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Date: | Tue, 3 Jul 2007 15:12:08 -0700 |
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Dear Screen-L:
The University of California Press is pleased to announce the publication of:
Uncanny Bodies: The Coming of Sound Film and the Origins of the Horror Genre
Robert Spadoni is Assistant Professor in the English Department at
Case Western Reserve University.
http://go.ucpress.edu/Spadoni
"_Uncanny Bodies_ is a pleasure to read. I know of no other work that
has looked as closely at early sound and horror films to make a
persuasive argument about horror's relation to the beginnings of
sound film. Given the voluminous literature on Universal horror
films, Spadoni presents some very original ideas and frames his
inquiry in an interesting way."-Jan-Christopher Horak, editor of
_Lovers of Cinema: The First American Film Avant-Garde, 1919-1945_
In 1931 Universal Pictures released _Dracula _and _Frankenstein, _two
films that inaugurated the horror genre in Hollywood cinema. These
films appeared directly on the heels of Hollywood's transition to
sound film. _Uncanny Bodies _argues that the coming of sound inspired
more in these massively influential horror movies than screams,
creaking doors, and howling wolves. A close examination of the
historical reception of films of the transition period reveals that
sound films could seem to their earliest viewers unreal and ghostly.
By comparing this audience impression to the first sound horror
films, Robert Spadoni makes a case for understanding film viewing as
a force that can powerfully shape both the minutest aspects of
individual films and the broadest sweep of film production trends,
and for seeing aftereffects of the temporary weirdness of sound film
deeply etched in the basic character of one of our most enduring film
genres.
Full information about the book, including the table of contents, is
available online: http://go.ucpress.edu/Spadoni
--
Lolita Guevarra
Electronic Marketing Coordinator
University of California Press
Tel. 510.643.4738 | Fax 510.643.7127
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