Book Description
In this wonderfully witty and wide-ranging manifesto, noted book and movie critic David Kipen takes dead aim at that old film school canard, the auteur theory, and blows it sky-high with a theory of his own that he supports with a rollicking tour through movie history.
Thanks to the auteurists, everyone nowadays credits the director with being the creative genius behind every movie. But, in what may be the first significant counter-theory to the notion invented by legendary critics Andrew Sarris, Francois Truffaut, and others, Kipen says, "Au contraire."
Instead, inspired by "the mother tongue of America's first screenwriters," he uses the Yiddish word for writer to coin The Schreiber Theory, which decrees that knowing who wrote a film is often a far better-and far more consistent-guide to whether it was any good.
Kipen's new heresy topples the old orthodoxy by studying the careers of the early writers who came to Hollywood from Broadway and the modern scriptwriters coming out of TV. Most usefully, the second half of the book is a who's who of screenwriters past and present, with entries on over 40 of Hollywood's most significant schreibers.
There's plenty of film-world gossip along the way, as well as smart discussion of how the auteur theory took hold and what some other opponents-such as Pauline Kael-had to say about it. From the early days-when Faulkner, Fitzgerald, and Hemingway labored in Hollywood-to today, when international sales are turning scripts into pidgin affairs, it's a clever and savvy consideration of movie-making from a whole new perspective.
David Kipen is the former editor of Buzz Magazine and has written about movies for The Hollywood Reporter, Variety, Boxoffice, The Atlantic Monthly, and The Los Angeles Times. He is currently the book critic for San Francisco Chronicle, as well as a weekly commentator on NPR's Day to Day program and on KCRW-FM in southern California.
Customer Reviews:
Silly Manifesto.......2007-04-01
Because I'm a cinema student hoping to become a director, I was given this little book by someone who laughed when she gave it to me. Because I thought she was playing some kind of trick on me--we often have arguments about what's good and what's bad in film--I put it aside and didn't come on to it until a week or so ago when I was moving. Since it is so mercifully brief, I sat down to read it while I waited for movers--nothing else was around to read. I understood why my friend had laughed--it is one of the silliest of the zillion or so books that appear each year, each author purporting to be an authority on film, and very few of them with any sort of valuable credentials--like Kipan; written what film? directed what film? He thinks screenwriters are the "authors" of films and drags out a few shaky examples that suit him. As film moves into new territory--e.g., filmed graphic novels--the collaborative process has never been clearer, or more exciting with possiblities. Kipan's little book might be compared to a "manifesto" that claims the dancer is the author of a ballet, the pianist the author of the symphony! Certainly, a screenwriter is a major player in the development of film--several writers contribute constantly--as is the director, the producer, the actors and actresses, the extras. These books appearing with regularity are simply maifestations of ego--not "manifestos". People watch films, read about films, and so here's yet another nonsensical contribution. What arrogant nonsense.
A manifesto, but an interesting one.......2007-01-15
A little book which seeks to prove one thing: that it is writers, not directors, who govern the quality of a film. The auteur theory is turned on its head by David Kipen who argues succinctly that writers do not deserve to be as undertrodden as they are.
However, and I know this is a gross generalisation, in a business as money and marketing-oriented as the movie business I think that the 'little guy' is always going to find himself at the bottom of the food chain.
Film Isn't Ballet.......2007-01-02
While it's true this volume is merely an essay disguised as a book, and while it might be argued Kipen seeks, unfortunately, to replace one imbalance (directors overrated in importance) with another (screenwriters receiving equally undue prominence), there's no denying the author has taken aim at a distortion found in many film schools and among practicing critics. This is the idea that film is essentially the selection and arrangement of visual images conceived in a director's head. As one reviewer puts it on this very page, "the language of film is images, not words." But such a view is a patent fallacy: film after all isn't ballet, and even the silents used dialogue cards. In any honest assessment of movies, their verbal element does not deserve such demotion.
Kipen seems to have aroused that angry dismissal which suggests he's put his finger on some received ideas people are loath to reexamine. It's easier to blame the messenger.
Agenda.......2006-12-30
If you have a bias that favors directors you will not enjoy this book. If you are interested in reading an interesting book that sets forth a plausable theory, then read this book. You will enjoy it.
