Five New Books

[Michael McCaskey]

Thank you very much! These are all good books, and I've been especially waiting for Miyao Daisuke's book on Hayakawa.

Michael McCaskey
Georgetown Univ.

----- Original Message -----
From: Mark Nornes <amnornes at umich.edu>
Date: Thursday, March 15, 2007 2:10 pm
Subject: Five New Books

> The University of Minnesota Press asked if I would forward  
> information about a certain book:
> 
> +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
> An original examination of the postwar Japanese documentary.
> 
> FOREST OF PRESSURE: Ogawa Shinsuke and Postwar Japanese Documentary
> Ab? Mark Nornes
> University of Minnesota Press | 288 pages | 2007
> ISBN 978-0-8166-4907-5 | hardcover | $75.00
> ISBN 978-0-8166-4908-2 | paperback | $25.00
> Visible Evidence Series, volume 18
> 
> A critical biography of filmmaking collective Ogawa Pro, Forest of 
> 
> Pressure explores the emergence of socially committed documentary  
> filmmaking in postwar Japan. Benefiting from unprecedented access 
> to  
> the collective's archives and interviews with former members, and  
> analyzing Ogawa Pro's films and works by other Japanese 
> filmmakers,  
> Ab? Mark Nornes addresses key issues in documentary theory and  
> practice.
> 
> ?Extraordinarily valuable, illuminating, and even entertaining,  
> Forest of Pressure brims with the types of information that only a 
> 
> key insider can get his hands on.? ?Mitsuhiro Yoshimoto
> 
> For more information, including the table of contents, visit the  
> book?s webpage:
> http://www.upress.umn.edu/Books/N/nornes_forest.html
> 
> For more information on the Visible Evidence Series:
> http://www.upress.umn.edu/byseries/visibleevidence.html
> 
> Sign up to receive news on the latest releases from University of  
> Minnesota Press:
> http://www.upress.umn.edu/eform.html
> 
> +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
> 
> Yes, Forest of Pressure is out and is now being delivered to the  
> eager masses. Overnight, it jumped all the way from number 
> 1,000,000+  
> to 496,321 in the Amazon.com rankings! Of course, the description  
> they list describes a Deleuzian take on film "hieroglyphs" by a  
> Harvard professor, so it's hard to say if I'm stealing readers 
> from  
> Tom Conley or vice versa! That may explain why it's slumped back 
> down  
> to #1,115,692 and used copies are already going for over $80 a pop.
> 
> In any case, I also wanted to mention something about the cover. 
> The  
> image you'll see at the online stores was the original mock-up:
> 
> ?
> I like the way Ogawa-san's arm drapes over the title. 
> Unfortunately,  
> a fashion-conscious friend noticed that the Penguin mark was on 
> the  
> wrong side of his shirt. The press didn't like the idea of 
> publishing  
> a flip-flopped photo, especially on the cover, and even if the  
> original composition doesn't lend itself as well to the design. I  
> argued that it was perfect?I'd call it my homage to Ogawa, who 
> never  
> hesitated tweaking reality for the sake of "design." They didn't 
> buy  
> it. Instead, the crazy, eclectic approach of the book itself will  
> have to be my design-homage, inspired as it is by Ogawa's last big 
> film.
> In any case, it's out. The book was a death bed promise to Ogawa, 
> who  
> may not have liked the final product. At least parts of it. Enjoy.
> 
> +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
> Just to make the post a little less self-serving, here are a 
> couple  
> other books just out:
> 
> Daisuke Miyao's Sessue Hayakawa: Silent Cinema and Transnational  
> Stardom (Duke). This was the talk of SCMS last week. I saw the 
> stack  
> of copies reduce quickly, and overheard the Duke editor hand it to 
> 
> someone saying, "Check this book out. It's the hot seller right 
> now."  
> Here's the webpage: http://www.dukeupress.edu/books.php3? 
> isbn=978-0-8223-3969-4
> 
> +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
> 
> D. A. Rajakaruna's latest book of screenplay translations: Ozu  
> Yasujiro's Two Postwar Films (Kandy, Sri Lanka: Godage int'l, 
> 2006).  
> ISBN:  955-208936-0    It contains scripts for Late Spring and 
> Early  
> Summer.
> 
> +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
> 
> Yoshida Kiju just published a followup to his 1970 Jikohitei no  
> ronri, entitled Henbo no riri (The Ethics of Changing Form). It's 
> a  
> fat collection of his writings from his entire career, edited by 
> Hasumi.
> +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
> 
> My University fo Michigan colleague from the law school, Mark 
> West,  
> published Secrets, Sex, and Spectacle: The Rules of Scandal in 
> Japan  
> and the United States (Chicago UP). It's a fascinating and quite  
> funny look at scandal management (corporate corruption, sports  
> cheating, political corruption, celebrity sexcapades, etc. etc.). 
> It  
> also has a cover I find incredibly distracting.
> 
> There are a few other books on the verge of release, but that's 
> all  
> for today.
> 
> Markus