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      • Trusted Partner
        The Arts
        January 2019

        Alejandro Amenábar

        by Barry Jordan

        Since the release of his first feature in 1996, Alejandro Amenábar has become the 'golden boy' of Spanish filmmaking, a bankable star director whose brand virtually guarantees quality, big audiences and domestic box office success. He has directed three of the highest-grossing movies in Spanish film history and has enjoyed enormous international and critical acclaim, including an Oscar for Best Foreign Film for Mar Adentro/The Sea Inside, 2004. This book is the first full-length study in English of Amenábar's shorts and feature films. It provides detailed analysis of his engagement with popular film genres as the basis for an auteur cinema and incorporates a reappraisal of his auteurism as fundamentally decentred and shared. An essential resource for students, scholars and fans of Amenábar, the book will also appeal to a wider readership, including professionals in the film, media and culture industries as well as those who have a general interest in the best of Spanish, European and world cinema.

      • Trusted Partner
        The Arts
        June 2021

        Cinesonica

        Sounding film and video

        by Andy Birtwistle

        Cinesonica: sounding film and video explores previously neglected and under-theorised aspects of film and video sound, drawing on detailed case study analyses of Hollywood cinema, art cinema, animated cartoons, and avant-garde film and video. Adopting an interdisciplinary approach to the study of the soundtrack, and breaking away from the focus on narrative and signification that has tended to dominate the study of film sound, the book examines the way in which sound's materiality figures within audiovisual experience. Through a close examination of sound-image relations in a range of film and video forms and genres - including Warner Bros. cartoons, scratch video, and artist's film and video - Cinesonica recasts the film and video text as the meeting point of audio and visual materialities, cultural practices and perceptual activity. The interdisciplinary approach adopted by the book makes its discussion of sound of interest to those studying and working in a range of subject disciplines, including film studies, sound studies, sonic arts, cultural studies, music and art history.

      • Trusted Partner
        The Arts
        July 2006

        Hollywood romantic comedy

        States of Union, 1934–1965

        by Kathrina Glitre

        This book explores the changing representation of the couple, focusing on themes of marriage, equality and desire. Kathrina Glitre moves beyond the usual screwball territory to consider cycles of production from 1934-65. The central concern with the representation of the couple is distinctive and includes discussion of three star couples: Myrna Loy and William Powell, Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy, and Doris Day and Rock Hudson. Glitre offers explanations of genre, as well as detailed analysis of screwball comedy, career woman comedy and sex comedy. Each cycle is placed into context to analyse cultural discourses around heterosexuality, gender, romance and love. This structure also enables a more sophisticated understanding of such conventions as masquerade, gender inversion and the happy ending. The book will appeal to university students and academics working on genre, gender, culture and representation, and anyone with a keen interest in Hollywood romantic comedy. ;

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        Humanities & Social Sciences
        January 2013

        Tyrants of Sicily by Hugo Falcandus

        by Graham Loud, Thomas Wiedemann

        This book is our principal source for the history of the Kingdom of Sicily in the troubled years between the death of its founder, King Roger, in February 1154 and the spring of 1169. It covers the reign of Roger's son, King William I, known to later centuries as 'the Bad', and the minority of the latter's son, William II 'the Good'. The book illustrates the revival of classical learning during the twelfth-century renaissance. It presents a vivid and compelling picture of royal tyranny, rebellion and factional dispute at court. Sicily had historically been ruled by tyrants, and that the rule of the new Norman kings could be seen, for a variety of reasons, as a revival of that classical tyranny. A more balanced view of Sicilian history of the period 1153-1169 has been provided as an appendix to the translation in the section of the contemporary world chronicle ascribed to Archbishop Romuald II of Salerno, who died in April 1181. In particular the chronicle of Romuald enables us to see how the papal schism of 1159 and the simultaneous dispute between the German Emperor Frederick Barbarossa and the north Italian cities affected the destiny of the kingdom of Sicily. In contrast to the shadowy figure of Hugo Falcandus, the putative author of the principal narrative of mid-twelfth-century Sicilian history, Romuald II, Archbishop of Salerno 1153-1181, is well-documented.

