction Futurism," looks at visions of the future in Metropolis, The Matrix, Alphaville, and screen adaptations of George Orwell's 1984.

The Philosophy of the Coen Brothers

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Publisher : University Press of Kentucky
ISBN 13 : 0813138698
Total Pages : 467 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (131 download)

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Book Synopsis The Philosophy of the Coen Brothers by : Mark T. Conard

Download or read book The Philosophy of the Coen Brothers written by Mark T. Conard and published by University Press of Kentucky. This book was released on 2008-12-12 with total page 467 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “Written for both fans of the Coen brothers and the philosophically curious, without the technical language . . . educational and entertaining.” —Library Journal Joel and Ethan Coen have made films that redefined the gangster movie, the screwball comedy, the fable, and the film noir, but no matter what genre they’re playing with, they consistently focus on the struggles of complex characters to understand themselves and their places in the strange worlds they inhabit. To borrow a phrase from Barton Fink, all Coen films explore “the life of the mind” and show that the human condition can often be simultaneously comic and tragic, profound and absurd. The essays in this book explore the challenging moral and philosophical terrain of the Coen repertoire. Several address how Coen films often share film noir’s essential philosophical assumptions: power corrupts, evil is real, and human control of fate is an illusion. In Fargo, not even Minnesota’s blankets of snow can hide Jerry Lundegaard’s crimes or brighten his long, dark night of the soul. The tale of love, marriage, betrayal, and divorce in Intolerable Cruelty transcends the plight of the characters to illuminate competing theories of justice. Even in lighter fare, such as Raising Arizona and The Big Lebowski, the comedy emerges from characters’ journeys to the brink of an amoral abyss. However, the Coens often knowingly and gleefully subvert conventions and occasionally offer symbolic rebirths and other hopeful outcomes. At the end of The Big Lebowski, for example, the Dude abides, his laziness has become a virtue, and the human comedy is perpetuating itself with the promised arrival of a newborn Lebowski. The Philosophy of the Coen Brothers sheds new light on the work of these cinematic visionaries. From Blood Simple to No Country for Old Men, the Coens’ characters look for answers—though in some cases, their quest for answers leads, at best, only to more questions.

Film Noir

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Publisher : Oxford University Press
ISBN 13 : 0192509519
Total Pages : 171 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (925 download)

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Book Synopsis Film Noir by : James Naremore

Download or read book Film Noir written by James Naremore and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2019-02-15 with total page 171 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Film noir, one of the most intriguing yet difficult to define terms in cinema history, is usually associated with a series of darkly seductive Hollywood thrillers from the 1940s and 50s - shadowy, black-and-white pictures about private eyes, femme fatales, outlaw lovers, criminal heists, corrupt police, and doomed or endangered outsiders. But as this VSI demonstrates, film noir actually predates the 1940s and has never been confined to Hollywood. International in scope, its various manifestations have spread across generic categories, attracted the interest of the world's great directors, and continue to appear even today. In this Very Short Introduction James Naremore shows how the term film noir originated in in French literary and film criticism, and how later uses of the term travelled abroad, changing its implications. In the process, he comments on classic examples of the films and explores important aspects of their history: their critical reception, their major literary sources, their methods of dealing with censorship and budgets, their social and cultural politics, their variety of styles, and their future in a world of digital media and video streaming. ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.

Out of the Past

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Publisher : Springer
ISBN 13 : 3319309420
Total Pages : 294 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (193 download)

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Book Synopsis Out of the Past by : Ben Tyrer

Download or read book Out of the Past written by Ben Tyrer and published by Springer. This book was released on 2016-08-17 with total page 294 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book presents a new reading of film noir through psychoanalytic theory. In a field now dominated by Deleuzian and phenomenological approaches to film-philosophy, this book argues that, far from having passed, the time for Lacan in Film Studies is only just beginning. The chapters engage with Lacanian psychoanalysis to perform a meta-critical analysis of the writing on noir in the last seven decades and to present an original theory of criticism and historiography for the cinema. The book is also an act of mourning; for a lost past of the cinema, for a longstanding critical tradition and for film noir. It asks how we can talk about film noir when, in fact, film noir doesn’t exist. The answer starts with Lacan and a refusal to relinquish psychoanalysis. Lacanian theories of retroactivity and ontology can be read together with film history, genre and narrative to show the ways in which theory and history, past and present, cinema and psychoanalysis are fundamentally knotted together. Tyrer also explores Lacan through particular noir films, such as Double Indemnity andThe Maltese Falcon — and demonstrates the possibilities for a Lacanian Film Studies (as one that engages fully with Lacan’s entire body of work) that has hitherto not been realised.

