Book Description

«The André Bazin Reader is the most comprehensive edition of French film critic André Bazin's work in English, with the most extensive commentary, the culmination of 13 years by the translator-publisher translating, annotating and commenting on his writings. Some 670 pages in length with 45 texts by Bazin totalling 200,000 words, this volume covers every period of his brief career, including his neglected later years, and all of his major interests. No other English-language edition has brought together all the major texts, found here in an acclaimed translation which has transformed our view of Bazin’s work. The 45 texts included here are all offered in their original version, in most cases for the first time, 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 fact several of the essays in the volume have never before been translated into English. The volume includes brilliant essays on major filmmakers of the classical film period, including Renoir, Welles, Chaplin, Hitchcock, Bresson, Malraux, Pagnol and Wyler; essays on film and the other arts—literature, painting, theatre; the famous essay on Italian neo-realism; essays on documentary and science film; comedy; children’s films and animal films; film language and mise en scène; the western; television and new film technologies; exhibition and dubbing; Japanese cinema; 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 the translator, situating the man and his work in the cultural and social climate of post-war France. Bazin sparkles in these new and revised translations, accompanied by 75,000 words of commentary. Jacques Aumont, France’s pre-eminent living film theorist, offers a portrait of Bazin and his work in an introductory essay that places him in his time and highlights his work as a cultural activist. This essay, written especially for this volume, is not only a rare opportunity for English readers to enjoy Aumont’s marvellous writing style and keen insights, some of which go against the grain of the myth around Bazin, but is also the first time in an extraordinary career that the author has trained his sights on his illustrious predecessor.Aumont’s essay is complemented by a glossary of terms by the translator, who presents a lively and accessible discussion of some of Bazin’s key terms and situates this terminology in a history of film theory. Readers will discover the term and concept découpage, with the first-ever translation of the key Bazin essay with this title, which languished unread for nearly 60 years before the translator unearthed it. Bazin's essay is accompanied by a glossary essay on the term, along with glossary essays on montage, mise en scène, technique and fait.»--