Books read in May
Jun. 3rd, 2009 09:58 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kestrellI've been reading lots of articles on horror film criticism which I am not going to exhaustively list here, thus the somewhat low total number of books read this month, but I do want to mention this book which just sounds all sorts of fascinating to me:
The Tactile Eye: Touch and the Cinematic Experience by Jennifer M. Barker
Product Description
The Tactile Eye expands on phenomenological analysis and film theory in its accessible and beautifully written exploration of the visceral connection between
films and their viewers. Jennifer M. Barker argues that the experience of cinema can be understood as deeply tactile--a sensuous exchange between film
and viewer that goes beyond the visual and aural, gets beneath the skin, and reverberates in the body. Barker combines analysis of embodiment and phenomenological
film theory to provide an expansive description of cinematic tactility.
1. The Skylark by Peter Straub (2009) [scanned myself]
Read for review.
2. Philosophy in the Twilight Zone edited by Noel Carroll and Lester H. Hunt (2009) [scanned myself]
Read for review.
3. Various stories from Bound for Evil edited by Tom English (2008) [scanned myself]
A book about evil books! I *love* this book, and I think I love Tom English for producing it, even though I think he must indeed be a Tom O'Bedlam to have done it (it's quite the tome of doom and could effectively if not easily be used as a blunt weapon).
More about Bound for Evil here
http://kestrell.livejournal.com/504233.html
4. Midnight Movies by J. Hoberman and Jonathan Rosenbaum (1991) [Bookshare.org]
The main focus is The Rocky Horror Picture Show, although this is also used to introduce a cultural history of the midnight movie which includes a lot of interesting material; it also contained way more discussion of Waters and Lynch than I was up for, but it's a very browse-worthy book.
5. The Monstrous Feminine by Barbara Creed (1993) [scanned myself]
Part of my ongoing project to research horror film criticism. This book is somewhat interesting in that it attempts to categorize a number of "archetypal" female monsters, but the psychoanalytical jargon is pretty dense. Do female monsters terrify because they represent the castrated mother or because they represent the castrating mother? I remain ambivalent about this question, bad media studies scholar.
6. The American Horror Film: An Introduction by Reynold Humphries (2002) [scanned myself]
Again, dense with the psychoanalytical jargon but few horror film scholars come close to Humphries's in describing film shots and editing and his observations on how such elements influence both the narrative and the audience's reactions.
Mazes of the Serpent: An Anatomy of Horror Narrative by Roger B. Salomon (2002) [scanned myself]
Intriguing little book which, unlike Noel Carroll and other cognitive theorists who claim that "art-horror" operates differently than the horror of the real world, examines the similarities between horror fiction and horrifying narratives which describe real events or experiences. Salomon keeps coming back to the experience of existence in a WW2 concentration camp and the narratives of survivors who discuss having to accept the senselessness of such horror.
7. American Horrors edited by Gregory A. Waller () (1987[scanned myself]
Contains a couple of top-notch essays including one on reflexiveness and images of the eye in Halloween.
8. Existentialism: A Very Short Introduction by Thomas Flynn (2006) [Bookshare.org]
Published as one of an extensive series by the Oxford University Press, this text was Not quite as short as I came to wish but helpful in highlighting the most important philosophers and their ideas.
9. Matty Groves by Deborah Grabien (2005) [scanned myself]
This book is part of a series of mysteries about a folk rock group who find themselves involved in a centuries-old tragedy which has been popularized through the ballad of the title. Perhaps its my growing disappointment with stories which seem to be founded upon the abuse of women but, despite some interesting characters, I am officially giving up on finishing this novel. It's only about 250 pages, but I just don't care to spend any more time having to live through the abuse and rape of the woman who ends up being one of the ghosts in the story. I know this seems sort of ironic in that I love horrlor and am currently reading piles of film criticism on the subject of the final girl, but dammit, final girls get to do stuff, and that's really what I want to see more female characters doing. Part of what is getting to me in this book is that two of the female bandmates get to themselves be physically abused while, it is implied, sooner or later the male leader of the band will solve the mystery, sometime after he gets invaded by one of the ghosts and hits his own girlfriend. Okay, I'm done.
