Movies, the Desperate Art" in The Berkley Book of Modern Writing, Number 3
by Kael, Pauline; Phillips, William (editor); Rahv, Philip (editor)
- Used
- first
- Condition
- See description
- Seller
-
Brooklyn, New York, United States
Payment Methods Accepted
About This Item
New York: Berkley Publishing Corporation, 1956. First edition of this midcentury anthology, containing the first appearance of film critic Pauline Kael's manifesto "Movies, the Desperate Art." Published while Kael was struggling to manage a two-screen art house in Berkeley, this essay predates her hiring at The New Yorker by a dozen years. The concerns that dominate Kael's later criticism are already evident in this early salvo: her contempt for bland, bloated studio productions; her attraction to "individual creative responsibility" in directors and actors; her distrust of overtly moralizing and edifying pictures; and her celebration of the movies as "an extraordinary education of the senses." Most notably, she insists on taking the movies seriously, however "desperate" that art may be: "Object to the Hollywood film and you're an intellectual snob, object to the avant-garde films and you're a Philistine. But, while in Hollywood, one must often be a snob; in avant-garde circles one must often be a Philistine." Other contributors to the anthology include Norman Mailer, Bernard Malamud, Leslie Fiedler, and R.W.B. Lewis. A near-fine copy. Pocket paperback, measuring 6.5 x 4.25: [2], 216, [6]. Original color-printed wrappers, priced at 50 cents. Light shelfwear, text block toned and brittle.
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Details
- Bookseller
- Honey & Wax Booksellers (US)
- Bookseller's Inventory #
- 1003367
- Title
- Movies, the Desperate Art" in The Berkley Book of Modern Writing, Number 3
- Author
- Kael, Pauline; Phillips, William (editor); Rahv, Philip (editor)
- Book Condition
- Used
- Quantity Available
- 1
- Publisher
- Berkley Publishing Corporation
- Place of Publication
- New York
- Date Published
- 1956
- Weight
- 0.00 lbs
- Keywords
- essay, women
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About the Seller
Honey & Wax Booksellers
Biblio member since 2015
Brooklyn, New York
About Honey & Wax Booksellers
Honey & Wax offers a mix of classics and surprises: rare first printings, original artwork, unexpected survivals, books with no downloadable equivalent. Founders of the Honey & Wax Book Collecting Prize. Our bookroom is open by appointment in Brooklyn, NY.
Glossary
Some terminology that may be used in this description includes:
- Text Block
- Most simply the inside pages of a book. More precisely, the block of paper formed by the cut and stacked pages of a book....
- Wrappers
- The paper covering on the outside of a paperback. Also see the entry for pictorial wraps, color illustrated coverings for...
- First Edition
- In book collecting, the first edition is the earliest published form of a book. A book may have more than one first edition in...
- Shelfwear
- Minor wear resulting from a book being place on, and taken from a bookshelf, especially along the bottom edge.