BIBLIO is the largest independent book marketplace in the world, with over 100 million books.

Skip to content

Farber on Film: The Complete Film Writings of Manny Farber
Stock photo: cover may vary

Farber on Film: The Complete Film Writings of Manny Farber Hardback - 2009

by Manny Farber; Robert Polito (Editor)

Add to wish list

Reader reviews for Farber on Film: The Complete Film Writings of Manny Farber

From the publisher

Manny Farber (1917-2008) was a unique figure among American movie critics. Champion of what he called "termite art" (focused, often eccentric virtuosity as opposed to "white elephant" monumentality), master of a one-of-a-kind prose style whose jazz-like phrasing and incandescent twists and turns made every review an adventure, he has long been revered by his peers. Susan Sontag called him "the liveliest, smartest, most original film critic this country ever produced"; for Peter Bogdanovich, he was "razor-sharp in his perceptions" and "never less than brilliant as a writer."
Farber was an early discoverer of many filmmakers later acclaimed as American masters: Val Lewton, Preston Sturges, Samuel Fuller, Raoul Walsh, Anthony Mann. A prodigiously gifted painter himself, he brought to his writing an artist's eye for what was on the screen. Alert to any filmmaker, no matter how marginal or unsung, who was "doing go-for-broke art and not caring what comes of it," he was uncompromising in his contempt for pretension and trendiness, for, as he put it, directors who "pin the viewer to the wall and slug him with wet towels of artiness and significance."
The excitement of his criticism, however, has less to do with his particular likes and dislikes than with the quality of attention he paid to each film as it unfolds, to the "chains of rapport and intimate knowledge" in its moment-to-moment reality. To transcribe that knowledge he created a prose that, in Robert Polito's words, allows for "oddities, muddles, crises, contradictions, dead ends, multiple alternatives, and divergent vistas." The result is critical essays that are themselves works of art.
"Farber on Film" brings together this extraordinary body of work in its entirety for the first time, from his early and previously uncollected weekly reviews for "The New Republic" and "The Nation" to his brilliant later essays (some written in collaboration with his wife Patricia Patterson) on Godard, Fassbinder, Herzog, Scorsese, Altman, and others. Featuring an introduction by editor Robert Polito that examines in detail the stages of Farber's career and his enduring significance as writer and thinker, "Farber on Film" is a landmark volume that will be a classic in American criticism.

Details

  • Title Farber on Film: The Complete Film Writings of Manny Farber
  • Author Manny Farber; Robert Polito (Editor)
  • Binding Hardback
  • Edition First Edition
  • Pages 824
  • Volumes 1
  • Language ENG
  • Publisher Library of America, New York
  • Publication date 2009-10-01
  • ISBN 9781598530506 / 159853050X
  • Weight 2.53 lbs (1.15 kg)
  • Dimensions 9.54 x 6.48 x 1.68 in (24.23 x 16.46 x 4.27 cm)
  • Age range 18 to UP years
  • Grade levels 13 - UP
  • Category Pop Arts / Pop Culture
  • Library of Congress Catalogue Number 2009928058
  • Dewey Decimal Code 808.823

More Copies for Sale

Farber on Film: The Complete Film Writings of Manny Farber
More photos

Farber on Film: The Complete Film Writings of Manny Farber

by Farber, Manny; Edited by Robert Polito

  • Used
  • Near Fine
  • Hardback
  • first
Condition
Near Fine
Edition
First printing
Binding
Hardcover
ISBN 10 / ISBN 13
9781598530506 / 159853050x
Quantity available
1
Seller
Item price
A$35.86
A$10.04 Delivery to USA

Show details

Description:
United States: The Library of America, 2009. First printing. Hardcover. Near fine/near fine. Glossy paper covered boards in dust jacket, octavo, 824pp., not illustrated. Book has handsome boards and tight binding, text clean and unmarked, with remainder mark to bottom edge of text block. DJ gently shelfworn.
Add to wish list
Item price
A$35.86
A$10.04 Delivery to USA
FARBER ON FILM: The Complete Film Writings of Manny Farber
Stock photo: cover may vary

FARBER ON FILM: The Complete Film Writings of Manny Farber

by Polito, Robert ed.