The Tactile Eye: Touch and the Cinematic Experience by Jennifer M. Barker
Product Description
The Tactile Eye expands on phenomenological analysis and film theory in its accessible and beautifully written exploration of the visceral connection between
films and their viewers. Jennifer M. Barker argues that the experience of cinema can be understood as deeply tactile--a sensuous exchange between film
and viewer that goes beyond the visual and aural, gets beneath the skin, and reverberates in the body. Barker combines analysis of embodiment and phenomenological
film theory to provide an expansive description of cinematic tactility.
1. The Skylark by Peter Straub (2009) [scanned myself]
Read for review.
2. Philosophy in the Twilight Zone edited by Noel Carroll and Lester H. Hunt (2009) [scanned myself]
Read for review.
3. Various stories from Bound for Evil edited by Tom English (2008) [scanned myself]
A book about evil books! I *love* this book, and I think I love Tom English for producing it, even though I think he must indeed be a Tom O'Bedlam to have done it (it's quite the tome of doom and could effectively if not easily be used as a blunt weapon).
More about Bound for Evil here
http://kestrell.livejournal.com/504233.html
4. Midnight Movies by J. Hoberman and Jonathan Rosenbaum (1991) [Bookshare.org]
The main focus is The Rocky Horror Picture Show, although this is also used to introduce a cultural history of the midnight movie which includes a lot of interesting material; it also contained way more discussion of Waters and Lynch than I was up for, but it's a very browse-worthy book.
5. The Monstrous Feminine by Barbara Creed (1993) [scanned myself]
Part of my ongoing project to research horror film criticism. This book is somewhat interesting in that it attempts to categorize a number of "archetypal" female monsters, but the psychoanalytical jargon is pretty dense. Do female monsters terrify because they represent the castrated mother or because they represent the castrating mother? I remain ambivalent about this question, bad media studies scholar.
6. The American Horror Film: An Introduction by Reynold Humphries (2002) [scanned myself]
Again, dense with the psychoanalytical jargon but few horror film scholars come close to Humphries's in describing film shots and editing and his observations on how such elements influence both the narrative and the audience's reactions.
Mazes of the Serpent: An Anatomy of Horror Narrative by Roger B. Salomon (2002) [scanned myself]
Intriguing little book which, unlike Noel Carroll and other cognitive theorists who claim that "art-horror" operates differently than the horror of the real world, examines the similarities between horror fiction and horrifying narratives which describe real events or experiences. Salomon keeps coming back to the experience of existence in a WW2 concentration camp and the narratives of survivors who discuss having to accept the senselessness of such horror.
7. American Horrors edited by Gregory A. Waller () (1987[scanned myself]
Contains a couple of top-notch essays including one on reflexiveness and images of the eye in Halloween.
8. Existentialism: A Very Short Introduction by Thomas Flynn (2006) [Bookshare.org]
Published as one of an extensive series by the Oxford University Press, this text was Not quite as short as I came to wish but helpful in highlighting the most important philosophers and their ideas.
9. Matty Groves by Deborah Grabien (2005) [scanned myself]
This book is part of a series of mysteries about a folk rock group who find themselves involved in a centuries-old tragedy which has been popularized through the ballad of the title. Perhaps its my growing disappointment with stories which seem to be founded upon the abuse of women but, despite some interesting characters, I am officially giving up on finishing this novel. It's only about 250 pages, but I just don't care to spend any more time having to live through the abuse and rape of the woman who ends up being one of the ghosts in the story. I know this seems sort of ironic in that I love horrlor and am currently reading piles of film criticism on the subject of the final girl, but dammit, final girls get to do stuff, and that's really what I want to see more female characters doing. Part of what is getting to me in this book is that two of the female bandmates get to themselves be physically abused while, it is implied, sooner or later the male leader of the band will solve the mystery, sometime after he gets invaded by one of the ghosts and hits his own girlfriend. Okay, I'm done.
