Author: Tom Avermaete File Type: pdf

Author: Graham Harman File Type: pdf Quentin Meillassouxs entry into the philosophical scene marks the beginning of a new epoch the end of the transcendental approach and the return to realist ontology. Harmans beautifully written and argued book provides not just an introduction to Meillassoux, but much more one authentic philosopher writing about another - a rare true encounter. It is not only for those who want to understand Meillassoux, but also for those who want to witness a radical shift in the entire field of philosophy. It is a book that will shake the very foundations of your world! Slavoj aeiaeek, philosopher and psychoanalyst An in-depth study of the emerging French philosopher Quentin Meillassoux Quentin Meillassoux has been described as the most rapidly prominent French philosopher in the Anglophone world since Jacques Derrida in the 1960s. With the publication of After Finitude (2006), this daring protege of Alain Badiou became one of the worlds most visible younger thinkers. In this book, his fellow Speculative Realist, Graham Harman, assesses Meillassouxs publications in English so far. Also included are an insightful interview with Meillassoux and first-time translations of excerpts from LInexistence divine (The Divine Inexistence), his famous but still unpublished major book.

Author: Marilyn Ann Moss File Type: pdf Marilyn Mosss Giant examines the life of one of the most influential directors to work in Hollywood from the 1930s to the 1960s. George Stevens directed such popular and significant films as Shane, Giant, A Place in the Sun, and The Diary of Anne Frank. He was the first to pair Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy on film in Woman of the Year. Through the study of Stevenss life and his production history, Moss also presents a glimpse of the workings of the classic Hollywood studio system in its glory days.Moss documents Stevenss role as a powerful director who often had to battle the heads of major studios to get his films made his way. She traces the four decades Stevens was a major Hollywood player and icon, from his earliest days at the Hal Roach Studioswhere he learned to be a cameraman, writer, and director for Laurel and Hardy featuresup to his later career when his films made millions at the box office and were graced by actors such as Elizabeth Taylor, James Dean, Alan Ladd, and Montgomery Clift.ReviewAt a time when Hollywood is so disappointing, it is good to recall that once there were giants who thought of filmmaking beyond moneymaking. George Stevens stood tall among them with a fascinating life and stellar career. Marilyn Moss has written Giant with a clarity, elegance, and humanity that echoes his great films.Patrick McGilligan, Edgar-nominated author, Alfred Hitchcock A Life in Darkness and LightStevens is not so well remembered today. Perhaps thats because he didnt work the self-promotion angle as well as his contemporaries. Or perhaps its because he broke enough budgets and schedules to have gotten himself crossed off the canonical list of the greats, on which only the budget- and schedule-breaking Orson Welles still has much of a place these days. On that score alone, film journalist Marilyn Ann Moss does a fine turn for Stevens in Giant George Stevens, a Life on Film by calling attention to the influential work he did throughout five decades in Hollywood. . . . Moss honors the innovative storyteller who, it seems, had trouble finding his way but who merits reconsideration. An engaging book.The Hollywood ReporterMoss has done a sensational job with Giant. She has accessed the extensive files in the George Stevens Collection at the Academy Library, so her primary research is impeccable. She gives us both production histories and critical analysis of the films, and also does an estimable job of capturing Stevens rather cryptic character. Along with Robert Birchards volume on Cecil B. DeMille, this is the best director bio of 2004.The National Board of ReviewMs. Moss Giant is the first biography of Stevens, so its a very welcome addition to the bookshelf, even if, by itself, its unlikely to reverse decades of critical drift.Scott Eyman, New York ObserverMoss work is extensive and draws on the huge George Stevens Collection at the Academys Beverly Hills Library. She balances her findings there with comments from many of the directors friends and provides penetrating insights of her own. . . . Stevens constitutes a vast, nearly impossible subject and its to Moss supreme credit that she gets so much of what makes him unique.culturevulture.netFrom the Inside FlapA Place in the Sun for a director in the Hollywood studio heydays

Author: Nicholas Balaisis File Type: pdf This book maps the aesthetic experience of late socialism through Cuban film and media practice. It shows how economic and material scarcity as well as political uncertainty is expressed aesthetically in films from the period following the collapse of the Soviet Union, a characteristic described as imperfect aesthetics. The films examined in the book draw attention to the unique temporal experience of late socialism, a period marked both by rapid change and frustrating stasis, nostalgia for Cubas past and anxiousness about its future. Aesthetic modes such as melodrama and irony, and stylistic elements such as direct address and the long take, communicate the temporal experience of late socialism in Cuba, where new global traffic and a globalizing economy co-exist with iconic socialist features of the Cuban revolution. Film aesthetics constitute an important public dimension within this context, serving as a site of political and cultural critique amidst political uncertainty. In examining large-scale international co-productions as well as regional film collectives and amateur media making, the book traces the aesthetic continuities between contemporary film practices and those of the immediate post-revolutionary period, showing how the Cuban revolution continues to be an important touchstone for contemporary Cuban filmmakers in the face of new and imminent change. **