Acinemas - by Graham Jones & Ashley Woodward (Paperback)

About the Book

This collection presents, for the first time in English, all of Lyotard's major essays on film, an introductory essay by the leading French scholar on Lyotard's film-philosophy, an overview of Lyotard's practical film projects written by his collaborators, and a selection of critical essays by philosophers and film theorists.

Book Synopsis

This collection presents, for the first time in English, Jean-François Lyotard's major essays on film: 'Acinema', 'The Unconscious as Mise-en-scène', 'Two Metamorphoses of the Seductive in Cinema' and 'The Idea of a Sovereign Film'. Then, eight critical essays by philosophers and film theorists examine Lyotard's film work and influence across two sections: 'Approaches and Interpretations' and 'Applications and Extensions'. These works are complemented by an introductory essay by leading French scholar Jean-Michel Durafour on Lyotard's film-philosophy, an overview of Lyotard's practical film projects written by his collaborators Claudine Eizykman and Guy Fihman, and the synopsis for a later film project Memorial Immemorial, which Lyotard proposed but was not produced.
Jean-François Lyotard was the most significant aesthetician of the poststructuralist generation, but this dimension of his thought is only recently beginning to receive the attention it deserves in the English-speaking world. He devoted a number of essays to film, and was involved in making several experimental short films. Lyotard's reflections on film offer a perspective which seeks to do justice to it as an art by focusing on its aesthetic, material qualities. His work in this area remains a largely untapped resource, with the potential for inaugurating exciting new directions in film-philosophy.

From the Back Cover

'The authors in this collection identify the paradox that the other visual arts were a more pervasive reference for Lyotard himself than was film in developing his theories. Yet it was acinema, the most experimental uses of cinema, that provided additional challenges for his unique theories of the figural. The contention of this book is one that I applaud - that Lyotard, a philosopher of drift and transformations of all forms, should be given more attention in any philosophy of film.' Maureen Cheryn Turim, University of Florida The first major survey of Lyotard's contribution to film theory Jean-François Lyotard was the most significant aesthetician of the poststructuralist generation, but this dimension of his thought is only recently beginning to receive the attention it deserves in the English-speaking world. He devoted a number of essays to film, and was also practically engaged in making several experimental short films. Lyotard's reflections on film offer a perspective which seeks to do justice to it as an art by focusing on its aesthetic, material qualities. His work in this area remains a largely untapped resource, with the potential for inaugurating exciting new directions in film-philosophy. This collection presents for the first time in English all of Lyotard's major essays on film, an introductory essay by the leading French scholar on Lyotard's film-philosophy, an overview of Lyotard's practical film projects written by his collaborators, and a selection of critical essays by philosophers and film theorists. Graham Jones is a Lecturer in Creative Writing, Literary Studies, and Media and Communication at Federation University, Australia. Ashley Woodward is a Lecturer in Philosophy at the University of Dundee. Cover image: La Région Centrale [film still], 1971, Michael Snow, 16mm film, 180 minutes, colour, sound. Image courtesy of Michael Snow Cover design: [EUP logo] edinburghuniversitypress.com ISBN (cover): 978-1-4744-1894-2 ISBN (PPC): 978-1-4744-1893-5 Barcode

Review Quotes

Acinemas serves its purpose admirably: to prompt further thinking about Lyotard and film, and to offer some stimulating resources for so doing.--Dominic Lash "Film-Philosophy"

The authors in this collection identify the paradox that the other visual arts were a more pervasive reference for Lyotard himself than was film in developing his theories. Yet it was acinema, the most experimental uses of cinema that provided additional challenges for his unique theories of the figural. The contention of this book is one that I applaud - that Lyotard, a philosopher of drift and transformations of all forms, should be given more attention in any philosophy of film.-- "Maureen Cheryn Turim, University of Florida"

About the Author

Graham Jones is Lecturer in Creative Writing, Literary Studies and Media and Communications at Federation University, Australia. He is the author of Lyotard Reframed (I.B.Tauris, 2013), co-author of Deleuze's Philosophical Lineage (Edinburgh University Press, 2009) and Deleuze's Philosophical Lineage II (Edinburgh University Press, 2019), and co-editor of Acinemas: Lyotard's Philosophy of Film (Edinburgh University Press, 2017). His research interests include French poststructuralist philosophy, phenomenology and cybernetics.

Ashley Woodward is Lecturer in Philosophy at the University of Dundee and is a founding member of the Melbourne School of Continental Philosophy. He is the author and editor of a number of books, including Lyotard and the Inhuman Condition: Reflections on Nihilism, Information and Art (Edinburgh University Press, 2016), Gilbert Simondon: Being and Technology (Edinburgh University Press, 2012) and Nihilism in Postmodernity: Lyotard, Baudrillard, Vattimo (The Davies Group, 2009).