Wilson, Emma

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WILSON, Emma

PERSONAL:

Female.

ADDRESSES:

Office—Department of French, Faculty of Modern and Medieval Languages, University of Cambridge, Sidgwick Avenue, Cambridge CB3 9DA, England. Agent—c/o Author Mail, Columbia University Press, 61 West 62nd St., New York, NY 10023. E-mail—efw1000@hermes.cam.ac.uk.

CAREER:

Author and educator. Cambridge University, Cambridge, England, senior lecturer in the Department of French.

WRITINGS:

Sexuality and the Reading Encounter: Identity and Desire in Proust, Duras, Tournier, and Cixous, Oxford University Press (New York, NY), 1996.

French Cinema since 1950: Personal Histories, Duckworth (London, England), 1999.

Memory and Survival: The French Cinema of Krzysztof, Legenda (Oxford, England), 2000.

Cinema's Missing Children, Columbia University Press (New York, NY), 2003.

WORK IN PROGRESS:

A study of the films of Alain Resnais.

SIDELIGHTS:

A faculty member of the University of Cambridge's Corpus Christi College, Emma Wilson specializes in French literature and contemporary film. In her first book, Sexuality and the Reading Encounter: Identity and Desire in Proust, Duras, Tournier, and Cixous, Wilson focuses on these four notable French writers, discussing the works of several theorists and incorporating the "queer theory" of reading into her analyses of scenes and presentations of pleasure, pain, eroticism, and loss presented in the authors' works. In the process, Wilson examines the complex relationship among the reader, the author, and the text with a focus on how a reader's sexual desire and orientation can be affected and possibly even changed by the reading of a literary novel.

In a review of Sexuality and the Reading Encounter in the Times Literary Supplement, Nicole Ward Jouve said she doubted "that reading is as formative" as the author argues. However, the reviewer called the book "a highly intelligent, up-to-date, well-informed study." Modern Philology contributor Martha Noel Evans noted that the book was "badly served by its copyeditors," especially in terms of using the either/or pronoun forms (such as s/he and him/herself). Evans also commented, however, that the book "never ceases to stimulate, provoke, and enlighten." Kate Ince, writing in Modern Language Review, said that the chapters on Proust and Duras were the book's high points. Ince also noted, "The book is impeccably researched and written with evidently painstaking care."

Wilson takes a critical look at some of the most widely watched and studied works of French cinema in her book French Cinema since 1950: Personal Histories. She focuses both on classic, widely known films such as François Truffaut's The 400 Blows and Jean Luc Godard's Breathless, as well as works little known outside of France such as Irma Vep, by director Jean-Pierre Leaud. Wilson begins by examining the young directors of the 1950s, such as Truffaut and Godard, who wanted to raise filmmaking to the level of classic literature. Wilson analyzes the biographical and autobiographical elements of several films, especially in terms of their creators' responses to various public events. Times Literary Supplement contributor Robin Buss called Wilson's critical approach "promising" but added that it was hindered by "poor argument and a certain lack of consideration for the reader." Writing in Choice, reviewer M. Yacowar said that French Cinema since 1950 contained too much unnecessary information that took away from a more comprehensive analysis but was a valuable introduction to many lesser-known French films. Yacowar also noted, "The conclusion provides a touching fusion of the scholarly and personal."

In her 2003 book Cinema's Missing Children, Wilson discusses how numerous contemporary films approach the issue of the loss of a child, a long-time archetype in stories and fables, such as Little Red Riding Hood. Wilson contends in her introduction that "one of the central fears and compulsions explored in recent independent and art cinema is the death or loss of a child." In looking at the motif of the dead, missing, or murdered child, Wilson discusses how filmmakers use cinema to express and transform both their own and the viewer's response to the intense pain and horror at the loss of a child. To illustrate her themes and theories, Wilson draws on modern psychological and sociological research as she discusses such films as Three Colours: Blue, All about My Mother, and Portrait of a Lady, all of which discuss how a surviving mother deals with all-consuming grief and changes as the result of a child's death.

In a review on Kamera.co.uk, contributor Antonio Pasolini wrote that Wilson's contention that the missing child was central to modern art films is an exaggeration. Pasolini also commented that the book used too much academic language and was a "monotonous read." Nevertheless, the reviewer concluded, "Despite the style difficulties Cinema's Missing Children is faced with, it is certainly an original book that may pave the way for more in the field." Writing for PopMatters Book Review, James Oliphant also found the book's language to be too academic but noted, "That never detracts from the weight of [Wilson's] intellect or scholarship." Oliphant also commented that Wilson's book "makes for compelling reading for anyone interested in thoughtful and compelling film analysis."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Choice, January, 1997, F. C. St. Aubyn, review of Sexuality and the Reading Encounter: Identity and Desire in Proust, Duras, Tournier, and Cixous, p. 802; March, 2000, M. Yacowar, review of French Cinema since 1950: Personal Histories, p. 1309.

Modern Language Review, July, 1997, Kate Ince, review of Sexuality and the Reading Encounter, pp. 741-742.

Modern Philology, November, 1998, Martha Noel Evans, review of Sexuality and the Reading Encounter, p. 284.

Times Literary Supplement, June 6, 1997, Nicole Ward Jouve, review of Sexuality and the Reading Encounter, p. 33; September 3, 1999, Robin Buss, review of French Cinema since 1950, p. 32.