The Modern Fantastic: The Films of David Cronenberg

by Michael Grant (Editor)

In The Fly, one of Seth Brundle's experiments goes disastrously wrong, and the chimpanzee he was attempting to transport from one telepod to the other ends up in the second device, a quivering mass of flesh; the process of teleportation has turned it inside out and yet it remains in unimaginable agony alive. David Cronenberg is undoubtedly one of the great directors of transgression, violating boundaries between the subjective and the objective and, even more spectacularly, between the human and the non-human.



This collection of seven critical essays explores the multifaceted nature of Cronenberg's achievement and ranges from Jonathan Crane's reassessment of Cronenberg's place within horror cinema, to Parveen Adams' intensely focused discussion of Crash. Other essays examine the place of the homoerotic body in Cronenberg's films; view M. Butterfly in relation to modern notions of literature; place the earlier work in its historical context; address the complexity and ambiguity derived from certain fundamental contrasts underpinning much of his work; and discuss some of the shortcomings of critical writings on Cronenberg. The book also includes a recent interview with the director together with a full filmography and bibliography. An important analysis for students and scholars of contemporary film and popular culture.

208 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1999

About the author

Michael Grant was an English classisist, numismatist, and author of numerous popular books on ancient history. His 1956 translation of Tacitus’s Annals of Imperial Rome remains a standard of the work. He once described himself as "one of the very few freelances in the field of ancient history: a rare phenomenon". As a popularizer, his hallmarks were his prolific output and his unwillingness to oversimplify or talk down to his readership.

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Reviews

[Madelyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very useful collection of essays, though most are of the sort I really don't like. The interview at the conclusion of the book is fantastic.