ISBN Writers at the Movies

An anthology of writings by poets and novelists brought together in celebration of specific individual movies that have in one way or another inspired, seduced, horrified or fascinated them. Offering unique glimpses into a writer’s perspective on film are, among others, Salman Rushdie on The Wizard of Oz, J M Coetzee on The Misfits, Robert Coover on Buster Keaton’s Sherlock Jr, Julian Barnes on Chabrol’s Madame Bovary and Susan Sontag on Fassbinder’s Berlin Alexanderplatz. The contributions are a genuine insight into the films that influenced these writers. The pieces are written from the heart, or wherever.
‘To “get in”, to have had “it”, to “grab it” is their entire preoccupation. I recall strategy sessions with roommates, the lists I made during lectures on Paradise Lost or The Faerie Queene of girls I had known, ranked according to which base they had let me reach...Which is better, to be loved by it or to ‘bang’ it?’ Geoffrey Wolff, on Carnal Knowledge
This book will entertain as it brings back memories of movies loved, but never forgotten.
Jim Shepard is the author of five novels and one short story collection. He is the editor of the anthology You’ve Got to Read This: Contemporary American Writers Introduce Stories That Held Them in Awe. He teaches film and literature at Williams College.