Eleonora Duse and Cenere (Ashes)

Centennial Essays
Erscheinungsjahr 2017
ISBN: 978-1-4766-6375-3
Verlag: McFarland

Buch, Englisch, 188 Seiten, Paperback, Format (B × H): 152 mm x 229 mm, Gewicht: 282 g

The silent film Cenere (Ashes) is the only cinematic ""expression"" of Eleonora Duse (1858-1924), the greatest of all Italian actresses. Taken from the homonymous novel by Grazia Deledda (Nobel Prize for Literature in 1926), it offers us the highest proof of Duse's silence and of her spiritual meditation as an artist: on the screen she remembered all the ""mother-roles"" that she had created for the theatre, and used them to create a new performance for a new medium.

The genesis, the development and the difficulties involved in the making of Cenere, are evident in the essays of this collection. Duse's perfectionism was too advanced for the rules of the Italian movie industry of the 1910s: now we render historical justice to the many facets of her work, and not only as an actress, illustrating her broader opinion of the silent movie industry as it developed in war-time Italy.

The publication of the current collection marks the 100th anniversary of the making of Cenere, and brings together, for the first time in English, a broad survey of scholarship surrounding Duse's only film performance seen within the creative, political and historical context of its time.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Über Autor(innen)

Maria Pia Pagani is Adjunct Professor of Theatrical Literature, Art of Directing and Theatre Discipline at University of Pavia, Italy. She is author of many academic essays-in Italian, English, Russian-about Eleonora Duse. She is managing editor for Italy in the project ""The Theatre Times."" Member of Pen Club, she is the Italian translator of the doctor-writer and playwright Mikhail Berman-Tsikinovsky.