Spanish Cinema

The Auteurist Tradition

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Edited by Peter Evans

Type: Studies
Subject: Countries > Spain
Keywords: Spain, art films, director
Publishing date: 1999
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Language: English

Relative size

Physical desc.

Paperback • 372 pages
5 ½ x 8 ½ inches (14 x 21.5 cm)

ISBN-10 ISBN-13

0-19-818414-X
978-0-19-818414-0

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Book Presentation:
• Focuses upon the key films of leading directors working in the art-movie or 'auteurist' tradition in Spanish cinema from 1952 to the present day

The liveliness and importance of Spanish cinema is increasingly being recognised outside Spain, in film festivals, television exposure, and courses in Institutions of Higher Education. To a large extent this is 'auteur' or art-movie cinema. Spanish Cinema concentrates upon that tradition, focusing upon the key films in a period stretching from 1952 to the present day. The term 'auteur' has lately fallen into disrepute. The idea - most actively promoted by Cahiers du Cinema in the late 1950s and early 1960s - that the director is to a film what an author is to a poem, play or novel, has been subjected to much criticism since structuralist and post-structuralist attacks on the author. But even in pre-'death of the author' days film raised its own specific problems about authorship. Nevertheless, since the initial excitement of French critical theory's provocative assault on conventional notions of authorship, and taking into account specific problems related to the collaborative nature of film-making, attempts have recently been made to reclaim some of the ground lost by the author in these critical and theoretical battles.

This volume offers lively readings of films by key directors working to a large extent in the art-movie/'auteurist' field, and aims to strike a balance between representative films, directors and periods. Each chapter concentrates on a single film, discussing it in accessible critical language that takes account both of the distinctiveness of film as an art form and of the material and socio-historical contexts in which each film was made.

About the Author:
Edited by Peter Evans, Professor of Hispanic Studies, Queen Mary and Westfield College, University of London

Press Reviews:
"An important collection of essays on Spanish cinema by leading Hispanic film critics ... this is a collection that will serve as an extremely useful resource for researchers into Spanish film." - Bulletin of Hispanic Studies

"Peter William Evans has assembled a fascinating guide to the achievements of twenty Spanish film-makers over a period of forty years, from the mid-1950s to 1995 ... This book will undoubtedly become a key text for students and specialists in Spanish film." - B. W. Ife, Times Literary Supplement

"Twenty excellent studies of films ... covering significant landmarks of Spanish cinema over the period 1952-1995 ... For the reader interested in one particular film or director, the book is a treat. Expert knowledge of cinema in general and of a director's work in particular combines with a sensitivity to Spanish history, society and politics, resulting in in-depth contextualized analyses of films. A random sample of the essays points to the originality, variety and often exceptional quality of the critical readings ... The choice of directors and films ensures a high level of critical engagement, especially with reference to controversial topics." - Modern Language Review

See the publisher website: Oxford University Press

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