| Cinematic Fictions: The Impact of the Cinema on the American Novel Up to the Second World War Contributor(s): Seed, David (Author) |
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ISBN: 1846312124 ISBN-13: 9781846312120 Publisher: Liverpool University Press OUR PRICE: $148.50 Product Type: Hardcover - Other Formats Published: January 2011 Annotation: The phrase "cinematic fiction" generally has been accepted into critical discourse, but usually only in the context of postwar novels. This volume examines the influence of a particular medium, film, on another, the novel, in the first half of twentieth-century American literature. Offering new insights into classics such as "The Great Gatsby "and "The Grapes of Wrath," as well as discussing critical writings on film and active participation in filmmaking by major writers such as William Faulkner, "Cinematic Fictions" will be compulsory reading for scholars of American film and literature alike. |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - Performing Arts | Film - History & Criticism - Literary Criticism |
| Dewey: 813.520 |
| Physical Information: 1.2" H x 6.44" W x 9.44" (1.45 lbs) 288 pages |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: The phrase 'cinematic fiction' has now been generally accepted into critical discourse, but is usually applied to post-war novels. This book asks a simple question: given their fascination with the new medium of film, did American novelists attempt to apply cinematic methods in their own writings? From its very beginnings the cinema has played a special role in defining American culture. Covering the period from the 1910s up to the Second World War, Cinematic Fictions offers new insights into classics like The Great Gatsby and The Grapes of Wrath discussing major writers' critical writings on film and active participation in film-making. Cinematic Fictions is also careful not to portray 'cinema' as a single or stable entity. Some novelists drew on silent film; others looked to the Russian theorists for inspiration; and yet others turned to continental film-makers rather than to Hollywood. Film itself was constantly evolving during the first decades of the twentieth century and the writers discussed here engaged in a kind of dialogue with the new medium, selectively pursuing strategies of montage, limited point of view and scenic composition towards their different ends. Contrasting a diverse range of cinematic and literary movements, this will be compulsory reading for scholars of American literature and film. |