Every artist has a dream project an enterprise that he or she has continuously taken up but never completed. Via archived notes and drafts, a retrospective reconstitution of such projects can serve as a key for better understanding the authors artistic corpus. The present study reaches out to the authorship of Paul Claudel, Jean Genet, and Federico Fellini. Claudel deferred and never completed the fourth segment of his Trilogie des Coufontaine. The only indication of the existence of this prospective fourth part of the theatre sequence is a brief entry in his Journal. In 1949, he began writing a third version of his first great work Tete d'Or. Like the unfinished fourth section that was to be added to the trilogy, the draft of the third version of Tete d'Or reveals a dialogue between the Old and New Testaments a theme that appears to be central to Claudel's entire corpus. Genet labored over La Mort for many years. At the conclusion of Saint Genet, comedien et martyr (1952), Sartre mentions this final work of Genet. Genet discussed his progress on La Mort in correspondence and even published Fragments of La Mort in the literary magazine Les Temps Modernes. While the project never came to fruition, it nevertheless remains an important means through which to understand Genets work. The aborted production of Fellinis Voyage de G. Mastorna has become a legend. After 8" and Giulietta degli spiriti, Fellini wrote a screenplay that he began to film but subsequently abandoned, much to the chagrin of producer Dino de Laurentiis who had already invested in sets and costumes. Fellini would often revisit this project, but never completed it. This book also examines additional dream projects taken from different art forms: poetry (Mallarmes Le Livre); literature (Vignys Daphne); painting (Monets Nympheas); music (Schoenbergs Moses und Aron); and various films (Clouzots LEnfer, Viscontis La Recherche, Kubricks Napoleon, etc.).

About the Author
Yehuda (Jean-Bernard) Moraly is an associate professor at the Hebrew University, Jerusalem. His fields of research are mainly French theatre and film: Jean Genet, la vie ecrite (Editions de la Difference, 1988); Claudel metteur en scene (Presses Universitaires de Franche Comte, 1998); Le Maitre fou, Genet theoricien du theatre, Nizet, 2009). His L'uvre impossible: Claudel, Genet, Fellini (Le Manuscrit, 2013) deals mostly with Fellinis cinema. He is also a play-wright and his plays are published and produced in France and Israel.

Reviews

'Dream Projects is a thoroughly interesting, yet complex read, presenting some intriguing interpretations about the creative process. Moraly persuasively argues that the dream project may, by its very nature, be inexpressible.' Paul Daugherty, Death Studies

'This latest publication, with its clearly defined premise and three concise, lively chapters, is equally captivating [as Moraly's Revolution in Paradise]. Each chapter is illustrated by means of particularly illuminating colour plates, which include cinematic stills, and photographs of theatre productions... the English translation, for which Melanie Florence must be congratulated, is marked by its elegance. While the subject of Dream Projects is incompletion, abandonment and disintegration, Moraly's latest book is tight, accomplished and convincing.' Clare Finburgh Delijani, Theatre Journal

'The meticulous work of analytical reconstruction conducted in the study would undoubtedly be of interest to scholars and students familiar with the work of the artists discussed, yet it seems that the book's most significant contribution lies in the accumulative nature of the examples it presents. By exploring the concept of the impossible work and its place in the artistic corpus of different artists, Moraly's analysis produces valuable insights and an original research framework which may be of relevance to all who are interested in reflecting on the act of artistic creation in general.' Keren Cohen, Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television

Book Information
ISBN 9781789760880
Author Yehuda Moraly
Format Paperback
Page Count 224
Imprint Liverpool University Press
Publisher Liverpool University Press
Weight(grams) 426g