Although early film buffs may be familiar with Jean Epstein’s films, including an adaptation of Edgar Allan Poe’s The Fall of the House of Usher, not many Anglophones are acquainted with his poetic and provocative prose. Gathered in this wide-ranging collection are new translations into English of every major theoretical work on film theory Epstein ever published, as well a series of essays by other film makers and scholars of art history, French studies, and film, which provide incisive commentary and essential context for Epstein as both a director and a theoretician. As a result, Jean Epstein: Critical Essays and New Translations provides an expansive account of the artist and the man, from his beginnings as a student of biology and aspiring poet to his late film projects and posthumously published writings. By both connecting Epstein to his era and offering contemporary criticism of his films, the essays in this book demonstrate his ongoing importance in film history and theory. This collection is a timely reexamination of a filmmaker and author who has much to offer modern audiences and readers.

Today’s film scholars draw from a dizzying range of theoretical perspectives—they’re just as likely to cite philosopher Gilles Deleuze as they are to quote classic film theorist André Bazin. To students first encountering them, these theoretical lenses for viewing film can seem exhilarating, but also overwhelming.
 
Thinking in the Dark introduces readers to twenty-one key theorists whose work has made a great impact on film scholarship today, including Rudolf Arnheim, Sergei Eisenstein, Michel Foucault, Siegfried Kracauer, and Judith Butler. Rather than just discussing each theorist’s ideas in the abstract, the book shows how those concepts might be applied when interpreting specific films by including an analysis of both a classic film and a contemporary one. It thus demonstrates how theory can help us better appreciate films from all eras and genres: from Hugo to Vertigo, from City Lights to Sunset Blvd., and from Young Mr. Lincoln to A.I. and Wall-E.
 
The volume’s contributors are all experts on their chosen theorist’s work and, furthermore, are skilled at explaining that thinker’s key ideas and terms to readers who are not yet familiar with them. Thinking in the Dark is not only a valuable resource for teachers and students of film, it’s also a fun read, one that teaches us all how to view familiar films through new eyes. 
 
Theorists examined in this volume are: Rudolf Arnheim, Béla Balázs, Roland Barthes, André Bazin, Walter Benjamin, Judith Butler, Stanley Cavell, Michel Chion, Gilles Deleuze, Jean Douchet, Sergei Eisenstein, Jean Epstein, Michel Foucault, Siegfried Kracauer, Jacques Lacan, Vachel Lindsay, Christian Metz, Hugo Münsterberg, V. F. Perkins, Jacques Rancière, and Jean Rouch.