Kevin Rockett

Emer Rockett

This book is the first volume in a two-volume set on the history of cinema in Ireland from the 18th century to the present day (the second companion volume is titled Film Exhibition and Distribution in Ireland, 1909-2010). What the book demonstrates is that prior to cinema there were already huge numbers of people in Ireland, from all classes, who regularly enjoyed proto-cinematic experiences through such entertainments as the magic lantern, or slide projector; the immersive large-scale paintings known as panoramas; and tableaux vivants, or theatrical-posed static representations of paintings, statues, and events. Without these entertainments - many developed by Irish inventors and pioneers - not only would cinema's moving-pictures have been unimaginable, but so, too, would the cinema space itself and the distribution of film. Ultimately, the book is offered as a contribution towards a deeper understanding of popular visual culture (and its intersection with science) in Ireland from the 18th-century onwards. *** "Kevin Rockett and Emer Rockett's book is a richly researched, engaging...picture of visual and optical entertainments in Ireland, ranging from the first phantasmagoria shows in the 1790s to the establishment of the first purpose-built cinemas....The authors build on recent work influenced by the idea that the site of an exhibition helped determine not only how it took place, but the meanings it produced and the experience of its audience." - Victorian Studies, Vol. 56, No. 1, Autumn 2014~

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