In the early 1930s, during his first years of exile and 20 years before the publication of his seminal work To the Actor, Michael Chekhov made his first incursion into the challenging task of writing about an actor's experience and his vision of the craft.This important, though largely forgotten, work (the so-called 'Paris Manuscript') was handwritten in German and in it we find Chekhov laying the groundwork for the canon of exercises and practices that, n...

First published in 1953, “To the Actor: On the Technique of Acting” is the famous and influential guide to acting by Russian-American actor, director, and teacher Michael Chekhov. Born in Saint Petersburg in 1891 and the nephew of Russian playwright Anton Chekhov, Michael Chekhov studied acting from the famed theater director Konstantin Stanislavski at the First Studio of the Moscow Art Theatre and was considered by Stanislavski to be his most brilliant student. While Chekhov was at first ...

Michael Chekhov's classic work To the Actor has been revised and expanded by Mala Powers to explain, clearly and concisely, the essential techniques for every actor from developing a character to strengthen awareness.Chekhov's simple and practical method – successfully used by professional actors all over the world – trains the actor's imagination and body to fulfill its potential.To the Actor includes a previously unpublished chapter on 'Psychological Ges...

To The Actor is Michael Chekhov's acting methodology written in clear and practical steps. His technique has been a cornerstone of dramatic teaching for the past 80 years. Chekhov's students included notable actors such as Marilyn Monroe, Anthony Quinn, Clint Eastwood, and Dorothy Dandridge. Actors such as Johnny Depp, Jack Nicholson, and Anthony Hopkins, have stated his work to be a notable contribution to the success of their acting careers.Michael Chekhov's psycho-physi...

This is the first English translation of Michael Chekhov’s two-volume autobiography, combining The Path of the Actor (1927) and extensive extracts from his later volume Life and Encounters.Full of illuminating anecdotes and insightful observations involving prominent characters from the MAT and the European theatre of the early twentieth century, Chekhov takes us through events in his acting career and personal life, from his childhood in St. Petersburg until his ...

One of the last representatives of a brand of serious, high-art cinema, Alexander Sokurov has produced a massive oeuvre exploring issues such as history, power, memory, kinship, death, the human soul, and the responsibility of the artist. Through contextualization and close readings of each of his feature fiction films (broaching many of his documentaries in the process), this volume unearths a vision of Sokurov's films as equally mournful and passionate, intellectual, and sensual, and als...

In the tradition of E. M. Forster's Aspects of the Novel and Milan Kundera's The Art of the Novel, James Wood's How Fiction Works is a scintillating study of the magic of fiction--an analysis of its main elements and a celebration of its lasting power.Here one of the most prominent and stylish critics of our time looks into the machinery of storytelling to ask some fundamental questions: What do we mean when we say we "know" a fictional c...

This classic guide, from the renowned novelist and professor, has helped transform generations of aspiring writers into masterful writers—and will continue to do so for many years to come.John Gardner was almost as famous as a teacher of creative writing as he was for his own works. In this practical, instructive handbook, based on the courses and seminars that he gave, he explains, simply and cogently, the principles and techniques of good writing. Gardner’s lessons, exemplified w...

It is no common thing to find an artist who, even if he be willing to try, is capable of expressing his aims and ideals with any clearness and moderation. Some people will say that any such capacity is a flaw in the perfect artist, who should find his expression in line and colour, and leave the multitude to grope its way unaided towards comprehension. This attitude is a relic of the days when "l'art pour l'art" was the latest battle cry; when eccentricity of manner and irregularity of lif...

Friedrich Nietzsche was a German philosopher, poet and cultural critic. He is best known for his controversial idea of ‘life affirmation’ that challenged traditional morality and all doctrines. Born in 1844 outside Leipzig, Germany, his teachings inspired people in all walks of life, from dancers and poets to psychologists and social revolutionaries. Here you will find insights from his greatest works.The School of Life takes a great thinker and highlights those ideas most relevant to ordi...

From the National Book Critics Circle Award–winning poet and critic: "A lovely book, full of joy and wisdom." — The Baltimore SunHow to Read a Poem is an unprecedented exploration of poetry, feeling, and human nature. In language at once acute and emotional, Edward Hirsch describes why poetry matters and how we can open up our imaginations so that its message can make a difference. In a marvelous reading of verse from around the world, including wo...

In 1953, Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot premiered at a tiny avant-garde theatre in Paris; within five years, it had been translated into more than twenty languages and seen by more than a million spectators. Its startling popularity marked the emergence of a new type of theatre whose proponents—Beckett, Ionesco, Genet, Pinter, and others—shattered dramatic conventions and paid scant attention to psychological realism, while highlighting their characters’ inability to understan...