It was at an Abel Gance retrospective in 1967 that Henri Langlois broke the news. Film historians had always considered Gance's "La Folie du Docteur Tube" (1915) a harbinger of Surrealism. But, Langlois explained, its extraordinary mess of distortion and hallucination was an accident. The opening
Michel Fokine approached the still-youthful art of ballet with fresh insight, revitalizing a form that had become saturated with spectacle. In 1898, after joining the Maryinsky Ballet, Fokine found himself dissatisfied with his beloved art form. It had been reduced to a circus act, as dancers showed
As the story goes, Don Quixote has read too many books about knights and experiences the world through the eyes of a valiant soldier. He is a hero and a fool. He is, simply speaking, insane.
When Don Quixote encounters windmills, he sees giants and attacks them as any good knight would. As his
The context for Malcolm Lowry's masterpiece, "Under the Volcano," is simple: a single day in the life of Geoffrey Firmin. It happens to be his last. The place is Quauhnahuac, Mexico, the day the Day of the Dead. As the locals celebrate the souls of the deceased, Firmin (also known as "the Consul"), h