  • Used
  • Fine
  • Hardback
Condition
Excellent
Binding
Hardcover
ISBN 10 / ISBN 13
9781598530506 / 159853050x
Quantity available
1
Seller
Item price
A$43.03
A$7.24 Delivery to USA

Show details

Description:
New York: The Library of America, 2009. (2009), 824pp, owner's stamp to title pg, light shelfwear to dj, contents clean & unmarked.. Hard Cover. Fine/Very Good +.
Add to wish list
Item price
A$43.03
A$7.24 Delivery to USA

Farber on Film: The Complete Film Writings of Manny Farber

Manny Farber

We're sorry, this copy is no longer available.
Farber on Film: The Complete Film Writings of Manny Farber
Stock photo: cover may vary

Farber on Film: The Complete Film Writings of Manny Farber

by Manny Farber

  • Used
  • Good
  • Hardback
Condition
Good
Binding
Hardcover
ISBN 10 / ISBN 13
9781598530506 / 159853050X
Quantity available
1
Seller
Item price
A$58.92
Free Delivery to USA

Show details

Description:
hardcover. Good. Access codes and supplements are not guaranteed with used items. May be an ex-library book.
Add to wish list
Item price
A$58.92
Free Delivery to USA
Farber on Film: The Complete Film Writings of Manny Farber
Stock photo: cover may vary

Farber on Film: The Complete Film Writings of Manny Farber

by Farber, Many/ Polito, Robert (Editor)

  • New
  • Hardback
Condition
New
Binding
Hardcover
ISBN 10 / ISBN 13
9781598530506 / 159853050X
Quantity available
1
Seller
Item price
A$85.83
A$48.06 Delivery to USA

Show details

Description:
Library of America, 2009. Hardcover. New. 1000 pages. 10.00x6.50x1.75 inches.
Add to wish list
Item price
A$85.83
A$48.06 Delivery to USA
FARBER ON FILM: THE COMPLETE FILM WRITINGS OF MANNY FARBER

FARBER ON FILM: THE COMPLETE FILM WRITINGS OF MANNY FARBER

by Farber, Manny (Author) & Polito, Robert (Editor)

  • Used
  • as new
  • Hardback
  • first
Condition
New
Edition
First Edition. First Printing.
Binding
Hardcover
ISBN 10 / ISBN 13
9781598530506 / 159853050X
Quantity available
1
Seller
Item price
A$78.88
A$15.70 Delivery to USA

Show details

Description:
New York City, NY: The Library Of America, 2009. First Edition. First Printing.. Hardcover. As New/As New Dust Jacket.. New York City, NY: The Library Of America, 2009. Hardcover. As New/As New. First Edition/First Printing. 924 pages. Retrospective collection of essays. One of the most important film collections of our time. The First Hardcover Edition. Precedes and should not be confused with all other subsequent editions. Published in a small and limited first print run as a hardcover original only that sold out shortly after publication. The First Edition is now scarce. Presents, in one meticulously edited and elegant volume, "Farber On Film: The Complete Film Writings of Manny Farber". ALL of the great film critic's essays. A consistently top-notch body of work that reminds us, in almost 1000 pages, how film criticism was once practiced: As an art form, in and of itself, and was treasured as such by cinephile-readers. "With serious film criticism in a serious and inexorable… Read more
Add to wish list
Item price
A$78.88
A$15.70 Delivery to USA
Farber on Film: The Complete Film Writings of Manny Farber
Stock photo: cover may vary

Farber on Film: The Complete Film Writings of Manny Farber

by Manny Farber

  • New
  • Hardback
  • first
Condition
New
Binding
Hardcover
ISBN 10 / ISBN 13
9781598530506 / 159853050X
Quantity available
1
Seller
Item price
A$139.40
A$11.47 Delivery to USA

Show details

Description:
Library of America, 2009. First Printing. XXXVIII+824 pages. New Hardcover. New DJ. 9.5x6.25x1.75 inches. be40
Add to wish list
Item price
A$139.40
A$11.47 Delivery to USA