David Bordwell's Ozu and the Poetics of Cinema

[Wujung Ju]

Although I can read this book in the library, I always wanted to have my own
copy. Thank you so much for your efforts to make this available again!



On 11/10/06, Mark Nornes <amnornes at umich.edu> wrote:
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> As many of you know, I have started an electronic reprint series at the
> University of Michigan's Center for Japanese Studies Press. Here's the URL
> if you haven't visited:
>
>
> http://www.umich.edu/~iinet/cjs/publications/cjsfaculty/filmseries.html
>
> One of the projects that has been in the works is David Bordwell's book on
> Ozu. We are still in the midst of preparation, but some industrious soul
> discovered the book?obviously, you can't hide anything from Google. We have
> yet to make a page for the book in the reprint series website. David will be
> writing a new introduction for the electronic version. And we hope to
> improve on the photographs, which really look poor. But it's out, and we are
> happy to make the release of this a gradual thing.
>
>
> So David has announced the reprint in his blog, and here I am announcing
> it here. I'm including the text of his blog entry below, but why not visit
> his homepage and check out what else is there?
>
>
> http://www.davidbordwell.net/blog/?p=59*
>
> *You'll find a link to the book in his blog entry. Enjoy. Rethink Ozu. Use
> it in your classes!  *
> *
> *
> *Markus*
> *
> *
> *++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++*
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> *I Wrote a Book, But?; or, What Did the Professor Forget?*<http://www.davidbordwell.net/blog/?p=59>
>
> From DB:
>
> My 1988 book, *Ozu and the Poetics of Cinema*, is available again, I'm
> happy to report. There's a little backstory, probably of interest only to
> those who follow the zigzags of academic publishing.
>
> Around 1990 the British Film Institute declared the book out of print. The
> US copublisher, Princeton University Press, agreed to keep it in print under
> two conditions.
>
> First, I would have to pay for the cleaning of the preprint material (the
> sheets of plastic on which the master copies of the pages were printed).
> Cost: $1000. Second, I would receive no royalties. I agreed to the terms,
> since I wanted to have this book, for all its faults, available.
>
> So for about a decade, the book was still out there. I enjoyed the
> anecdotal value of getting royalty statements reading: *Your royalty
> payment is $000.00*. Still, all those decimal points sort of rubbed it in..
> Wouldn't $0 have been enough?
>
> As Ozu's centenary approached in 2003, I contacted Princeton to alert
> them. Maybe there'd be a bump of interest in Ozu, and they might want to do
> another printing. But the Press replied that, um, they had some months
> before declared their edition out of print.
>
> Publishers have a habit of not telling authors about decisions like this.
> There's no fun way to announce that a book is orphaned, or maybe slain. Then
> too there's the somewhat awkward matter of returning a piece of intellectual
> property that might become an asset some day. Anyhow, Jerry Bruckheimer
> wasn't likely to pick up the movie rights to *Ozu and the Poetics of
> Cinema*, and so after regaining copyright control, I took the book on the
> road.
>
> No surprise: Other publishers were not crazy about reprinting a big fat
> book with lots of pictures, published fifteen years before and probably
> bought by every soul who might ever want a copy. I'd hoped that a book on
> very likely the greatest film director who ever lived might be worth keeping
> around. But no, alas.
>
> Every month or so, as the Ozu touring program roamed greater North America
> in 2003 and 2004, a fan would email asking me to sell a copy of the book.
> Web booksellers were demanding up to $600. The thought of selling one to a
> book dealer at a jacked-up price, perhaps with a signature affixed, did
> cross my mind, but I had only two copies of my own.
>
> Eventually I learned of the publishing program launched by the University
> of Michigan Center for Japanese Studies. The Center had begun posting
> out-of-print books on Japanese cinema online. I contacted Markus Nornes, who
> generously sponsored and oversaw the project.
>
> I learn from a correspondent that the book is now available in pdf form
> online<http://www.hti.umich.edu/cgi/t/text/text-idx?c=cjs;cc=cjs;idno=0920054.0001.001;node=0920054.0001.001%3A4.4;frm=frameset;view=toc>
> .
>
> Now you can read the book, and can even buy a print-on-demand copy if you
> want. (I look forward to the $000.00 checks from Ann Arbor.) The downside:
> The 500-plus pictures range from tolerable to terrible. I also planned to
> write an introduction with updates and corrections, and I still hope to do
> that. There's even talk about replacing some stills, perhaps with color
> frames.
>
> So if you're interested in Ozu, Japanese film history, or the poetics of
> cinema, you might want to check this out. Of course you can instead crack
> your piggy bank and order the single copy<http://www.abebooks.com/servlet/SearchResults?sts=t&y=0&tn=ozu+and+the+poetics+of+cinema&x=0>of the original I've found on what our President calls the Internets.
>
> If I were in an Ozu film, I'd probably now emit a sigh mixing satisfaction
> and resignation. Then I'd reach for a beer. Or at least an orange drink. No,
> a beer.
>
> *Update*, November 10: I'd thought that print-on-demand copies would be
> available, but Carsten Czarnecki points out that the Center site doesn't
> seem to indicate that. I'll check further.
>
> *Update #2*, same day: Our keen-eyed web tsarina Meg has found still other
> copies of the original book available, at prices starting at $118.95, here<http://www.fetchbook.info/compare.do?search=0691008221>.
> Please remit 10 % finder's fee to her.
>
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