Cavell on Film by Stanley Cavell

Cavell on Film by Stanley Cavell

A collection of the philosopher Stanley Cavell's most important writings on cinema.

Stanley Cavell was the first philosopher in the Anglo-American tradition to make film a central concern of his work, and this volume offer a substantially complete retrospective of his writings on cinema, which continues to offer inspiration and new directions to the field of film and media studies. The essays and other writings collected here include major theoretical statements and extended critical studies of individual films and filmmakers, as well as occasional pieces, all of which illustrate Cavell's practice of film-philosophy as it developed in the decades following the publication of his landmark work, The World Viewed. This revised edition includes six additional essays, five of them previously unpublished, that illuminate his inspiring vision of a humanistic study rooted in a marriage of film and philosophy. In his introduction and in the preface to this new edition, William Rothman provides an overview of Cavell's work on film and his aims as a philosopher more generally.

"Cavell on Film, now in its expanded, second edition carries Cavell's work ardently into the twenty-first centuryIn gathering together some of his most beloved essays on film into a single volume, Cavell on Film provides an inviting entry point into Cavell's distinctive understanding of American cinema as a partner in philosophical reflection rather than its object of study … Rothman gestures with the hope that Cavell's vision of film and philosophy as humanistic endeavors will guide future scholars. This edition does not try to secure Cavell's legacy; it simply places his writings in the hands of those ready to hear them." — Australasian Journal of American Studies

"A perfect stand-alone intro to Cavell's overarching project, namely to transmit his continuously amazed perception that film exists as an instantiation of philosophy itself." — Film Comment

William Rothman is Professor of Cinematic Arts at the University of Miami. His many books include The Holiday in His Eye: Stanley Cavell's Vision of Film and Philosophy and Tuitions and Intuitions: Essays at the Intersection of Film Criticism and Philosophy, both published by SUNY Press.