(Applause Books). Rainer Werner Fassbiner left behind a literary and cinematic legacy which holds a unique place in the history of European film and in the culture of the twentieth century. It evolved as the expression of an era, between 1966 and 1982, in a country which was then another Germany and which no longer exists.

This work examines the genetic processes that shaped two of the great literary masterpieces of modernity: Flaubert's L'Education Sentimentale and Proust's A la Recherche de Temps Perdu. A detailed investigation of Flaubert's notebooks and scenarios from 1864 and 1869 and Proust's Cahiers from 1908 to 1911 reveals the almost diametrically opposed ways in which the two novels evolved in their early stages.

Chantal Akerman is widely acclaimed as one of the most original and important directors working in Europe today.
A towering figure in women's and feminist film-making, she has produced a diverse and intensely personal body of work ranging from minimalist portraits of the everyday to exuberant romantic comedies, and from documentaries and musicals to installation art. This book traces the director's career at the crossroads between experimental and mainstream cinema, contextualising her work within the American avant-garde of the 1970s, European anti-naturalism, feminism and the...