Books Received

Books 349 Cinematics. Paul Weiss. Southern I1\inois Univ. Press, Carbondale, III., 1975.227 pp. $8.95. Reviewed by Harry Rand* their sides with the different contributors and with Weiss' treatment of their points. When a noted individual writes, he can be as much the object of the reader's examination as the putative subject of his book. The author, an illustrious teacher at several universities in the U.S.A., has published works of speculative philosophy that touch the central issues of human consideration: religion, public life, freedom, being, history, reality and art. He has now written a book on the cinema, and its very form is an innovation. The structure of the book is unique. Included within the body of the text are contributions by several writers, critics, scholars and producers offilm. Indeed, these remarks are substantial, and while these authors-Eric Sherman, Joseph Williman, Arthur Knight, David Siavitt and Warren Thom-are not credited as being such, often they are virtual co-authors. Although they appear to be participants in dialogue with Weiss, the conversation is strange. Weiss claims that he responded to his contributors' comments while writing; in fact, the discussion is between five film experts and an unheeding philosopher writing about movies. From the first page the book is controversial, which should please educators wishing to stimulate classes on film. It would be advisable that this book be selected for reading by middle-level film classes, those having some grounding in the filmic literature, so that comparisons can be made between Weiss' concepts and other views. Though he uses no jargon, Weiss does discuss points with which the reader should be familiar as objects of analysis and not just from the experience ofmovies; from time to time he makes reference to prominent schools of critical thought. Surely the book will excite a group, perhaps cause fueds as factions take *Apt. 1906,25 Tudor City Place, New York, NY 10017, U.S.A. As he dissects the component areas of film, Weiss presents a very personal description of cinematic phenomena. In his own words, he says: 'Cinematics is an attempt at a beginning of a philosophically grounded examination of the film' (p.xi). Clearly, Weiss' ambitions for the book are high. One senses, however, that his empathy for film is not as deep as might be hoped. In Stanley Cavell's The World Viewed (New York: Viking Press, 1971), for example, regardless of what one makes of his notion of film as a generalized category, Cavell's occasional descriptions of particularly exemplary filmic moments and devices are exquisite. There is 'little sense that Weiss sees in the particularity offilmic occasions, and, hence, he seems to miss the impetus to make film, and thus its unfolding as art. Whole sections ofthe book are echoes, seemingly empty ofthe experience of movies; the reader is treated to a discourse on causality (pp. 67-70) that appears to be beside the point and includes murky declarations like: 'An actor reaches to the boundaries of a play; a performer is kept confined within the incidents of a film' (p. 70). Often the contributors are far more knowledgeable and interesting than Weiss, though their tolerance runs thin. Finally, David Slavitt is moved to the ultimate critique of Weiss' approach: '... your observations are mostly irrelevant because the judgements you make about how films ought to work is without basis in history as well as in economics and ethics' (p. 112). One wonders what pangs of intellectual integrity or masochism moved Weiss to include this remark, without acting to rectify the lacunae that prompted it. A work conceived in the hermetic chamber ofthe philosopher, elaborating but improving on few hypotheses already extant (Weiss never really gets beyond Pudovkin in understanding the job of the film actor), the book will provoke thought from those who have already seen and read about movies. BOOKS RECEIVED Alfred Stieglitz and the American Avant-Garde. William Innes Homer. Secker & Warburg, London, 1977. 335 pp., iIIus. £9.75. America as Art. Joshua C. Taylor. Smithsonian Institution Pr1:SS, Washington, D.C., 1976. 320 pp., iIIus. $25.00. American Art. John Wilmerding. Penguin Books, Harmondsworth, England, and Baltimore, Maryland, 1976. 322...