Modernist Screenplay

Alexandra Ksenofontova completed her PhD in comparative literature at the Freie Universität Berlin, Germany. She is the co-founder of the German screenwriting research network Drehbuchforschung, member of the editorial board of the Journal of Screenwriting, and the Early Career Representative on the Executive Council of the international Screenwriting Research Network.

“Alexandra Ksenofontova’s study of the early film screenplay as a genre of modernist literature at the crossroads of literature and film is a valuable, necessary, and timely contribution to modernist studies, but also to the rapidly expanding body of scholarship dedicated to the academic study of screenwriting. … To be sure, the project is commendably ambitious. … Ksenofontova reminds us to appreciate, beyond the overlooked complexity of their craft, the literary creativity of screenwriters. This pioneering monograph will surely inspire a range of future work.” (Anna Torres-Cacoullos, Modernist Cultures, Vol. 17 (2), 2022)“It’s an excellent next step for anyone who has studied international film history and wants to dive deeper. … While the book is overall accessible for an educatedcinephile or history nerd, it is still academic … . For those researchers it’ll be invaluable. And if the average reader has the means to purchase the book or access it in a library, it’ll provide many evenings of critical thinking around screenplays, their function, and how we read them.” (LeeAnne Lowry, Journal of Screenwriting, Vol. 12 (2), 2021)

• 1. Introducing the experimental screenplay.- 2. The screenplay between pragmatic and aesthetic functions.- 3. Pre-War screenwriting: Fist publications, first experiments.- 4. Interwar screenwriting in France: Scenario-poems, surrealism, and self-reflexivity.- 5. The screenplay after the Russian Revolution: For and against “facticity”.- 6. “Expressionist” screenwriting and the “ennoblement” of Weimar cinema.- 7. Modernist screenwriting against the crisis of reason.- 8. Representing despite the crisis of representation: The fallacies of modernist screenwriting.- 9. Rhythmic screenplays: Beyond dualisms.- 10. Conclusion. Techniques and functions of experimental screenwriting.