Jean Epstein: Critical Essays and New Translations
edited by Sarah Keller and Jason N. Paul
Amsterdam University Press, 2012 eISBN: 978-90-485-1384-0 | Paper: 978-90-8964-292-9 Library of Congress Classification PN1998.3.E67J43 2012 Dewey Decimal Classification 791
ABOUT THIS BOOK | AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY | TOC
ABOUT THIS BOOK
Although early film buffs may be familiar with Jean Epstein’s films, including an adaptation of Edgar Allan Poe’s The Fall of the House of Usher, not many Anglophones are acquainted with his poetic and provocative prose. Gathered in this wide-ranging collection are new translations into English of every major theoretical work on film theory Epstein ever published, as well a series of essays by other film makers and scholars of art history, French studies, and film, which provide incisive commentary and essential context for Epstein as both a director and a theoretician. As a result, Jean Epstein: Critical Essays and New Translations provides an expansive account of the artist and the man, from his beginnings as a student of biology and aspiring poet to his late film projects and posthumously published writings. By both connecting Epstein to his era and offering contemporary criticism of his films, the essays in this book demonstrate his ongoing importance in film history and theory. This collection is a timely reexamination of a filmmaker and author who has much to offer modern audiences and readers.
AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY
Sarah Keller is assistant professor of English and cinema studies at Colby College, Maine. Jason N. Paul is a PhD student in the Department of Cinema and Media Studies at the University of Chicago.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Acknowledgments
Abbreviations
Preface
Tom Gunning
Introduction
Sarah Keller
Essays
Epstein's Photogénie as Corporeal Vision: Inner Sensation, Queer Embodiment, and Ethics
Christophe Wall-Romana
Novelty and Poiesis in the Early Writings of Jean Epstein
Stuart Liebman
The Cinema of the Kaleidoscope
Katie Kirtland
Distance Is [Im]material: Epstein Versus Etna
Jennifer Wild
"The Supremacy of the Mathematical Poem": Jean Epstein's Conceptions of Rhythm
Laurent Guido
The "Microscope of Time": Slow Motion in Jean Epstein's Writings
Ludovic Cortade
A Different Nature
Rachel Moore
Cinema Seen from the Seas: Epstein and the Oceanic
James Schneider
A Temporal Perspective: Jean Epstein's Writings on Technology and Subjectivity
Trond Lundemo
Ultra-Modern: Jean Epstein, or Cinema "Serving the Forces of Transgression and Revolt"
Nicole Brenez
Thoughts on PhotogéniePlastique
Érik Bullot Translations Introduction: Epstein's Writings La Poésie d'aujourd'hui, un nouvel état d'intelligence (1921)
Introdution
Sarah Keller
Cinema and Modern Literature Bonjour Cinéma (1921)
Introduction
Sarah Keller
Continuous Screenings La Lyrosophie (1922)
Introduction
Katie Kirtland
Excerpts from La Lyrosophie Le Cinématographe vu de l'Etna (1926)
Introduction
Stuart Liebman
The Cinema Seen from Etna
On Certain Characteristics of Photogénie
Langue d'Or
The Photogenic Element
For a New Avant-Garde
Amour de Charlot
Amour de Sessue L'Intelligence d'une machine (1946)
Introduction
Trond Lundemo
Excerpts from L'Intelligence d'une machine Le Cinéma du diable (1947)
Introduction
Ludovic Cortade
Indictment
To a Second Reality, a Second Reason Later Works
Introduction to Espirit de cinéma and Alcool et Cinéma
Christophe Wall-Romana Espirit de cinéma The Logic of Images
Rapidity and Fatigue of the Homo spectatoris
Ciné-analysis, or Poetry in an Industrial Quantity
Dramaturgy in Space
Dramaturgy in Time
Visual Fabric
Pure Cinema and Sound Film
Seeing and Hearing Thought
The Counterpoint of Sound
The Close-up of Sound
The Delirium of a Machine Late Articles
The Slow Motion of Sound
The Fluid World of the Screen Alcool et cinéma
Logic and Fluidity
Logic of Variable Time Afterword: Reclaiming Jean Epstein
Richard Abel
Filmography
Select Bibliography
Notes on Contributors
Index of Names
Index of Films and Major Writings by Jean Epstein
Index of Films
Jean Epstein: Critical Essays and New Translations
edited by Sarah Keller and Jason N. Paul
Amsterdam University Press, 2012 eISBN: 978-90-485-1384-0 Paper: 978-90-8964-292-9
Although early film buffs may be familiar with Jean Epstein’s films, including an adaptation of Edgar Allan Poe’s The Fall of the House of Usher, not many Anglophones are acquainted with his poetic and provocative prose. Gathered in this wide-ranging collection are new translations into English of every major theoretical work on film theory Epstein ever published, as well a series of essays by other film makers and scholars of art history, French studies, and film, which provide incisive commentary and essential context for Epstein as both a director and a theoretician. As a result, Jean Epstein: Critical Essays and New Translations provides an expansive account of the artist and the man, from his beginnings as a student of biology and aspiring poet to his late film projects and posthumously published writings. By both connecting Epstein to his era and offering contemporary criticism of his films, the essays in this book demonstrate his ongoing importance in film history and theory. This collection is a timely reexamination of a filmmaker and author who has much to offer modern audiences and readers.
AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY
Sarah Keller is assistant professor of English and cinema studies at Colby College, Maine. Jason N. Paul is a PhD student in the Department of Cinema and Media Studies at the University of Chicago.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Acknowledgments
Abbreviations
Preface
Tom Gunning
Introduction
Sarah Keller
Essays
Epstein's Photogénie as Corporeal Vision: Inner Sensation, Queer Embodiment, and Ethics
Christophe Wall-Romana
Novelty and Poiesis in the Early Writings of Jean Epstein
Stuart Liebman
The Cinema of the Kaleidoscope
Katie Kirtland
Distance Is [Im]material: Epstein Versus Etna
Jennifer Wild
"The Supremacy of the Mathematical Poem": Jean Epstein's Conceptions of Rhythm
Laurent Guido
The "Microscope of Time": Slow Motion in Jean Epstein's Writings
Ludovic Cortade
A Different Nature
Rachel Moore
Cinema Seen from the Seas: Epstein and the Oceanic
James Schneider
A Temporal Perspective: Jean Epstein's Writings on Technology and Subjectivity
Trond Lundemo
Ultra-Modern: Jean Epstein, or Cinema "Serving the Forces of Transgression and Revolt"
Nicole Brenez
Thoughts on PhotogéniePlastique
Érik Bullot Translations Introduction: Epstein's Writings La Poésie d'aujourd'hui, un nouvel état d'intelligence (1921)
Introdution
Sarah Keller
Cinema and Modern Literature Bonjour Cinéma (1921)
Introduction
Sarah Keller
Continuous Screenings La Lyrosophie (1922)
Introduction
Katie Kirtland
Excerpts from La Lyrosophie Le Cinématographe vu de l'Etna (1926)
Introduction
Stuart Liebman
The Cinema Seen from Etna
On Certain Characteristics of Photogénie
Langue d'Or
The Photogenic Element
For a New Avant-Garde
Amour de Charlot
Amour de Sessue L'Intelligence d'une machine (1946)
Introduction
Trond Lundemo
Excerpts from L'Intelligence d'une machine Le Cinéma du diable (1947)
Introduction
Ludovic Cortade
Indictment
To a Second Reality, a Second Reason Later Works
Introduction to Espirit de cinéma and Alcool et Cinéma
Christophe Wall-Romana Espirit de cinéma The Logic of Images
Rapidity and Fatigue of the Homo spectatoris
Ciné-analysis, or Poetry in an Industrial Quantity
Dramaturgy in Space
Dramaturgy in Time
Visual Fabric
Pure Cinema and Sound Film
Seeing and Hearing Thought
The Counterpoint of Sound
The Close-up of Sound
The Delirium of a Machine Late Articles
The Slow Motion of Sound
The Fluid World of the Screen Alcool et cinéma
Logic and Fluidity
Logic of Variable Time Afterword: Reclaiming Jean Epstein
Richard Abel
Filmography
Select Bibliography
Notes on Contributors
Index of Names
Index of Films and Major Writings by Jean Epstein
Index of Films