Added muddle.......2006-08-04
A friend in my directors workshop gave me this little book to see what I thought of it. I thought he was recommending it because it was good, even helpful in our field. It isn't. It's a totally naive and not even an original take on the function of screenplays on a finished film. I doubt that Kepen has been actively involved with film-making. If he had, he'd know that the final script is a collaborative effort and that to find the "auteur" involved is so difficult that, often, writers sue for credit. I thought at first that Kepen was satirizing the state of the screenwriter, but he's not. He's just added muddle to the situation of what makes a movie.
Book Description
This digital document is an article from Afterimage, published by Thomson Gale on January 1, 2007. The length of the article is 815 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.
Citation Details
Title: Author versus auteur.(The Schreiber Theory: A Radical Rewrite of American Film History)(Book review)
Author: Lisa Hunter
Publication:
Afterimage (Magazine/Journal)
Date: January 1, 2007
Publisher: Thomson Gale
Volume: 34
Issue: 4
Page: 34(1)
Article Type: Book review
Distributed by Thomson Gale
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- An important and useful work with one flaw.
|
The Twelve-Note Music of Anton Webern: Old Forms in a New Language (Music in the Twentieth Century)
Kathryn Bailey
Manufacturer: Cambridge University Press
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The Atonal Music of Anton Webern
ASIN: 0521547962 |
Book Description
This important new study reassesses the position of Anton Webern in twentieth-century music. The twelve-note method of composition adopted by Anton Webern had profound consequences for composers of the next generation such as Stockhausen and Boulez, who saw Webern’s music as revolutionary. In her detailed analyses, however, Professor Bailey demonstrates a fundamentally traditional aspect to Webern's creativity, when describing his own music. Professor Bailey analyses all Webern’s twelve-note works (from Op. 17 to Op. 31) i.e. the instrumental and vocal music written between 1924 and 1943. These analyses draw on sketch material recently made available at the Paul Sacher Foundation in Basel and include transcriptions of little-known drafts and sketches. A most valuable aspect of the book is the inclusion in appendices of such materials as a complete explanation of the row content of each work, the correct prime form of each of the rows from Op. 20 onwards, with a matrix constructed for each, and exhaustive row analyses.
Customer Reviews:
An important and useful work with one flaw........2006-03-05
I was very glad to receive my copy of this book when it finally became available. I like especially the way the author balances the views of Webern as an innovator and as a traditionalist. If you perform the twelve-tone works of Webern, this book is essential. If you are interested in the thought processes of someone who created this unique and influential musical style, you can't go wrong to start here.
One complaint: the analyses which are printed as an appendix are rendered so small that they are completely illegible. They are a very important part of the book. I suggest that the publisher should make them available as pdf files from their website.
Book Description
Widely recognized as the definitive work in its field ever since its original publication in 1962, Serial Composition and Atonality remains an unsurpassed introduction to the technical features of what is probably the most revolutionary body of work since the beginnings of polyphony. In the analysis of specific compositions there is first and last of all a concern with the musical surface--an attempt to trace connections and distinctions there before offering any deeper-level constructions, and to offer none where their effects are not obvious on more immediate levels of musical experience. In this sixth edition of the book, George Perle employs the new and more consistent terminology for the identification of transpositional levels of twelve-tone sets that he first proposed in Twelve-Tone Tonality (1977).
Customer Reviews:
Most helpful introduction to the idea of serialization in non-tonal music.......2006-01-25
This book, in all its revisions, has been in print for more than thirty-five years. It has been found very useful by students and general readers who are already well versed in tonal music systems and want a primer on the basic ideas behind the serial composition methods that grew up and matured during the 20th Century. The book says that it is an introduction to the music of Schoenberg, Berg, and Webern. While most of the musical examples are drawn from their music, examples from other composers such as Bartok, Babbit, Stravinsky, and others are also included.
Perle lays out some of the basic issues of organization that grew out of atonality and how the idea of sets or rows was used to provide order. He shows various kinds of serial organization including sets fewer than twelve tones, hexachords, and the full twelve tone set. He also does a great job in demonstrating the different ways composers implemented this organization principle. It is important to realize that the information here is really just what it says: an introduction. Composers have come up with many other kinds of implementations of the idea of serialization and sets. It is vital to keep in mind that there is no ordained way of composing with twelve tones. There are some basic postulates in the Schoenberg method, but no composer has to be bound by them other than by choosing to compose music that way.