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      • Trusted Partner
        The Arts
        January 2019

        The secret life of romantic comedy

        by Celestino Deleyto

        The secret life of romantic comedy offers a new approach to one of the most popular and resilient genres in the history of Hollywood. Steering away from the rigidity and ideological determinism of traditional accounts of the genre, this book advocates a more flexible theory, which allows the student to explore the presence of the genre in unexpected places, extending the concept to encompass films that are not usually considered romantic comedies. Combining theory with detailed analyses of a selection of films, including To Be or Not to Be (1942), Rear Window (1954), Kiss Me Stupid (1964), Crimes and Misdemeanors (1989) and Before Sunset (2004), the book aims to provide a practical framework for the exploration of a key area of contemporary experience - intimate matters - through one of its most powerful filmic representations: the genre of romantic comedy. Original and entertaining, The secret life of romantic comedy is perfect for students and academics of film and film genre.

      • Trusted Partner
        The Arts
        June 2021

        Genre and performance: film and television

        by Christine Cornea

        Looking at contemporary film and television, this book explores how popular genres frame our understanding of on-screen performance. Previous studies of screen performance have tended to fix upon star actors, directors, or programme makers, or they have concentrated upon particular training and acting styles. Moving outside of these confines, this book provides a truly interdisciplinary account of performance in film and television and examines a much neglected area in our understanding of how popular genres and performance intersect on screen. Each chapter concentrates upon a particular genre or draws upon generic case studies in examining the significance of screen performance. Individual chapters examine contemporary film noir, horror, the biopic, drama-documentary, the western, science fiction, comedy performance in 'spoof news' programmes and the television 'sit com' and popular Bollywood films.

      • Trusted Partner
        Humanities & Social Sciences
        March 2005

        Charlemagne

        Empire and society

        by Edited by Joanna Story

        The age of Charlemagne was a crucible for change in the history of Europe, bridging the divide between the medieval and the classical worlds and setting the political and cultural tone for centuries to come. This book focuses directly on the reign of Charlemagne, bringing together a wide range of approaches and sources from the diverse voices of fifteen of the top scholars of early medieval Europe. The contributors have taken a number of original aproaches to the subject, from the fields of archaeology and numismatics to thoroughly-researched essays on key historical texts. The essays are embedded in the scholarship of recent decades but also offer insights into new areas and new approaches for research. A full bibliography of works in English as well as key reading in European languages is provided, making the volume essential reading for experienced scholars as well as students new to the history of the early middle ages. ;

      • Trusted Partner
        The Arts
        January 2019

        The films of Luc Besson

        Master of spectacle

        by Susan Hayward, Philip Powrie

        This fascinating collection looks at the career and films of Luc Besson, one of the most acclaimed figures in international cinema. Contributions have been assembled from all over the world, and their different approaches reflect this geographical diversity. Films covered range from Besson's first feature, La Dernier Combat, to the international blockbusters The Fifth Element and Joan of Arc. The essays range from looking at costume design to musical scores, and the final chapter offers a transcript of a previously unpublished interview with the man himself. He is the only French director to have crossed over successfully during the 1990s into the blockbuster spectacular we associate with Hollywood cinema and yet this is only the second book in English on this major international director. The films of Luc Besson will make fascinating reading for anyone interested in the career and films of the 'master of spectacle'.

      • Trusted Partner
        The Arts
        April 2011

        Roy Ward Baker

        by Geoff Mayer, Brian McFarlane, Neil Sinyard

        This book traces the career of Roy Ward Baker, one of the great survivors of the British film and television industry. He directed the landmark British film Morning Departure (1949), worked at Twentieth Century Fox in Hollywood in the early 1950s where he directed Marilyn Monroe's 'breakthrough' film (Don't Bother to Knock), and followed this with a succession of fine films for Rank, culminating in the best version of the Titanic disaster, A Night to Remember in 1958. Yet within three years he was unable to secure a job in the British film industry and he moved to television series such as The Avengers, The Saint and Minder. Later Baker re-emerged as a major director of science-fiction (Quatermass and the Pit) and horror films (Asylum). Geoff Mayer provides an industrial and aesthetic context in which to understand the interrelationship between a skilled classical director and the transformation of the British film industry in the 1950s. ;

