He Read Deep Into The Night: Stories 1-100 - Softcover

Peter Greenaway

Softcover

ISBN 10: 2381620125 ISBN 13: 9782381620121

Publisher: Dis Voir, 2026

Synopsis

Since the earliest days of my filmmaking, I wrote such short stories, indeed very short stories: sometimes two or three sentences, perhaps a paragraph. There are now close to a thousand stories, and I have the distinct sense they will not stop coming. Some found their way into my early short films - stories spoken directly to the camera in H is for House and Vertical Features Remake - and sometimes they provided the very architecture of a film, as in Dear Phone. They also spill, extravagantly, into the encyclopaedic three hours of The Falls. Over ;me, the stories have multiplied, touching on almost everything that occupies me. Certain subjects return insistently: painters and paintings, birds and natural history, anatomy, Rome and the Romans, the Netherlands and the Dutch. Darwin, Rembrandt, and Henry VIII reoccur. And stories about stories are endless. The Cook, The Thief, His Wife and Her Lover was built on the courses of a dinner, while another script imagines an old man writing a hundred stories about the towers of a city - a structure that allows me to speak of death, loss, human hubris, ageing, mortality, and euthanasia. Whether this will ever find its way into film remains uncertain. Together with the artist, painter, and illustrator Stefano Bessoni, we present a collection of my stories accompanied by his drawings. And so, we have begun. Peter Greenaway.

About this title

About the Authors

Peter Greenaway (b. 1942), born in Newport, Wales, and based in Amsterdam and London, he is considered to be an avant-gardist who has made forays into mainstream cinema, Peter Greenaway's unique visual language reveals a strong influence from his training as a painter, as well as structural linguistics and philosophy. Openly critical of the Hollywood approach to filmmaking, he believes that cinema should offer much more beyond the confines of narrative. As a believer in the subversive power of the image, Greenaway expresses his critical reaction to our contemporary visual culture in different forms, ranging from paintings and films, to television, multimedia formats, opera, and, most recently, VJ-ing. His constant exploration of the cinematic medium has resulted in the creation of incredibly rich imagery, heavily influenced by Renaissance painting and architecture, that explores the limits of provocative eroticism, sexual pleasure, and death.

Stefano Bessoni (b.1965) born in Rome, is an Italian filmmaker, writer, illustrator, and stop-motion animator. His work is driven by a passion for entomology, anatomy, fairy tales, and the history of science. Bessoni draws inspiration from eerie suggestions that evoke the uncanny, delving into the concept of the wunderkammer. At the heart of Bessoni's creations lies the technique of stop-motion, the dark essence of animation. His artistry, often infused with gothic mystery and utilizing unconventional materials such as bones, rags, vintage toys, and attic finds, exudes a haunting allure.

Edition details

• Publisher: Dis Voir
• Publication date: 2026
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 2381620125
• ISBN 13: 9782381620121
• Binding: Paperback
• Illustrator: Stefano Bessoni
• Number of pages: 64