Perle also shows the reader how composers use these rows and combine them in ways that create effects that are not a part of any of the rows including constructions that look like major and minor triads. Yes, your ear will pick them up quite readily, but the way the "move" is not tonal. However, they provide interesting color and a way for the composer to draw the ear to certain aspects of the composition.
There are also many other technical matters of the "standard" method of serialization that are not included here. But who would expect an introduction to be comprehensive?
A survey of pantonal music.......2001-05-27
Perle's book is considered a classic in the theory world, and well so. It gives a thorough analysis of representative works of not only Schoenberg, Berg, and Webern, but also of Stravinsky, Bartok, and Babbitt. I was able to learn from it many of the tools of serial music and their application in specific pieces. The world of serial composition is actually much broader than I had hitherto realized.
As a composer, I found this book helpful, but I would recommend Charles Wuorinen's SIMPLE COMPOSITION in addition.
My main problem with this book is Perle's consistent use of the word "atonal." This furthers the myth that there is such thing as "atonal music." First of all, serialist work is more accurately "pantonal;" it encompasses all tonalities, and implies all tonalities. Furthermore, it is a misleading term, as there is no music that uses no tones (all sounds have some frequency, and therefore some tone).
This edition is an improvement over an older one. The older edition, which I read, contained a section in the chapter on simultaneity which I thought was absolutely ridiculous. This edition omits the section.
penetrating and accessible.......2000-01-09
As far as I can tell, George Perle's books are the only ones that really come to grips with atonality. Others are either 1) simplistic glosses, 2) pieces of propaganda, or 3) attempts to impress or intimidate the reader (so as to entrench their authors in academia). Having heard one of George Perle's piano sonatas on the radio the other day and once a string quartet of his in concert, I can testify that he is himself a first-rate composer, and isn't it better to read the works of one who has an artistic stake in his subject?
For a contrasting point of view, however, I refer you to--with certain reservations--"Milton Babbitt: Words About Music", edited by Stephen Dembski.
penetrating and accessible.......2000-01-05
As far as I can tell, George Perle's books are the only ones that really come to grips with atonality. Others are either 1) simplistic glosses, 2) pieces of propaganda, or 3) attempts to impress or intimidate the reader (so as to entrench their authors in academia). Having heard one of George Perle's piano sonatas on the radio the other day and once a string quartet of his in concert, I can testify that he is himself a first-rate composer, and isn't it better to read the works of one who has an artistic stake in his subject?
However, for a contrasting point of view, I also recommend--with reservations--"Milton Babbitt: Words about Music", edited by Stephen Dembski. Like George Perle, Milton Babbitt is a prominent serialist composer. As it happens, I'm not a particular fan of his music, and I think his analyses tend miss the substance of the music he analyzes, but he is an influential, articulate, and intelligent exponent worth hearing out.
Clear insight into a complex style........1997-12-23
Although I have not delved into an extensive study of books on this subject, Perle's "Serial Composition and Atonality" provides the reader with an easily approchable look into and often misunderstood art form. He covers the development of the Second Vienese Style from "free" atonality through more complex set structures using plenty of musical examples and "speaks" in a "normal" manner rather than trying to bog down the reader with a lot of complex technobabble (the subject is dry enough to begin with) that looses a person within the first sentence.
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Webern and the Transformation of Nature
Julian Johnson
Manufacturer: Cambridge University Press
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Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 0521661498 |
Book Description
This book considers the idea of nature in the music of Anton Webern. It stands out from other studies because it explores the wider social and cultural dimensions of the music, as opposed to an often narrow, technical analysis. In doing so it offers an important case study for the way in which social ideas can be discussed in relation to apparently "abstract" modern music. Moreover, it does so in relation to musical details, not simply on the level of biography or cultural history.
Book Description
In this book an eminent musical theorist presents the first systematic and in-depth study of the early atonal works of avant-garde Austrian composer Anton Webern. Analyzing such elements as pitch, register, timbre, rhythm, form, and text setting, Allen Forte shows how Webern displaced the functional connections of traditional tonality to create a totally new sonic universe.