      • Trusted Partner
        The Arts
        February 2009

        The secret life of romantic comedy

        by Celestino Deleyto

        The secret life of romantic comedy offers a new approach to one of the most popular and resilient genres in the history of Hollywood. Steering away from the rigidity and ideological determinism of traditional accounts of the genre, this book advocates a more flexible theory, which allows the student to explore the presence of the genre in unexpected places, extending the concept to encompass films that are not usually considered romantic comedies. Combining theory with detailed analyses of a selection of films, including To Be or Not to Be (1942), Rear Window (1954), Kiss Me Stupid (1964), Crimes and Misdemeanors (1989) and Before Sunset (2004), the book aims to provide a practical framework for the exploration of a key area of contemporary experience - intimate matters - through one of its most powerful filmic representations: the genre of romantic comedy. Original and entertaining, The secret life of romantic comedy is perfect for students and academics of film and film genre. ;

      • Trusted Partner
        The Arts
        December 2022

        The cinema of Pedro Almodóvar

        by Ana María Sanchez-Arce

        This book offers a comprehensive film-by-film analysis of Spain's most famous living director, Pedro Almodóvar. It shows how Almodóvar's films draw on various national cinemas and genres, including Spanish cinema of the dictatorship, European art cinema, Hollywood melodrama and film noir. It also argues that Almodóvar's work is a form of social critique, his films consistently engaging with and challenging stereotypes about traditional and contemporary Spain in order to address Spain's traumatic historical past and how it continues to inform the present. Drawing on scholarship in both English and Spanish, the book will be of interest to undergraduate and postgraduate students of film studies and Hispanic studies, scholars of contemporary cinema and general readers with a passion for the films of Pedro Almodóvar.

      • Trusted Partner
        Children's & YA

        Silver Flood (1). The Mystery of Ray´s Rock

        by Alex Falkner/ Torben Weit

        The seven children are completely cut off from civilisation, mobile phones don’t work anymore and there’s no sign of help. Strange things happen on the island. Plants and animals grow unnaturally fast, their supplies are raided ... And as other groups of school children emerge, a life and death race begins for Eddie, Milla and their classmates to be rescued from the island. The first instalment of the ‘Silver Flood’ duology: a dangerous adventure with exciting plot twists and scare-factor. For all readers of survival and adventure stories aged 10+. Fast-paced reading for boys and girls, for outdoor kids and all those on their way! The final volume 2, GONE MISSING ON RAY’S ROCK, will be published on 7th April 2020!

      • Trusted Partner
        Science & Mathematics
        February 2025

        Assemblages of cancer

        Experiences and contexts of breast cancer in the UK, France and Italy

        by Cinzia Greco

        Assemblages of cancer illustrates the tensions in the experiences and context of breast cancer in Western Europe. Breast cancer is presented as a success story in oncology, especially in countries with advanced, universal healthcare systems. At the same time, individual experiences are shaped by uncertainty, local variability of healthcare provisions, and the need for patients to assemble information about the treatments, knowledge on healthcare systems navigation, and different processes of meaning-making to manage the uncertainty and variability characterising individual outcomes. The book explores both how individual bodies and experiences are transformed by different local medical practices, institutions and discourses of breast cancer and how patients need to find their own way in these contexts. Assemblages of cancer is based on ten years of ethnographic work with patients and medical professionals in the UK, France and Italy.

      • Trusted Partner
        Literature & Literary Studies
        July 2018

        European Erotic Romance

        by Victor Skretkowicz, J. B. Lethbridge

      • Trusted Partner
      • Trusted Partner
        Literature & Literary Studies
        March 2022

        John Fletcher's Rome

        by Domenico Lovascio, Lucy Munro

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