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István Szabó
Filmmaker of Existential Choices
by Susan Rubin Suleiman and Costica Bradatan
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Book Presentation:
István Szabó is one of the few Hungarian filmmakers to have earned a major international reputation over the past half century. This thoughtful and original book is the first examination of Szabó's contribution to contemporary thought, engaging the troubled history of Europe in the 20th and 21st centuries.
István Szabó's importance as a filmmaker lies not only in his attention to film's formal elements but in his deep and ongoing engagement with some of the most urgent ethical and existential questions of our time.
With detailed analyses of István Szabó's major films, from his 1960s works to his Academy Award for Best Foreign Film winner, Mephisto, and on through Szabó's last film in 2020, Final Report, Susan Rubin Suleiman focuses on four important questions pertaining to existential choice: to leave home or to stay in a communist country? To collaborate or not with an authoritarian regime? To affirm or to deny one's Jewishness in the face of antisemitism? To seek or to give up on community in the face of individual or national conflicts? Above all, Suleiman addresses the single most important philosophical question that haunts Szabó's work, as it does that of many other Central European intellectuals and filmmakers of our time. That is, how do individuals attempt, through the life choices they make or that are foisted on them, to create a viable self in extreme historical situations over which they have no control?
About the authors:
Susan Rubin Suleiman is C. Douglas Dillon Professor of the Civilization of France and Professor of Comparative Literature Emeritaat Harvard University, USA. Her many books include Crises of Memory and the Second World War and the memoirDaughter of History: Traces of an Immigrant Girlhood. In 2018, she was awarded France's highest decoration, the Légion d'Honneur.
Press Reviews:
"Susan Suleiman's book touched me deeply and it was interesting even for me. I was surprised by several connections that I had never thought of, but they are very true." ―István Szabó
"Drawing on her previous studies of exile and memory, and inspired by her own investigation of roots, Susan Rubin Suleiman's engagement with István Szabó's films presents a compelling and essential analysis of his continuing exploration of the themes of community, Hungarian-Jewish identity, and the individual's 'search for security'." ―Peter Hames, Author of Czech and Slovak Cinema: Theme and Tradition (2010), and Visiting Professor in Film Studies, Staffordshire University, UK
"Susan Suleiman's landmark book, István Szabó: Filmmaker of Existential Choice, brilliantly illuminates the neglected oeuvre of a major Academy Award-winning Central European director. Foregrounding Szabó's lifelong concern with the impact of historical forces on the fate of his protagonists, each chapter engages deeply with the urgent ethical and existential questions of our time." ―Catherine Portuges, Founding Program Director and Founding Curator of the Massachusetts Multicultural Film Festival, USA
See the publisher website: Bloomsbury Academic
See the complete filmography of István Szabó on the website: IMDB ...
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