Composers of the Twentieth Century Series Allen Forte, general editor
.
Customer Reviews:
stupendous lacunae on an Austrian diamond/timbre cutter.......2002-07-17
The youngsters here making.taking quips at Herr Forte should read/lead with the book,not offering perfunctory commentary based on appriasals and gut wrenches somewhere below the belt. One cannot speak enough about this diamond cutter as Igor Stravinsky had mentioned. When Igor's creativity had run out.
The high points here are the orceshtral music the Cantatas, and the scourings of miniature form. The "bagatelles" for string quartet was quite literally timbres from another sphere,perhaps the sulphur still in the air to be from European bourgeois wars. Forte has plenty of historic data situating each work within a context beyond the tablatures and pitch configurations he is known for. If you are a composer Webern continues to be a viable source for discovery. The first generation, the Darmstadt people, as Nono, Boulez, Stockhausen,Kurtag are all spent,their creativity has run its course. Yet there is/still beauty to be discovered if you know where to look. If all one finds are arrays, and fractal permutations of chordal dyads,hexa.tetra well, please brethren Look Again!, it's all there.
a grudging improvement.......2001-11-12
This is certainly an improvement over "The Structure of Atonal Music", but nevertheless a very grudging one. It backs away from some of the absurdities of the earlier book (which received a barrage of just criticism), whereas it ought simply to abandon them.
I complained (to Stephen Dembski, John Schaffer, and others--it may have got back to this author) about the earlier book that it uses "tetrachord" to mean "any set of four notes", whereas "tetrachord" really means a four-note contiguous segment of a scale or tone row. The same complaint applies, of course, to its use of "trichord". This new book at least acknowledges my complaint. It says, "`Trichord', incidentally, is preferred over `triad,' since the latter is associated with a familiar type of configuration in tonal harmony."
This is like saying, "Since `fork' is associated with the thing with which I eat roast beef and mashed potatoes, if ever I am served lasagna I will eat it with my hands." No: We can use language in a civilized manner. A triad in general is a set of three things. A triad in music is a set of three notes. (A set--in both the general and the mathematical senses--by definition is unordered.) The "tri" in "triad" refers to the number of notes ONLY; it does NOT refer to the interval by which a chord is constructed. Thus we can speak of quartal triads as well as of diatonic tertian triads ("a familiar type of configuration in tonal harmony"). Note, for example, that a chord built in fifths is quintal, which is Latin, whereas a five-note scale is a pentatonic scale, which is Greek. We use Latin for the interval of construction (tertian, quintal); we use Greek for the number of notes in the scale (pentatonic), chord (triad, pentad), or contiguous scale, melody, or tone row segment (trichord, pentachord). The metric system makes an analogous distinction: decimeters, centimeters, and millimeters (Latin) are little, whereas decameters, hectometers, and kilometers (Greek) are big. (That the Romans were rather like "Star Trek"'s The Borg, intent on assimilation, has unfortunate small and large consequences: 1) We can't make this distinction between octal chords and octads, and "tri" actually passed from Greek to Latin--essentially it's Greek, though. 2) The Roman Catholic Church.)
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Webern and the Lyric Impulse: Songs and Fragments on Poems of George Trakl (Studies in Musical Genesis and Structure)
Anne C. Shreffler
Manufacturer: Oxford University Press, USA
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ASIN: 0198162243 |
Book Description
This study provides a new view of a composer long considered to be one of the century's most rigorously intellectual creators, Anton Webern. By examining a central pre-twelve-tone work, the Trakl cycle, Op 14, in the context of the Viennese intellectual and artistic climate, Professor Shreffler shows how Webern's responses to Trakl's complex verse enabled him to expand his musical vocabulary. The author's emphasis on Webern's compositional process is of particular importance: whether because of the anxiety of creating a new musical language, or because of an innate hyper-perfectionism (or both), Webern rejected most of what he composed. A close examination of the manuscript sources - fragments, sketches, and fair copies - of Webern's comparatively neglected middle-period lieder enables her to shed light on Webern's musical language and his working methods. A focus on the sources also helps to modify the view that his music progressed steadily in the direction of the twelve-tone technique. The works reveal instead a concern with expressing the essence of the text; this lyricism, rather than articulating a substantially different aesthetic from the later works, provides a better understanding of the consummate lyricism of all his music, however compressed or fragmented its utterance in the `classic' twelve-tone works.