American Cinema of the 1940s

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Publisher : Rutgers University Press
ISBN 13 : 0813537002
Total Pages : 301 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (135 download)

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Book Synopsis American Cinema of the 1940s by : Wheeler W. Dixon

Download or read book American Cinema of the 1940s written by Wheeler W. Dixon and published by Rutgers University Press. This book was released on 2006 with total page 301 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The 1940s was a watershed decade for American cinema and the nation. Shaking off the grim legacy of the Depression, Hollywood launched an unprecedented wave of production, generating some of its most memorable classics. Featuring essays by a group of respected film scholars and historians, American Cinema of the 1940s brings this dynamic and turbulent decade to life with such films as Citizen Kane, Rebecca, The Lady Eve, Sergeant York, How Green Was My Valley, Casablanca, Mrs. Miniver, The Road to Morocco, Yankee Doodle Dandy, Kiss of Death, Force of Evil, Caught, and Apology for Murder. Illustrated with many rare stills and filled with provocative insights, the volume will appeal to students, teachers, and to all those interested in cultural history and American film of the twentieth century.

Film Noir Reader 2

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Publisher : Hal Leonard Corporation
ISBN 13 : 0879102802
Total Pages : 359 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (791 download)

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Book Synopsis Film Noir Reader 2 by : Alain Silver

Download or read book Film Noir Reader 2 written by Alain Silver and published by Hal Leonard Corporation. This book was released on 1999 with total page 359 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the wake of the remarkable success of Film Noir Reader, this new collection further explores a genre of limitless fascination -- and one that continues to inspire and galvanise the latest generation of film-makers. Again heavily illustrated, with close to 150 stills, Film Noir Reader 2 is organised much like the earlier volume.

Critical Theory and Film

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Publisher : Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN 13 : 1441139125
Total Pages : 185 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (411 download)

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Book Synopsis Critical Theory and Film by : Fabio Vighi

Download or read book Critical Theory and Film written by Fabio Vighi and published by Bloomsbury Publishing USA. This book was released on 2012-05-03 with total page 185 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Critical Theory and Film brings together critical theory and film to enhance the critical potential of both. The book focuses on the Frankfurt School, most notably the works of Adorno and Horkheimer, as well as associated thinkers. It seeks to demonstrate that cinema can help critical theory repoliticize culture and society and affirm the theoretical and political impact of cinematic knowledge. After discussing how the Frankfurt School saw cinema as an instrument of capitalism use to promote the cultural and political regimentation of the masses, Vighi then proceeds to demonstrate that critical theory can in fact suggest a different verdict on the progressive potential of cinema. Each chapter focuses on a key critical theory concept that is explained and redefined through film analysis to unravel the hidden presuppositions and most radical consequences of critical theory. A unique contribution to the literature, this volume in the Critical Theory and Contemporary Society series offer an innovative reading of film as a critical tool, drawing on the latest developments in Lacanian theory.

How to Draw Noir Comics

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Publisher : Watson-Guptill
ISBN 13 : 0823024067
Total Pages : 146 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (23 download)

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Book Synopsis How to Draw Noir Comics by : Shawn Martinbrough

Download or read book How to Draw Noir Comics written by Shawn Martinbrough and published by Watson-Guptill. This book was released on 2007-10-30 with total page 146 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How to Draw Noir Comics: The Art and Technique of Visual Storytelling is an instructional book based on the cinematic, high contrast noir style of acclaimed comic book and graphic novel illustrator, Shawn Martinbrough. Martinbrough’s work has been published by DC Comics, Vertigo and Marvel Comics, illustrating stories ranging from Batman to the X-Men. This is his first book, released through Watson-Guptill Publications and The Nielsen Company. In How to Draw Noir Comics, Martinbrough shows how the expert use of the color black is critical for drawing noir comics. He demonstrates how to set a mood, design characters and locations, stage action and enhance drama, and discusses important topics like page layout, panel design, and cover design. How to Draw Noir Comics includes The Truce, an original graphic novel written and illustrated by Martinbrough which incorporates the many lessons addressed throughout the book, and has an introduction by critically-acclaimed novelist Greg Rucka, author of the graphic novel Whiteout, currently in production as a major motion picture.

Night Passages

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Publisher : Columbia University Press
ISBN 13 : 0231147988
Total Pages : 473 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (311 download)

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Book Synopsis Night Passages by : Elisabeth Bronfen

Download or read book Night Passages written by Elisabeth Bronfen and published by Columbia University Press. This book was released on 2013 with total page 473 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the beginning was the night. All light, shapes, language, and subjective consciousness, as well as the world and art depicting them, emerged from this formless chaos. In fantasy, we seek to return to this original darkness. Particularly in literature, visual representations, and film, the night resiliently resurfaces from the margins of the knowable, acting as a stage and state of mind in which exceptional perceptions, discoveries, and decisions play out. Elisabeth Bronfen follows nocturnal spaces in which extraordinary events unfold, enabling the irrational exploration of desire, transformation, ecstasy, transgression, spiritual illumination, and moral choice. She begins with classical myths depicting the creation of the world and moves through nocturnal scenes in Shakespeare and Milton, Gothic figurations, Hegel's romantic philosophy, and Freud's psychoanalysis. In modern times, she shows how literature and film, particularly film noir, transmit that piece of night the modern subject carries within. From Mozart's "Queen of the Night" to Virginia Woolf 's oscillation between day and night, life and death, and chaos and aesthetic form, Bronfen renders something visible, conceivable, and tellable from the dark realms of the unknown.