{"product_id":"archaic-modernism-daniel-humphrey-9780814343104","title":"Archaic Modernism: Queer Poetics in the Cinema of Pier Paolo Pasolini","description":"\u003cp\u003e \u003cb\u003eDetailed textual readings evoking the archaic sensibility and modernist style of Pier Paolo Pasolini.\u003c\/b\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn \u003ci\u003eArchaic Modernism\u003c\/i\u003e, Daniel Humphrey offers the first book-length, English-language examination of three adaptations of Greek tragedy produced by the gay and Marxist Italian filmmaker Pier Paolo Pasolini: \u003ci\u003eOedipus Rex\u003c\/i\u003e (1967), \u003ci\u003eMedea\u003c\/i\u003e (1969), and \u003ci\u003eNotes Towards an African Orestes\u003c\/i\u003e (1970\/1973). Considering Pasolini's own theories of a \"Cinema of Poetry\" alongside Jacques Derrida's concept of \u003ci\u003eécriture\u003c\/i\u003e, as well as more recent scholarship by queer theory scholars advocating for an antirelational and antisocial subjectivity, Humphrey maintains that Pasolini's Greek tragedy films exemplify a paradoxical sense of \"archaic modernism\" that is at the very heart of the filmmaker's project. More daringly, he contends that they ultimately reveal the queer roots of Western civilization's formative texts.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003ci\u003eArchaic Modernism\u003c\/i\u003e is comprised of three chapters. Chapter 1 focuses on \u003ci\u003eOedipus Rex\u003c\/i\u003e, assessing both the filmic language employed and the deeply queer mythological source material that haunts the tragedy even as it remains largely at a subtextual yet palpable level. Chapter 2 extends and deepens the concept of queer fate and queer negativity in a scene-by-scene analysis of \u003ci\u003eMedea\u003c\/i\u003e. Chapter 3 looks at the most obscure of Pasolini's feature length films, \u003ci\u003eNotes Towards an African Orestes\u003c\/i\u003e, a film long misunderstood as an unwitting failure, but which could perhaps best be understood as a deliberate, sacrificial act on the filmmaker's part. Considering the film as the third in an informal, maybe unconscious, trilogy, Humphrey concludes his monograph by arguing that this \"trilogy of myth\" can best be understood as a deconstruction, gradually more and more severe, of three of the most important origin tales of Western civilization.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003ci\u003eArchaic Modernism \u003c\/i\u003emakes the case that these three films are as essential as those Pasolini films more often studied in the Anglophone world: \u003ci\u003eMamma Roma\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eThe Gospel According to Matthew\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eTeorema\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eThe Trilogy of Life\u003c\/i\u003e, and \u003ci\u003eSalò\u003c\/i\u003e, and that they are of continuing, perhaps even increasing, value today. This book is of specific interest to scholars, students, and researchers of film and queer studies.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Daniel Humphrey\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 0814343104\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780814343104\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Wayne State University Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 11\/10\/2020\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 336\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 0.56lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 9.00h x 6.00w x 0.40d\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eReview Citation(s): \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eChoice\u003c\/i\u003e 07\/01\/2021","brand":"Daniel Humphrey","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":43983318909183,"sku":"9780814343104","price":35.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/files\/img_ae376663-56fc-48b8-b6c4-f4c087d0c5fb.jpg?v=1683265935","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/archaic-modernism-daniel-humphrey-9780814343104","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}