Description:
In the first book-length study of Romanticism in relation to American film, Michelle Devereaux takes established theories of contemporary American independent cinema as a point of entry, exploring the underlying philosophical and aesthetic Romantic connections between a selection of seven films from four popular filmmakers: Wes Anderson, Sofia Coppola, Spike Jonze and Charlie Kaufman.
Primarily dealing with questions of identity, imagination and the relation between self and world, these films also emphasise the anxieties of our own time: the nostalgia for an imaginary past, and the fear of an uncertain future.
Brief description: Michelle Devereaux is a film journalist and scholar. She received her doctorate in Film Studies from the University of Edinburgh and has taught film theory, history and criticism at the University of Edinburgh and the University of Birmingham. She is a board member of intersectional feminist journal on visual culture MAI and currently lives in British Columbia, Canada.
Review Quotes: In this intricately argued and elegantly written book, Michelle Devereaux offers an inventive, original take on American independent film, arguing that works by Wes Anderson, Charlie Kaufman, Sofia Coppola and Spike Jonze exemplify "neoromanticism". [...] The Stillness of Solitude: Romanticism and Contemporary American Independent Film will serve as a valuable resource for researchers interested in the filmmakers she highlights, for each chapter offers a stand-alone analysis of one director's film.--Suzanne Ferriss, Nova Southeastern University "Film-Philosophy Volume 25, Issue 2"