A Body of Vision: Representations of the Body in Recent Film and Poetry

Acknowledgments

iv A Body of Vision Second Digression: A Mystical View of the Body under the Pervasive Influence of Gnosticism—Laying the Groundwork for Leonard Cohen's Writings on the Body and Carolee Schneemann's Films and Performances 191 Leonard Cohen's Gnosticism and Its Influence on His Conception of the Body 210 The Influence of Gnosticism on the Writings of AntoninArtaud 223 The Body of Gnostic Energy in the Workof Carolee Schneemann 233 The Body ofTranscendental Flesh—The Films of James Herbert 276 The Cognitive Body—The Films of Amy Greenfield and Another View of the Films of Stan Brakhage 294 The Pneumatic Body—The Films of Andrew Noren 316 Notes 351 Bibliography 381 Index 385 With Gratitude I owe a great deal to many people. In the spring of 1989, when I was under attack from all quarters for using images of the body in my films, the organizers of the Toronto International Avant-garde Film Congress invited me to present a program of films by other filmmakers that incorporate similar images. This opportunity required me to reflect on the topic that has become the subject of this book. The Congress also provided, in the form of one its panel discussions, an occasion to engage with Carolee Schneemann, Birgit Hein, and Christine Noll Brinckmann, in considering the topic of this book. My presentation for that panel was the impetus that first motivated me to think about several of the issues this book raises. The enthusiasm for the subject these three women filmmakers displayed became, over time, as great a motivator, as I have often thought back to the event and the delight it gave me. I owe much to all three. In the fall of 1989, the Art Gallery of Ontario, and its film programmer at the time, Catherine Jonasson, contracted with me to present several evenings of films on the body at that institution. These evenings allowed me to understand better the scope of this project. The Art Gallery of Ontario also sponsored a short catalogue for the exhibition ; because I formulated several of the ideas stated in this book in writing the catalogue, I am much indebted to that institution. Another occasion that same fall provided more opportunity to work out further ideas on the subject , as J.M. Snyder, then chair of the Department of Film and Photography of Ryerson Polytechnical University, invited me to give a lecture on images of the body that I had made for my own films; this activity was supported through the Kodak Chair at Ryerson, funded by Kodak Canada, and was presented in co-operation with the Art Gallery of Ontario. I began work on the present volume with encouragement from Stan Brakhage; he and the Gertrude Stein scholar Ulla Dydo provided me with encouragement at important points in the project's development, when I became discouraged. V ...