Following its acclaimed edition of selections from Andre Bazin's What is Cinema?, caboose is pleased to present a greatly expanded collection of articles by France's foremost film critic and theorist. Andre Bazin: Selected Writings 1943-1958 doubles the number of articles found in the earlier volume to twenty-six, making this the most comprehensive collection in English of a broad range of Bazin's writings throughout his entire career, with extensive annotations and corrections.
The texts included here are all offered in their original version, as they were written, published and discussed in Bazin's day in post-war France-before Bazin and in some cases his posthumous editors revised and abridged them for republication. In most cases this is the first time these articles have been republished in their original form in any language, including French. Readers will discover the essay "Decoupage," the basis of Bazin's most famous text and the most widely-read article in cinema studies, "The Evolution of Film Language."
The volume includes brilliant essays on major filmmakers of the classical film period, including Renoir, Welles, Chaplin, Bresson, Malraux and Wyler; essays on film and the other arts; the famous essay on Italian neo-realism; essays on documentary and science film; comedy; film language; film history; and the 'politique des auteurs' and the role of the critic. The volume's new translations of these texts re-assert Bazin's status as the pre-eminent film critic and theorist of all time. Each essay is extensively annotated by Timothy Barnard, situating the man and his work in the cultural and social climate of post-war France.
Author Biography
Andre Bazin (1918-1958) is one of the most influential critics ever to have written about cinema. He contributed daily reviews to Paris's largest-circulation newspaper, Le Parisien libere, and wrote hundreds of essays for weeklies (Le nouvel observateur, Telerama) and such esteemed monthly journals as Esprit and Cahiers du cinema (which he cofounded). A social activist, he directed cine-clubs and, from 1945 to 1950, worked for the Communist outreach organization Travail et Culture.
Timothy Barnard is a professional translator with a prominent background in film history and theory. He is the publisher of caboose books in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
