FILM THEORY IN MEDIA HISTORY JEAN EPSTEIN CRITICAL ESSAYS AND NEW TRANSLATIONS EDITED BY SARAH KELLER & JASON N. PAUL AMSTERDAM UNIVERSITY PRESS Jean Epstein Film Theory in Media History explores the epistemological and theoretical founda- tions of the study of film through texts by classical authors as well as anthologies and monographs on key issues and developments in film theory. Adopting a his- torical perspective, but with a firm eye to the further development of the field, the series provides a platform for ground-breaking new research into film theory and media history and features high-profile editorial projects that offer resources for teaching and scholarship. Combining the book form with open access online publishing the series reaches the broadest possible audience of scholars, stu- dents, and other readers with a passion for film and theory. Series editors: Prof. Dr. Vinzenz Hediger (Frankfurt), Dr. Trond Lundemo (Stock- holm), Prof. Dr. Oliver Fahle (Bochum). Film Theory in Media History is published in cooperation with the Permanent Semi- nar for the History of Film Theories. Jean Epstein Critical Essays and New Translations Edited by Sarah Keller & Jason N. Paul Amsterdam University Press This book is published in print and online through the online OAPEN library (www.oapen.org) OAPEN (Open Access Publishing in European Networks) is a collaborative initia- tive to develop and implement a sustainable Open Access publication model for academic books in the Humanities and Social Sciences. The OAPEN Library aims to improve the visibility and usability of high quality academic research by aggre- gating peer reviewed Open Access publications from across Europe. Cover illustration: Jean Epstein during the shoot of Les Feux de la Mer, 1948. Cour- tesy Cinémathèque Française, Iconothèque. Cover design: Suzan Beijer, Amersfoort Lay-out: JAPES, Amsterdam ISBN 978 90 8964 292 9 e-ISBN 978 90 4851 384 0 NUR 670 Creative Commons License CC BY NC ND (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0) S. Keller & J.N. Paul / Amsterdam University Press, 2012 Some rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, any part of this book may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise). Table of Contents Acknowledgments 9 Abbreviations 11 Preface 13 Tom Gunning Introduction 23 Sarah Keller Essays Epstein’s Photogénie as Corporeal Vision: Inner Sensation, Queer Embodiment, and Ethics 51 Christophe Wall-Romana Novelty and Poiesis in the Early Writings of Jean Epstein 73 Stuart Liebman The Cinema of the Kaleidoscope 93 Katie Kirtland Distance Is [Im]material: Epstein Versus Etna 115 Jennifer Wild “The Supremacy of the Mathematical Poem”: Jean Epstein’s Conceptions of Rhythm 143 Laurent Guido The “Microscope of Time”: Slow Motion in Jean Epstein’s Writings 161 Ludovic Cortade A Different Nature 177 Rachel Moore Cinema Seen from the Seas: Epstein and the Oceanic 195 James Schneider 5 A Temporal Perspective: Jean Epstein’s Writings on Technology and Subjectivity 207 Trond Lundemo Ultra-Modern: Jean Epstein, or Cinema “Serving the Forces of Transgression and Revolt” 227 Nicole Brenez Thoughts on Photogénie Plastique 245 Érik Bullot Translations Introduction: Epstein’s Writings 265 La Poésie d’aujourd’hui, un nouvel état d’intelligence (1921) 271 Introduction / Sarah Keller 271 Cinema and Modern Literature 271 Bonjour Cinéma (1921) 277 Introduction / Sarah Keller 277 Continuous Screenings 277 La Lyrosophie (1922) 281 Introduction / Katie Kirtland 281 Excerpts from La Lyrosophie 281 Le Cinématographe vu de l’Etna (1926) 287 Introduction / Stuart Liebman 287 The Cinema Seen from Etna 287 On Certain Characteristics of Photogénie 292 Langue d’Or 297 The Photogenic Element 299 For a New Avant-Garde 302 Amour de Charlot 305 Amour de Sessue 307 L’Intelligence d’une machine (1946) 311 Introduction / Trond Lundemo 311 Excerpts from L’Intelligence d’une machine 311 Le Cinéma du diable (1947) 317 Introduction / Ludovic Cortade 317 Indictment 317 To a Second Reality, a Second Reason 321 6 jean epstein Later Works 329 Introduction to Esprit de cinéma and Alcool et Cinéma / Christophe Wall-Romana 329 Esprit de cinéma 330 The Logic of Images 330 Rapidity and Fatigue of the Homo spectatoris 333 Ciné-analysis, or Poetry in an Industrial Quantity 340 Dramaturgy in Space 345 Dramaturgy in Time 348 Visual Fabric 352 Pure Cinema and Sound Film 356 Seeing and Hearing Thought 359 The Counterpoint of Sound 362 The Close-up of Sound 365 The Delirium of a Machine 372 Late Articles 381 The Slow Motion of Sound 381 The Fluid World of the Screen 383 Alcool et cinéma 395 Logic of Fluidity 395 Logic of Variable Time 400 Afterword: Reclaiming Jean Epstein 405 Richard Abel Filmography 413 Select Bibliography 419 Notes on Contributors 427 Index of Names 431 Index of Films and Major Writings by Jean Epstein 437 Index of Films 439 table of contents 7 Finis Terrae (Jean Epstein, 1929). © Musée Gaumont Acknowledgments This collection