Eibhear Walshe

Gwenda Young

The 'Irish Big House' novelist, Molly Keane, was born in 1904, and in 2005 the Department of English at University College Cork will host an international conference. This book gathers these essays together to explore the writings of this important literary voice within twentieth-century Irish writing. Scholars of Irish literature from the US, Spain and Ireland presents perspectives on many aspects of her creative output, looking at a fascinating literary career which lasted from 1926 until 1993. This book draws together contemporary critical perspectives on this unique voice in Irish writing, the subversive voice of the Big House novelist charting the end of her class and the immanent collapse of a literary genre.

Essays in Contemporary Criticism

Molly Keane

Greta Garbo proclaimed him as her favorite director. Actors, actresses, and even child stars were so at ease under his direction that they were able to deliver inspired and powerful performances. Academy--Award--nominated director Clarence Brown (1890--1987) worked with some of Hollywood's greatest stars, such as Clark Gable, Joan Crawford, Mickey Rooney, Katharine Hepburn, and Spencer Tracy. Known as the "star maker," he helped guide the acting career of child sensation Elizabeth Taylor (of whom he once said, "she has a face that is an act of God") and discovered Academy--Award--winning child star Claude Jarman Jr. for The Yearling (1946). He directed more than fifty films, including Possessed (1931), Anna Karenina (1935), National Velvet (1944), and Intruder in the Dust (1949), winning his audiences over with glamorous star vehicles, tales of families, communities, and slices of Americana, as well as hard-hitting dramas. Although Brown was admired by peers like Jean Renoir, Frank Capra, and John Ford, his illuminating work and contributions to classic cinema are rarely mentioned in the same breath as those of Hollywood's great directors. In this first full-length account of the life and career of the pioneering filmmaker, Gwenda Young discusses Brown's background to show how his hardworking parents and resilient grandparents inspired his entrepreneurial spirit. She reveals how the one--time engineer and World War I aviator established a thriving car dealership, the Brown Motor Car Company, in Alabama -- only to give it all up to follow his dream of making movies. He would not only become a brilliant director but also a craftsman who was known for his innovative use of lighting and composition. In a career spanning five decades, Brown was nominated for five Academy Awards and directed ten different actors in Oscar-nominated performances. Despite his achievements and influence, however, Brown has been largely overlooked by film scholars. Clarence Brown: Hollywood's Forgotten Master explores the forces that shaped a complex man -- part--dreamer, part--pragmatist -- who left an indelible mark on cinema.

Hollywood's Forgotten Master

Clarence Brown

Barry Monahan

Laura Rascaroli

With the advent of digital filmmaking and critical recognition of the relevance of self expression, first-person narratives, and personal practices of memorialization, interest in the amateur moving image has never been stronger. Bringing together key scholars in the field, and revealing the rich variety of amateur filmmaking-from home movies of Imperial India and film diaries of life in contemporary China, to the work of leading auteurs such as Joseph Morder and Péter Forgács-Amateur Filmmaking highlights the importance of amateur cinema as a core object of critical interest across an array of disciplines. With contributions on the role of the archive, on YouTube, and on the impact of new technologies on amateur filmmaking, these essays offer the first comprehensive examination of this growing field.

Gwenda Young

Books

Your next favorite book is out there