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Webern Studies (Cambridge Composer Studies)
Manufacturer: Cambridge University Press
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ASIN: 0521475260 |
Book Description
This book looks at the music of Webern from several new perspectives. The most recent Webern scholarship has emphasized Webern's lyricism, and this is a theme running through Webern Studies. Other techniques not generally associated with Webern are also explored: two chapters illustrate and examine his apparent early interest in octatonic and pitch-specific motivic collections. In addition to previously unpublished entries from Webern's diaries, the volume includes all the row tables for his twelve-note music. There is also a new and comprehensive Webern bibliography.
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Path to the New Music
Anton Webern
Manufacturer: European American Music Corp.
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ASIN: 3702400303 |
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Critical Postmodernism in Human Movement: Rethinking the Profession (Suny Series on Sport, Culture and Social Relations)
Manufacturer: State University of New York Press
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Critical Postmodernism in Human Movement, Physical Education, and Sport: Rethinking the Profession (Suny Series on Sport, Culture and Social Relations)
Manufacturer: State University of New York Press
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ASIN: 0791435156 |
Book Description
This book proposes alternative ways of looking at human movement and brings into question the traditional role of the human-movement profession as an agent of social and cultural reproduction. The authors argue that the profession has traditionally shaped physical activities in schools and communities in disempowering ways and has adversely influenced how people view their bodies, apply physical activities to their lives, and use and understand the knowledge in the field.
To raise awareness of the possibilities of postmodernism for human movement, the contributors employ a critical postmodern conceptualization of the profession to explore the conflicts within it; to ask what can be done to strengthen it; to investigate how professional relations and meanings can be constructed within a new realm of justice, freedom, and equity; and to discuss the professional and civic principles to which the profession should subscribe.
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- Gripping and disturbing - I couldn't put it down
- Let the truth be told
- My review
- The Best Book I've Ever Read
- A must read for anyone concerned about newspapers
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The Chain Gang: 1 Newspaper Versus the Gannett Empire
Manufacturer: Blackstone Audiobooks
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E. W. Scripps and the Business of Newspapers (History of Communication)
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The New Media Monopoly
ASIN: 0786116501 |
Amazon.com
One of the biggest under-told stories of the past 20 years is the engulfing of independent newspapers by large media chains. The Chain Gang is the account of two battles waged by Richard McCord with his independent newspapers against the Gannett Company. In Santa Fe, New Mexico, a small weekly he started had to fight for survival against Gannett and its nasty tactics. In Green Bay, Wisconsin, he again waged war against Gannett. His experiences make for a fascinating narrative and provide a real-life account of the struggle for an independent voice in the face of a corporate steamroller.
Customer Reviews:
Gripping and disturbing - I couldn't put it down.......2003-12-31
You don't have to be in the newspaper business to find this book interesting. Even if all you do is read newspapers, or use them to line the rabbit cage, you will be astonished. This exhaustively researched, extremely well-written account demonstrates in graphic detail the lengths to which a desperate monopolist will go to achieve and preserve its monopoly profits. This is a really important book.
Let the truth be told.......2002-05-16
For one who was currently employed by Gannett and had never heard of its ways, this book could be a kick in the face.
I enjoyed "The Chain Gang" because of its raw, solid descriptions of what tactics someone can use to get what they want. It almost reminded me of a spoiled child. Richard McCord, its author, is obviously a very hardworking man who genuinely cares about what he does. Above all, he must have a big heart for people and the journalistic business itself.
This book did more than provide an interesting view to its readers, it provided information for one to learn from. It was full of details, honesty, and insight. McCord shared his every thought with the reader about the whole ordeal, begining with his struggles in New Mexico. He was honest about his feelings about the whole Green Bay Project, the people he came in contact with, the homesickness he felt and even how he felt after a hangover his next to last night in Green Bay. The reader appreciates honesty instead of words that are just expected.
