Luis Buñuel : A Life in Letters
Author(s):
Luis Buñuel: A Life in Letters provides access for the first time to an annotated English-language version of around 750 of the most important and most widely relevant of these letters. Buñuel (1900-1983) came to international attention with his first films, Un Chien Andalou (with Dalí, 1929) and L'Âge d'Or (1930): two surprisingly avant-garde productions that established his position as the undisputed master of Surrealist filmmaking. He went on to make 30 full-length features in France, the US and Mexico, and consolidated his international reputation with a Palme d'Or for Viridiana in 1961, and an Academy Award in 1973 for The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie. He corresponded with some of the most famous writers, directors, actors and artists of his generation and the list of these correspondents reads like a roll call of major twentieth-century cultural icons: Fellini, Truffaut, Vigo, Aragon, Dalí, Unik - and yet none of this material has been accessible outside specialist archives and a very small number of publications in Spanish and French.
Review(s):
“[A] magnificent addition to Buñuel studies.” - Cineaste Magazine
“Witty, humorous, revelatory, Buñuel's letters are a rich mine of information on one of the world's greatest film-makers. This superb edition of letters from and to Buñuel will be essential reading for anyone interested in the history of world cinema.” —Peter William Evans, Emeritus Professor of Film Studies, Queen Mary University of London, UK
“As much an essential companion piece to My Last Sigh as it is to Luis Buñuel's films, this correspondence from the battlefields of Mexican genre cinema, family life, exile, success, Hollywood and the European art house is the unholy grail for all those seeking to unpick the myth from the man. Amongst much else that is as intimate as it is open, these letters communicate Buñuel's wry, amused and bemused reflections, his memories as works-in-progress, and his frequent efforts to set straight twisted records. Garlanded with informative footnotes, this collection is a magnificent testament to the everyday burden and bonhomie of being Buñuel.” —Rob Stone, Professor of Film Studies, University of Birmingham, UK
ISBN: 9781501312588