The Dream of the Moving Statue

By Kenneth Gross

Book Overview

This eloquent and evocative book explores that arresting moment encountered in film, theater, and literature: a statue steps down off its pedestal and comes to life as lover, oracle, avenger, or monster. What does it mean for the statue that stands immobile in gallery or square to step down from its pedestal or speak out of its silence? What is it in this fantasy that animates us?

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0801427029
• ISBN13: 9780801427022
• Release Date: January 1993
• Publisher: Cornell Univ Pr
• Length: 272 Pages
• Weight: 1.15 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.5" x 0.8" x 6.5"

Customer Reviews

Interesting to read and full of creative ideas

The book covers a broad gamut of subjects and genres (film, poetry, etc.), and presents many interesting ideas. It is a pleasure to read for literature and visual art lovers alike. Many of the analyses employ a Freudian theory approach. I found the text useful for my doctoral research on animation of objects, specifically because it made me aware of the difficulty in differentiating between animation that is inherent in the object versus animation generated in the eyes (and brain) of the beholders.

One of the strangest and most interesting books of literary criticism of the last forty years

This is one of the few books of criticism which I return to for inspiration: it reminds me why I decided to become a literary critic. The book constructs a quirky pantheon of stories about statues and bodies: the artists discussed include Shakespeare, Charlie Chaplin, Wittgenstein, Pushkin, and Freud, among others. The arguments are always both surprising and wholly persuasive, and the writing has a sumptuous elegance. I am delighted that the book is being reprinted in paperback, and I hope that it gets the attention it deserves.