has developed over three years, originating in a two-day sympo- sium on Jean Epstein’s work that we organized in April 2008, while graduate students at the University of Chicago. That symposium far exceeded our already high expectations for it; and the extraordinary energy that surrounded the event inspired us to compile this volume, with increasing ambitions for its scope as it came together. The symposium was made possible through the material and moral support of several individuals and groups at the University of Chicago, including the Franke Institute for the Humanities, the Department of Cinema and Media Studies, the France Chicago Center, the Film Studies Center, the Master of Arts Program in the Humanities, the Mass Culture Workshop, the New Media Workshop, and especially Julia Gibbs and Sabrina Craig for their support of the screenings and preparation of materials for the symposium. We also wish to thank the editors at Amsterdam University Press, particularly Jeroen Sondervan and the editors of the series Film Theory in Media History,of which this volume is a part: Vinzenz Hediger, Oliver Fahle, and especially Trond Lundemo, who offered invaluable insights (and practical assistance) in selecting and securing support for the translations. We greatly appreciate the generous support of the Dean of Faculty at Colby College (Ed Yeterian and, later, Lori Kletzer) for assistance with translations and other material concerns, as well as the Humanities Division for a 2010-11 Re- search Grant, which assisted in the costs associated with research for completing this volume. Thanks are due as well to the English Department for the support of a research assistant. A number of remarkable archivists contributed to the progress of this book, including those at the Bibliothèque du film and the Cinémathèque Française in Paris and environs; the Cinémathèque québecoise in Montréal, especially Pierre Jutras and his colleagues, who helped arrange a special screening during a too- short visit to their amazing retrospective of Epstein’s films in late January, 2011; Charles Silver at the Museum of Modern Art; and Robert Haller at Anthology Film Archives in New York. 9 We liked to say during the long process of putting together this volume that it was a labor of love among a true community of scholars. We shamelessly enlisted advice and every bit of help we could from some of the people whose work we most admire in this community, among them Richard Abel, Dudley Andrew, Ro- bert Bird, Valérie Dionne, Leah Culligan Flack, Doron Galili, James Lastra, Chris- tina Petersen, Ariel Rogers, Jennifer Wild, Tami Williams, and Josh Yumibe. We wish to thank them for their insights and support. And there were those who allowed us to ask monumental favors (and even granted them!) with amazing good grace and generosity: Stuart Liebman, Chris- tophe Wall-Romana, Arthur Greenspan, Franck Le Gac, and Audrey Brunetaux. We are deeply grateful for their expertise and their kind, even overgenerous nat- ures, without which this work would be significantly diminished. The boundless energy and gracious participation of Tom Gunning has been our guiding star throughout the process of compiling this collection, from his enthusiasm and advocacy for the Epstein symposium to his advice during the final stages of assembling the manuscript. Without his unstinting generosity, magnanimous presence, and wise counsel in this process, this volume would not exist. Finally, we wish to dedicate this volume both to our extraordinary families – a pair of twins and a very positive and supportive partner for each of us – and to the memory of our teacher, Miriam Bratu Hansen, whose acute insights, formidable intellect, rigorous example, and love of cinema remain an inspiration to us de- spite her loss. 10 jean epstein Abbreviations Abel1 Richard Abel, French Film Theory and Criticism: A History/Anthology, 1907-1939. Vol. 1: 1907-1929 (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1988). Abel2 Richard Abel, French Film Theory and Criticism: A History/Anthology, 1907-1939. Vol. 2: 1929-1939 (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1988). ESC1 Jean Epstein, Écrits sur le cinéma, 1921-1953: édition chronologique en deux volumes. Tome 1: 1921-1947, ed. Pierre Lherminier (Paris: Ciné- ma Club/Seghers, 1975). ESC2 Jean Epstein, Écrits sur le cinéma, 1921-1953: édition chronologique en deux volumes. Tome 2: 1946-1953, ed. Pierre Lherminier (Paris: Ciné- ma Club/Seghers, 1975) A note on infra citations: Throughout the endnotes in this collection, readers will find infra citations refer- ring them to translations of Epstein's works included in this volume. Because some contributors have made their own translations of Epstein’s texts, in many cases the two translations differ. We include the infra citation wherever possible so that when it is available, readers may have easy access to the larger excerpt of Epstein's writings from which these references are drawn.