Wittgenstein at the Movies

Edited by Béla Szabados and Christina Stojanova - Contributions by Steven Burns; Andrew Lugg; William Lyons; Michael O'Pray; Daniel Steuer and William C. Wees

Ludwig Wittgenstein loved movies, and based on his remarks on watching them, there is a strong connection between his experience of watching films and his thoughts on aesthetics. Furthermore, however, Wittgenstein himself has been invoked in recent cinema. Wittgenstein at the Movies is centered on in-depth explorations of two intriguing experimental films on Wittgenstein: Derek Jarman's Wittgenstein and Péter Forgács' Wittgenstein Tractatus. The featured essays look at cinematic interpretations of Wittgenstein's life and philosophy in a manner bound to provoke the lively interest of Wittgenstein scholars, film theorists, and students of film aesthetics. As well, the book engages a broader audience concerned with philosophical issues about film and Wittgenstein's cultural significance, with the world of fin-de-siècle Vienna, of Cambridge in the first half of the twentieth century, of artistic modernism.

Chapter 1 Wittgenstein at the Movies: An Introduction Chapter 2 Chapter 1. Showing, Not Saying: Filming a Philosophical Genius Chapter 3 Chapter 2. Remarks on the Scripts for Derek Jarman's Wittgenstein Chapter 4 Chapter 3. The World Hued: Jarman and Wittgenstein on Colour Chapter 5 Chapter 4. Sketches of Landscapes: Wittgenstein after Wittgenstein Chapter 6 Chapter 5. "How It Was Then": Home Movies as History in Péter Forgács's Meanwhile Somewhere... Chapter 7 Chapter 6. Meaning Through Pictures: Ludwig Wittgenstein and Péter Forgács Chapter 8 Chapter 7. Beyond Text and Image: Péter Forgács and his Wittgenstein Tractatus