A Companion to Woody Allen

Edited by two renowned Allen experts, A Companion to Woody Allen presents a collection of 26 original essays on the director’s films. Contributions offer a number of divergent critical perspectives while expanding the contexts in which his work is understood.

• A timely companion by the authors of two of the most important books on Allen to date
• Illuminates the films of Woody Allen from a number of divergent critical perspectives
• Explores the contexts in which his work should be understood
• Assesses Allen’s remarkable filmmaking career from its early beginnings and investigates the conflicts and contradictions that suffuse it
• Discusses Allen’s recognition as a global cinematic figure

“"I recommend this book for academic libraries that support upper-level film studies, media and literature programmes." ( Reference Reviews , 1 October 2014) "Summing Up: Highly recommended. Upper-level undergraduates and above." ( Choice , 1 October 2013) " A Companion to Woody Allen is a challenging and enjoyable read, with much of interest to both academic and nonacademic audiences." ( Review of Contemporary Philosophy , 16, 2017)”

“I recommend this book for academic libraries that support upper-level film studies, media and literature programmes.”  (Reference Reviews, 1 October 2014)

“Summing Up: Highly recommended. Upper-level undergraduates and above.”  (Choice, 1 October 2013)

"A Companion to Woody Allen is a challenging and enjoyable read, with much of interest to both academic and nonacademic audiences." (Review of Contemporary Philosophy, 16, 2017)

Peter Bailey is Frank P. Piskor Professor of English at St. Lawrence University in Canton, New York, where he has taught American Literature, creative writing and film studies for 32 years.  In addition to The Reluctant Film Art of Woody Allen (2001), he is the author of Reading Stanley Elkin (1986) and Rabbit (Un)Redeemed: The Drama of Belief in John Updike’s Fiction (2006). He has also published on Frank Conroy, Robert Coover, Joan Didion, Frederick Exley, John Irving, and Ronald Sukenick, and he is secretary of the national John Updike Society.

Sam B. Girgus is Professor of English at Vanderbilt University.  He is a prolific author whose publications include The Films of Woody Allen (2nd edition, 2002) and Levinas and the Cinema of Redemption: Time, Ethics, and the Feminine (2010). He also has edited several works, including The American Self: Myth, Ideology, and Popular Culture (1981). He is a recipient of a Rockefeller Humanities Fellowship and other scholarly and teaching awards, and has lectured and taught extensively in universities throughout America and the world.

Edited by the authors of two of the most important books on Allen to date, A Companion to Woody Allen presents a collection of twenty-six original essays on Allen's films. Addressing mainly the movies produced after Husbands and Wives (1992) and the tabloid scandals, contributions illuminate the films of Allen from a number of divergent critical perspectives, while seeking to expand the contexts in which his work is understood. The essays are divided into five categories which cover Biography/Autobiography/Auteurism; Movies about the Movies; Allen and His Sisters: Cultural Critiques; Influences/Intertextualities; and Philosophy/Religion. Within these categories, essays discuss the relationship between Allen the filmmaker and his screen persona, films Allen has made about filmmakers and filmmaking, the depiction of female subjectivity in his more recent films, his influences, and the comical aspect of Allen's films. Critical approaches range from the formalistic to the highly postmodern, and this lively, wide-ranging volume assesses his remarkable filmmaking career by exploring its evolution and development and acknowledging the conflicts and contradictions that suffuse it.

Edited by the authors of two of the most important books on Allen to date, A Companion to Woody Allen presents a collection of twenty-six original essays on Allen s films. Addressing mainly the movies produced after Husbands and Wives (1992) and the tabloid scandals, contributions illuminate the films of Allen from a number of divergent critical perspectives, while seeking to expand the contexts in which his work is understood. The essays are divided into five categories which cover Biography/Autobiography/Auteurism; Movies about the Movies; Allen and His Sisters: Cultural Critiques; Influences/Intertextualities; and Philosophy/Religion. Within these categories, essays discuss the relationship between Allen the filmmaker and his screen persona, films Allen has made about filmmakers and filmmaking, the depiction of female subjectivity in his more recent films, his influences, and the comical aspect of Allen s films. Critical approaches range from the formalistic to the highly postmodern, and this lively, wide-ranging volume assesses his remarkable filmmaking career by exploring its evolution and development and acknowledging the conflicts and contradictions that suffuse it.

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