The Transparent Illusion

This unique study interprets forty major French films, their texts and intertexts, analyzing them both as windows on their subject, projections of the imagination, and as frames or mirrors reflecting the cultural contexts that produced them. They are grouped in three major categories, foregrounding their relationship to history, literature or the filmmaking process itself, in ascending order of opacity and modernity. This much needed work offers not only comparative cultural perspectives on French text and film but also a better understanding of the poetics of image and ideology.

Autorentext

The Author: Rebecca Pauly is professor of French and Italian language, literature, and film at West Chester University in Pennsylvania. She received her B.A. cum laude from Smith College, her M.A. from the University of California at Berkeley, and her Doctorate in Modern Languages from Middlebury College in Vermont. In addition to this book, she has published a study on the autobiographic voice, Le Berceau et la bibliothèque, and numerous articles on literature and film in professional journals. Her current projects include video documentaries on France and Italy that she has shot and edited, with accompanying course materials.

Inhalt

Contents: Study of 38 French films from 1926-1986 grouped in Film and History, Film and Literature, Film and Filmmaking, reflecting the evolution of cultural and creative paradigms and perspectives.