1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910817236303321

Autore

Kracauer Siegfried

Titolo

Siegfried Kracauer's American Writings : Essays on Film and Popular Culture / / Siegfried Kracauer; Johannes von Moltke, Kristy Rawson

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Berkeley, CA : , : University of California Press, , [2012]

©2012

ISBN

1-280-49209-0

9786613587329

0-520-95200-6

Edizione

[1st ed.]

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (305 p.)

Collana

Weimar and Now: German Cultural Criticism ; ; 45

Disciplina

791.43

Soggetti

Kracauer, Siegfried, 1889-1966 -- Criticism and interpretation

Kracauer, Siegfried, 1889-1966. Theorie des Films

Motion pictures

Motion pictures -- History

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Description based upon print version of record.

Nota di contenuto

Front matter -- Contents -- Preface: Notes on This Edition -- Acknowledgments -- Introduction: Affinities -- part I. A Cultural Critic in New York -- part II. Film Reviews -- part III. Book Reviews -- part IV. Toward a Theory of Film -- Afterword: Kracauer, the Magical Nominalist -- Notes -- Index

Sommario/riassunto

Siegfried Kracauer (1889-1966), friend and colleague of Walter Benjamin and Theodor Adorno, was one of the most influential film critics of the mid-twentieth century. In this book, Johannes von Moltke and Kristy Rawson have, for the first time assembled essays in cultural criticism, film, literature, and media theory that Kracauer wrote during the quarter century he spent in America after fleeing Nazi-occupied Europe. In the decades following his arrival in the United States, Kracauer commented on developments in American and European cinema, wrote on film noir and neorealism, examined unsettling political trends in mainstream cinema, and reviewed the contemporary experiments of avant-garde filmmakers. As a cultural critic, he also ranged far beyond cinema, intervening in debates regarding Jewish



culture, unraveling national and racial stereotypes, and reflecting on the state of arts and humanities in the 1950's. These essays, together with the editors' introductions and an afterward by Martin Jay offer illuminating insights into the films and culture of the postwar years and provide a unique perspective on this eminent émigré intellectual.