Dark Alchemy: The Films of Jan Svankmajer (Contributions to the Study of Popular Culture) [Hardcover]

Peter Hames (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 30, 1995 | ISBN-10: 0313296987 | ISBN-13: 978-0313296987

Czech animator Jan Svankmajer is one of the most distinctive and influential of contemporary filmmakers. As a leading member of the Prague Surrealist Group, his work is linked to a rich avant-garde tradition and an uncompromising moral stance that brought frequent tensions with the authorities in the "normalization" years following the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968. Svankmajer's formative influences have been the pre-war surrealists, the Prague of Rudolf II, experimental theatre, folk puppetry and, above all, the political traumas of the past 50 years. Like his contemporaries--including playwright president Vaclav Havel, and, in exile, novelist Milan Kundera and filmmaker Milos Forman--Svankmajer's dominant life experiences have been the realities of the Stalinist system, both the explicit state terror of the 1950s and the Brezhnevist neo-Stalinism of the 1970s and the 1980s. After training in puppetry and working in the Prague theatre, he made his first film in 1964. He directed a number of important films in the 1960s, including the live-action and Kafkaesque Byt (The Flat, 1968) and Zahrada (The Garden, 1968) and consolidated his international reputation with Moznosti dialogu (Dimensions of Dialogue) in 1982. Since then, he has continued his highly visual and poetic approach in two feature-length films, Neco z Alenky (Alice, 1987) and Lekce Faust (Faust, 1994). As a filmmaker, Svankmajer is constantly exploring and analyzing his concern with power, fear and anxiety, confrontation and destruction, magic, the irrational and the absurd, and displays a bleak outlook on the possibilities for dialogue. In challenging accepted narrative, the "bourgeoisie" of realism (nezval), and the thematic and formal conventions of the mainstream media, Svankmajer's work is startlingly dynamic, subversive, and confrontational.

Editorial Reviews

Review

“This collection of essays is the first book-length work in English on Czech film animator Svankmajer. Hames and his contributors are all veteran British commentators on the avant-garde cinema, but Hames (author of The Czechoslovak New Wave, and other works on the cinema of Eastern Europe, and organizer of a large retrospective of Czech and Slovak film at the National Film Theatre of Britain) inspired the current book.”–Choice

About the Author

PETER HAMES is Course Leader in Film, Television, and Radio Studies at Staffordshire University.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 208 pages
• Publisher: Greenwood Press (August 30, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0313296987
• ISBN-13: 978-0313296987
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.4 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,900,414 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Surreal Art Made Real, February 10, 2001

By 

James D. Summar - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Dark Alchemy: The Films of Jan Svankmajer (Contributions to the Study of Popular Culture) (Hardcover)

Finally reaching a broad audience with his first feature length film, Alice, in 1988 and later with Faust in 1995, this filmmaker has gained his due attention. Dubbed the Animator of Prague, Jan Svankmajer ranks as perhaps the most prominent member of the Czechoslovakian Surrealists.

Peter Hames has studied Svankmajer's art for many years and brought his store of knowledge to bear as editor of this collection of well-written essays. Most of the essays focus on Svankmajer's development as a surrealist and, to a lesser extent, a mannerist. Also, they explore his use of tactile objects and the concepts that undergird their use. For the person exploring the foundations of Svankmajer's art, this book is indispensable.

Hames includes an interview he conducted over several sessions with Svankmajer that is particularly illuminating, especially since English translations of Svankmajer's words are few and far between. Svankmajer speaks candidly about his place in the history of Surreal art, his personal theory of artistic creation, and the state of art in Europe.

One article within the book will challenge even the practiced reader. Frankly, this particular article possesses a density and obscurity that might make better sense if left untranslated.

If you are as fascinated with Svankmajer as I, purchase this book. If you are a casual fan, you might want to explore other sources before buying this one.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Surrealism at its best, November 15, 2005

By 

Denis Blot - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Dark Alchemy: The Films of Jan Svankmajer (Paperback)

Jan Svankmejer is one of the most talented stop motion animation filmmakers currently working. Unfortunately his brilliant films have had only limited release in the United States and little in-depth reading is available on him and his body of work. Dark Alchemy provides some very interesting essays on Svankmejer, the history of Czech film, and surrealism. Those who do not have a film background and a good understanding of surrealism may have difficulty in understanding a lot of what is discussed, much of which would be considered heavy academic reading. The exception being an in-depth interview with Svankmejer. In fact one or two additional interviews with Svankmejer covering some of his specific films in depth might have made for a more well rounded book.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Surreal Art Made Real, February 10, 2001

By 

James D. Summar - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Dark Alchemy: The Films of Jan Svankmajer (Paperback)

Finally reaching a broad audience with his first feature length film, Alice, in 1988 and later with Faust in 1995, this filmmaker has gained his due attention. Dubbed the Animator of Prague, Jan Svankmajer ranks as perhaps the most prominent member of the Czechoslovakian Surrealists.

Peter Hames has studied Svankmajer's art for many years and brought his store of knowledge to bear as editor of this collection of well-written essays. Most of the essays focus on Svankmajer's development as a surrealist and, to a lesser extent, a mannerist. Also, they explore his use of tactile objects and the concepts that undergird their use. For the person exploring the foundations of Svankmajer's art, this book is indispensable.

Hames includes an interview he conducted over several sessions with Svankmajer that is particularly illuminating, especially since English translations of Svankmajer's words are few and far between. Svankmajer speaks candidly about his place in the history of Surreal art, his personal theory of artistic creation, and the state of art in Europe.

One article within the book will challenge even the practiced reader. Frankly, this particular article possesses a density and obscurity that might make better sense if left untranslated.

If you are as fascinated with Svankmajer as I, purchase this book. If you are a casual fan, you might want to explore other sources before buying this one.