The Philosophy of David Cronenberg

by Simon Riches (Editor)

Overview

Initially regarded as a cult figure with a strong following amongst sci-fi and horror film fans, Canadian filmmaker David Cronenberg emerged as a major and commercially viable film director with mainstream hits such as A History of Violence (2005) and Eastern Promises (2007). With his unique ability to present imagery that is both disturbing and provocative, Cronenberg creates striking films, noteworthy not just for their cinematic beauty but also for the philosophical questions they raise. The

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780813136042
Publisher:	University Press of Kentucky
Publication date:	05/23/2012
Series:	The Philosophy of Popular Culture
Pages:	232
Product dimensions:	6.20(w) x 9.10(h) x 1.10(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Simon Riches is a researcher at the Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London. He previously taught philosophy at University College London and Heythrop College, University of London. He holds a PhD in philosophy from University College London and has also studied philosophy at the University of Southampton and psychology at the University of East London. His research interests lie in epistemology and the philosophy of psychology. He is a contributing author in UPKY's The Philosophy of David Lynch.

Table of Contents

Introduction Simon Riches 1

Part 1 Body Horror and Bodily Transformation

The Fly and the Human: Ironies of Disgust Colin McGinn 9

Tragedy and Terrible Beauty in A History of Violence and Eastern Promises Cynthia Freeland 24

Cronenberg as Scientist: Antiessentialism, Sex as Remixing, and the View from Nowhere Peter Ludlow 36

What Happens to Brundle? Problems of Teleportation and Personal Identity in The Fly Paul F. Snowdon 53

Part 2 Psychology, Skepticism, and the Self

eXistenZial Angst Duncan Pritchard 69

"Freaks of Nature": Extrasensory Perception and the Paranormal in the Films of David Cronenberg Keith Allen 77

Deception and Disorder: Unraveling Cronenberg's Divided Minds Simon Riches 91

Psychological Determinism in the Films of David Cronenberg Daniel Shaw 113

Self-Creation, Identity, and Authenticity: A Study of A History of Violence and Eastern Promises Daniel Moseley 125

Part 3 Words and Worldviews

The Fiction of Truth in Fiction: Some Reflections on Semantics and eXistenZ Graham Stevens 143

Re(ct)ifying Empty Speech: Cronenberg and the Problem of the First Person Brook W. R. Pearson 155

The Politics of Mad Science in The Fly and Dead Ringers R. Barton Palmer 175

From "Impassioned Morality" to "Bloodless Agnosticism": A Philosophy of David Cronenberg through the Burroughs/Ballard Axis Jones Irwin 197

List of Contributors 217

Index 221

Editorial Reviews

Cronenberg is one of the most versatile auteurs working in cinema today, which is why a book dedicated to his work is a welcome arrival. This book has something both for serious scholars and general interest audiences as well.

Journal of the Fantastic in the Arts

"It's a book that Cronenberg fans are boung to enjoy, and readers only moderately familiar with Cronenberg will find incentive to become more deeply immersed in this iconoclastic and cutting-edge writer and director."—David Baggett, editor of Tennis and Philosophy: What the Racket is All About

From the Publisher