Lukácsian film theory and cinema : a study of Georg Lukács' writing on film, 1913-1971 / Ian Aitken.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Aitken, Ian, author.

Series:

Manchester Film Studies

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Lukács, György, 1885-1971--Criticism and interpretation.

Lukács, György.

Film criticism--Hungary.

Film criticism.

Film critics--Hungary.

Film critics.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (ix, 283 pages) : digital, PDF file(s).

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Manchester : Manchester University Press, 2012.

Language Note:

In English.

Summary:

This book explores Georg Lukács' writings on film. The Hungarian Marxist critic Georg Lukács is primarily known as a literary theorist, but he also wrote extensively on the cinema. These writings have remained little known in the English-speaking world because the great majority of them have never actually been translated into English until now. This book contains the most important writings and the translations. This book thus makes a decisive contribution to understandings of Lukács within the field of film studies, and, in doing so, also challenges many existing preconceptions concerning his theoretical position. For example, whilst Lukács' literary theory is well known for its repudiation of naturalism, in his writings on film Lukács appears to advance a theory and practice of film that can best be described as naturalist. Lukácsian film theory and cinema is divided into two parts. In part one, Lukács' writings on film are explored, and placed within relevant historical and intellectual contexts, whilst part two consists of the essays themselves.

Contents:

1. The early aesthetic and 'Thoughts Towards an Aesthetic of the Cinema'

2. Narrate or describe? Lukács' literary 'typology'

3. Lukács' late aesthetic and film theory: The Specificity of the Aesthetic

4. Socialist humanism and Toward the Ontology of Social Being

5. The film journal interviews and other writings

6. Conclusions

7. 'Thoughts Towards an Aesthetic of the Cinema'

8. 'Film'

9. 'On Aesthetic Issues of the Cinema'

10. 'Blue Devil or Yellow Devil?'

11. 'Cultural Manipulation and the Tasks of Critics'

12. 'Film, Ideology and the Cult of Personality'

13. 'Technique, Content, and Problems of Language'

14. 'Expression of Thought in Film'

15. 'Revolution and Psychology of Everyday Life'.

Notes:

Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 24 Apr 2026).

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

1-5261-2964-7

1-78170-170-9