AcinemasLyotard's Philosophy of Film
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About this book
This collection presents, for the first time in English, Jean-François Lyotard’s major essays on film: 'Acinema', 'The Unconscious as Mise-en-scène', 'Two Metamorphoses of the Seductive in Cinema' and 'The Idea of a Sovereign Film'. Then, eight critical essays by philosophers and film theorists examine Lyotard's film work and influence across two sections: 'Approaches and Interpretations' and 'Applications and Extensions'. These works are complemented by an introductory essay by leading French scholar Jean-Michel Durafour on Lyotard’s film-philosophy, an overview of Lyotard’s practical film projects written by his collaborators Claudine Eizykman and Guy Fihman, and the synopsis for a later film project Memorial Immemorial, which Lyotard proposed but was not produced.
Jean-François Lyotard was the most significant aesthetician of the poststructuralist generation, but this dimension of his thought is only recently beginning to receive the attention it deserves in the English-speaking world. He devoted a number of essays to film, and was involved in making several experimental short films. Lyotard’s reflections on film offer a perspective which seeks to do justice to it as an art by focusing on its aesthetic, material qualities. His work in this area remains a largely untapped resource, with the potential for inaugurating exciting new directions in film-philosophy.
ContributorsKiff Bamford, Leeds Beckett University, UK
Keith Crome, Manchester Metropolitan University, UK
Jean-Michel Durafour, University Paris-Est, France
Claudine Eizykman, University of Paris 8, France
Guy Fihman, University of Paris 8, France
Julie Gaillard, Emory University, USA
Jon Hackett, St Mary’s University, UK
Vlad Ionescu, Hasselt University, Belgium
Graham Jones, Federation University, Australia
Peter W. Milne, Seoul National University, South Korea
Lisa Trahair, New South Wales, Australia
Susana Viegas, Nova University of Lisbon (NOVA), Portugal and Deakin University, Australia
James Williams, Deakin University, Australia
Reviews
Acinemas serves its purpose admirably: to prompt further thinking about Lyotard and film, and to offer some stimulating resources for so doing.
The authors in this collection identify the paradox that the other visual arts were a more pervasive reference for Lyotard himself than was film in developing his theories. Yet it was acinema, the most experimental uses of cinema that provided additional challenges for his unique theories of the figural. The contention of this book is one that I applaud - that Lyotard, a philosopher of drift and transformations of all forms, should be given more attention in any philosophy of film.
Table of contents
ForewordSusana Viegas and James Williams
Editor’s IntroductionGraham Jones and Ashley Woodward
Cinema Lyotard: An IntroductionJean-Michel Durafour
LYOTARD’S ESSAYS ON FILMAcinemaThe Unconscious as Mise-en-scèneTwo Metamorphoses of the Seductive in Cinema The Idea of a Sovereign Film APPROACHES AND INTERPRETATIONSImaginary Constructs? A Libidinal Economy of the Cinematographic MediumJulie GaillardLyotard, Gorgias and the Art of SeductionKeith CromeAuthorisation: Lyotard’s Sovereign ImagePeter W. MilneAPPLICATIONS AND EXTENTIONSDiscourse, Figure, Suture: Lyotard and Cinematic SpaceJon HackettOn Dialogue as Performative Art CriticismVlad IonescuGive Me a Sign: An Anxious Exploration of Performance on Film, Under Lyotard’s ShadowKiff BamfordHow Desire Works: A Lyotardian LynchGraham Jones and Ashley WoodwardAberrant Movement and Somatography in the Hysterical Films of Roméo BosettiLisa TrahairAPPENDICES1. Lyotard’s Film WorkClaudine Eizykman and Guy Fihman2. Memorial ImmemorialJean-François Lyotard3. Lyotard Filmography4. Bibliography
Index