Robert Bird – författare

Andrei Tarkovsky (1932-1986) was one of the great poets of world cinema. A fiercely independent artist, Tarkovsky crafted poignantly beautiful films that have proven inscrutable and been bitterly disputed. These qualities are present in abundance in Andrei Rublev (1966), Tarkovsky's first fully mature film. Ostensibly a biographical study of Russia's most famous medieval icon-painter, Andrei Rublev is both lyrical and epic, starkly naturalistic and allegorical, authentically historical and urgently topical. While much remains mysterious in Andrei Rublev, critics have recently begun to reappraise it as a groundbreaking film that undermines comfortable notions of life and spirituality. Robert Bird's multifaceted account of Andrei Rublev extends this reevaluation of Tarkovsky's radical aesthetic by establishing the film's historical context and presenting a substantially new reading of key scenes. Bird definitively establishes the film's tortured textual history, which has resulted in two vastly different versions. He relates the film to traditions in Russian art and intellectual history, but finally his analysis focuses on Andrei Rublev as a visual and narrative artwork that treats profound existential questions by challenging conventional notions of representation and vision.

The importance of intellectual property rights is now well established as a vital component in the success of firms and nations. The diverse contributors to this volume, drawn from the fields of law, business and economics, clarify and analyze the problems and promise of IP policy from a global perspective. They discuss both developed and emerging nations and advance the understanding of this increasingly important topic.The articles address issues from an interdisciplinary focus with an emphasis on current topical issues. Topics addressed include intellectual rights protection in emerging nations such as China, an exploration of a specific cross-national intellectual property perspective, strategies for protecting intellectual property rights, and a guide to understanding emerging and non-western legal systems. A mix of theoretical and practical observations helps the reader navigate the increasingly international topic of intellectual property as well as offers strategies for optimal utilization of intellectual property assets. The volume serves well both as a solution-oriented book and as a tool for facilitating further discussion and analysis in the classroom.Scholars and students in law, business and economics, as well as business practitioners interested in a global perspective on IP policy, will enjoy this book.

The films of Andrei Tarkovsky have been revered as ranking on a par with the masterpieces of Russia’s novelists and composers. His work, from films such as Ivan’s Childhood, Andrei Rublev, Solaris, Mirror, Nostalgia and Sacrifice, has had an enormous influence on the style of contemporary European film, with its open narrative structures and slow, pensive mood; yet Tarkovsky has remained an elusive subject for reflection and analysis. This book is a comprehensive, well-illustrated and much-needed account of Tarkovsky’s entire film output.Robert Bird’s analysis is centered around a detailed account of Tarkovsky’s technique, which provides the best interpretive guide to both the director’s films and his theoretical speculations. Integrating his idiosyncratic ideas with his films’ irresistible sensuality, Bird highlights Tarkovsky’s fascination with the elusive correlation between cinematic representation and the more primeval perception of the world.The book examines Tarkovsky's films elementally, grouping them into four sections: Water, Fire, Earth, and Air. It also discusses Tarkovsky's works for the radio, theatre and opera, and how he was in addition an accomplished actor, screenwriter, film theorist and diarist. The author’s claim, however, is that Tarkovsky was a filmmaker before all else, and this book examines what Tarkovsky’s cinema reveals about the medium in which he worked.A thorough yet accessible study, with a wealth of images including stills from films as well as the director and crew on set, this book will be of interest to all fans of Tarkovsky, students of film studies, and readers interested in European and Russian cinema.

16 contributions are published in Russian and 14 contributions in English.This volume is published in celebration of the seventieth birthday of Tomas Venclova, Lithuanian poet, literary scholar, essayist on contemporary culture and politics of Eastern Europe, and professor of Russian literature at Yale University. Thomas Venclova is one of the towering figures of contemporary intellectual and cultural life. A passionate proponent of human rights and member of the dissident movement in the Soviet Union, he also made a substantial contribution to the liberation of Eastern Europe. The essays presented include studies of Russian literature, Russian and Eastern European cultural history, and the culture of the Baltic states. The authors of this volume span the entire range of Tomas Venclova’s interests and contributions. They include colleagues from many countries, among them Michel Aucouturier (Paris), Nikolay Bogomolov (Moscow), Stefano Garzonio (Pisa), Viach. Vs. Ivanov (Los Angeles-Moscow), Lev Loseff (Dartmouth), Adam Michnik (Warsaw), Boris Ravdin (Riga), Stephanie Sandler (Harvard), Alexander Schenker (Yale), Roman Timenchik (Jerusalem), Michael Wachtel (Princeton), and others.