From the Academy Award-winning Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004) and Academy Award-nominated Adaptation (2002) to the cult classic Being John Malkovich (1999), screenwriter Charlie Kaufman is widely admired for his innovative, philosophically resonant films. Although he also began directing with Synecdoche, New York in 2008, most fans and critics refer to ‘Kaufman films’ the way they would otherwise discuss works by directors such as Woody Allen, Martin Scorsese, or the Coen brothers. In this respect, not only has Kaufman transformed our sense of what can take place in a film, he has also made a significant impact on our understanding of the role of the screenwriter.
The Philosophy of Charlie Kaufman, edited by David La Rocca, is the first collection of essays devoted to a rigorous philosophical exploration of Kaufman’s work by a team of capable and critical scholars from a wide range of disciplines. From political theorists to philosophers, classicists to theologians, professors of literature to practicing filmmakers, the contributing authors delve into the heart of Kaufman’s innovative screenplays and films, offering not only original philosophical analyses but also extended reflections on the nature of film and film criticism. The paperback edition appears with a new preface by the editor.
Table of Content
Introduction: Charlie Kaufman and Philosophy’s Questions
Part 1: On Being and Not Being One’s Self
Charlie Kaufman, Screenwriter
On Being John Malkovich and Not Being Yourself
The Divided Self: Kaufman, Kafka, Wittgenstein, and Human Nature
Unauthorized Autobiography: Truth and Fact in Confessions of a Dangerous Mind
Part 2: Being, or Trying to Be, with Others
Me and You: Identity, Love, and Friendship in the Films of Charlie Kaufman
I Don’t Know, Just Wait: Remembering Remarriage in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Charlie Kaufman, Philosophy, and the Small Screen
The Instructive Impossibility of Being John Malkovich
Part 3: Being in the World, Partially
Living a Part: Synecdoche, New York, Metaphor, and the Problem of Skepticism
‘There’s No More Watching’: Artifice and Meaning in Synecdoche, New York and Adaptation
Human Nature and Freedom in Adaptation
Synecdoche, in Part
Nietzschean Themes in the Films of Charlie Kaufman
Inconclusive Unscientific Postscript: Late Remarks on Kierkegaard and Kaufman
About the author
David La Rocca has edited three books on film and media—The Philosophy of Charlie Kaufman, The Philosophy of War Films, and The Philosophy of Documentary Film: Image, Sound, Fiction, Truth—and is the author or editor of a half-dozen more volumes. He has taught philosophy and cinema, and held visiting positions at Binghamton, Cornell, Cortland, Harvard, Ithaca College, and Vanderbilt.
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