The book, however provided too much detail at times. No being interested in law, there were times I got bored with the different cases and rulings that were thrown out at me throughout the book. Often times, I lost my concentration because of this. It felt, at other times, that he went on and on about some of Gannett's tactics as if this way was his only means to get the message across. Sometimes I think short would have been sweeter.
All in all, the book was very informative and a fairly easy read. I would recommend it to anyone before they began working for a Gannett-owened paper. It just might make them change their mind.
My review.......2002-05-10
The Chain Gang, written by Richard McCord, was an interesting synopsis featuring the undermining practices of the Gannett Empire. He tells his own story of his dealings with this masterful mega-chain and also his personal crusade against it. Overall the book was an excellent read and a necessary referance for any community journalist.
The information McCord produces with this book is almost overwhelming. He has no problem showcasting everything he discovered about Gannett, no matter how ugly. The shocking quality and amazing clarity of his wods would grab even those who are not at all interested in the details of the newspaper.
Another great aspect of the book is the way it lets the reader flow through it. The words are not unnecessarily difficult and the tone keeps the pages turning. The book leaves room for more thn just journalism issues. I think you can even substitute the newspapers for other kinds of businesses and still get the point across. We always need to fight for the underdogs, if not for them than for our own good.
There was one part of the book that I did not particularly care for. I thought McCord repeated some things too many times. I know he wanted to instill Gannett's crimes into our minds, but I found myself skipping over parts where it seemed like I had already heard about them. Besides this, I think the book was great and I am very glad I was able to purchase it.
The Best Book I've Ever Read.......2001-08-03
This is an incredible book. First of all, it's a great read. It's written by a journalist and it's compelling--I couldn't put it down. It should be made into a movie. And it's all true.
It recounts how Gannett, the nation's biggest newspaper chain, resorts to illegal, and immoral tactics to force other newspapers out of business. Gannett can be perfectly profitable WITHOUT eliminating the competition, but if it has a monopoly, it can make over 30 percent profits with its newspapers.
This book also tells what Gannett does to the papers it consumes--namely, slashes content, puts articles about dogs on the front pages, increases advertising, raises subscription AND advertiser rates, fires lots of employees, etc.
A must read for anyone concerned about newspapers.......2000-08-20
As a newsroom employee of a once-proud independent newspaper that was bought by the Gannett chain in 1997, I was told by colleagues who had read "The Chain Gang" that the book was a cautionary tale which would reveal the dark side of the corporation that had become my new employer. Unfortunately, I didn't take those warnings seriously enough, and I took my time about picking up the book. Now that a few years have gone by, and the newsroom staff at the paper I worked for has been decimated by the kind of cutbacks the bean-counters at unscrupulous corporations like Gannett delight in, I wish I'd read "The Chain Gang" much sooner.
If you're in the newspaper business and not working for Gannett yet, the chances grow greater each year that you will be. "The Chain Gang" helps explain why, and it's a sordid story.
By the way, I now refer to the newspaper mentioned at the beginning of this review as the paper I "worked" for, because after I challenged whether the paper and Gannett were living up to a corporate "ethics policy" Gannett professes to have adopted in 1999, I was transferred, against my wishes, to a much smaller newspaper the company owns. I'm continuing to try to fight that action -- not that I hope to have any kind of career with Gannett, of course -- but it would probably help to have someone like Richard McCord on my side, in his feistiest, most energized mode.
Having said that, my only real complaint with "The Chain Gang" is the melancholy, defeatist tone of much of McCord's epilogue, in which, despite the admirable personal triumphs he scored in battling Gannett, he ultimately depicts his efforts as gestures bordering on futility. But I can hardly fault McCord for his candor -- something any Gannett employee is bound to find refreshing.
It's truly appalling that such a shady company is among the corporations to which Americans apparently will be entrusting an increasingly disproportionate responsibility for upholding a freedom as precious as the First Amendment.
Can I give "The Chain Gang" any higher praise than to say that upon reading it I immediately bought a half-dozen copies to distribute to friends in the journalism business? But you needn't be a reporter or editor to appreciate this book. In fact, the focus is less on the journalism side of the newspaper business than it is on the advertising and marketing side. But that's appropriate, since that's clearly where Gannett's focus is too.
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