This has been, to use an inappropriate medical metaphor, a long and difficult birth, but certainly not for lack of attendants or painkillers. After so many years of conceptions, reconceptions, and labor, however, it is hard to know who to thank or how far back to go, so I will simply begin to recite and offer my deepest apologies to anyone I inadvertently leave out. Various versions took shape in various locations, where I owe debts to the institutions and people who supported me and this project. The initial research was made possible by a stipend from the German Academic Exchange Service. Several people made my stay in Frankfurt more productive than it might have been. Heide Schlüpmann, Helmut Diederichs, and Martin Loiperdinger offered good advice and kind, if somewhat bewildered encouragement as I struggled to define my topic. Diederichs also provided the rare image of Hermann Häfker for
chapter 3. Special thanks go to the late Eberhard Spiess for allowing me access to the periodicals and holdings of the Deutsches Institut für Filmkunde, and to Brigitte Capitain for her patience as I took advantage of this generosity. In Iowa City, I appreciate the attention David Depew, Kathleen Farrell, and Hanno Hardt gave to the first version of this project, while John Durham Peters and Dudley Andrew deserve special thanks for their guidance through the years. In Los Angeles, I am grateful to Linda Mehr and the late Robert Cushman of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ Margaret Herrick Library; I learned much from their example. Joe Adamson, Val Almendarez, Anne Coco, Steve Garland, Harry Garvin, Barbara Hall, Doug Johnson, Janet Lorenz, David Marsh, Howard Prouty, Lucia Schultz, Matt Severson, Warren Sherk, and all of my fellow librarians at the Herrick deserve thanks as well.
In Evanston, I owe thanks to the Department of Radio/Television/Film—especially my colleagues Bill Bleich, Michelle Citron, Laura Kipnis, Chuck Kleinhans, Larry Lichty, Hamid Naficy, Eric Patrick, Jeff Sconce, Jacob Smith, Jacqueline Stewart, Deb Tolchinsky, and the rest of the faculty—for having faith in me. Chairs Annette Barbier, Mimi White, Lynn Spigel, and David Tolchinsky were steadfast in their support. I thank Lynn Spigel, especially, for all she has done on my behalf (as far back as Los Angeles) as a mentor, model, and friend. Deans David Zarefsky and Barbara O’Keefe at the School of Communication offered resources in various forms, and I am grateful for their time, money, and patience. In Berlin, stays at the Max Planck Institute, thanks to Lorraine Daston, significantly sharpened my thinking about physics and observation, especially. In Weimar, Karl Sierek, Friedrich Balke, Daniel Eschkötter, and the graduate students at Bauhaus-Universität welcomed me and gave me space and time to work. In Innsbruck, Mario Klarer, Gudrun Grabher, Christian Quendler, Erwin Feyersinger, Robert Tinkler, Cornelia Klecker, Johannes Mahlknecht, Monika Datterl, and Maria Meth likewise gave time, space, and warm companionship freely, as well as trips to mountain cabins. In Doha, the entire staff and faculty of Northwestern University in Qatar made me feel welcome, especially program directors Mary Dedinsky and Sandra Richards, and colleagues Greg Bergida, David Carr, Susan Dun, Elizabeth Hoffman and Bob Vance, Joe Khalil, Muqeem Khan, John Laprise, Jocelyn Mitchell, Sue Pak, Christina Paschyn and Alex Demianczuk, Barry Sexton, Bianca Simon, Anne and Adam Sobel, Allwyn Tellis, Tim Wilkerson, and Ann Woodworth. Deans Jim Schwoch, Jeremy Cohen, and Everette Dennis displayed an inordinate amount of trust and confidence in my abilities; Dean Dennis, especially, offered whatever it took—and it took a lot—to get it done, and I am deeply indebted to him.
Along the way, a number of people deserve commendation for having read or commented on various parts of this project in various forms.
Chapter 1 benefited greatly from the insights of Nancy Anderson, Charlotte Bigg, Thomas Haakenson, Andreas Mayer, and others at the Max Planck Institute; Hannah Landecker kindly shared her research and insights on cell biology; Martin Carrier and Alfred Nordmann sharpened my thinking about atomistic physics; Richard Kremer and Ken Alder offered face-saving corrections from the historian of science’s point of view; and Dan Morgan, Oliver Gaycken, and Frank Kessler were kind enough to read the chapter at various points and help me clarify the argument.
Chapter 2 profited from the attention of Ken Alder and the Science in Human Culture Group at Northwestern, who prompted me to rethink it, while Nancy Anderson and Mike Dietrich provided time and space at Dartmouth College to rewrite it. Lisa Cartwright, Oliver Gaycken, Andreas Killen, Kirsten Ostherr, and Henning Schmidgen were at various points inspirational and instrumental in shaping this chapter; Lisa Cartwright was especially helpful at a key point in the process.
Chapter 3 owes its life to Steve Wurtzler, Jennifer Barker, and John Belton, and I owe Frank Kessler and Sabine Lenk for keeping it alive. A much earlier, different version of
chapter 4 was lucky to have the scrutiny of Ben Singer, David Bordwell, David Levin, and Marc Silberman. For its current form, I must thank Robin Curtis, Gertrud Koch, Dan Morgan, Inga Pollmann, and especially Kaveh Askari and Tony Kaes for all of their insight and encouragement. There are still others who provided valuable assistance along the way, including research assistants David Gurney, Dan Bashara, and Rebecca Barthel. John Carnwath kindly and expertly corrected my translations, rescuing me from many infelicities. Stefanie Harris, Jörg Schweinitz, and various anonymous readers offered important insights that prompted revisions and changes in argument. For their stalwart professional support and friendship over the years, I must offer my heartfelt thanks to Richard Abel, Rick Altman, Matthew Bernstein, Jane Gaines, Dilip Gaonkar, the late Miriam Hansen, Tom Levin, Charlie Musser, Jan Olssen, Patrice Petro, Lauren Rabinovitz, Eric Rentschler, Mark Sandberg, Vivian Sobchack, and Virginia Wexman.
All of the people named so far I count as my friends, but some friends deserve special mention for their unselfish and nonjudgmental acceptance of me and my book. Tom Gunning has been a friend and mentor for a very long time; more than anyone, he has shaped the contours of this ongoing investigation, usually without even knowing it. Tony Kaes has been a loyal fan and inspiration since I was a student. Both Tony and Tom have offered insightful, transformative commentary on several versions. Oliver Gaycken, Vinzenz Hediger, and Kirsten Ostherr are my fellow travelers on this interdisciplinary journey; I don’t often take a step without consulting them. Oliver read every word I have given him and always came back for more. Greg Waller and Brenda Weber have always offered valuable moral support and close friendship at just the right times. Ken Alder, Joe Carli, Lisa Cuklanz, Tracy Davis, Doug Johnson, Charlie Keil, and Will Schmenner have all been steady, life-long friends on whom I have leaned especially heavily at times. All the graduate students who have attended my seminars deserve note for their role in shaping my thinking over the years, but I thank especially Dan Bashara, Catherine Clepper, Beth Corzo-Duchardt, Alla Gadassik, Leslie Ann Lewis, Jason Roberts, Jocelyn Szczepaniak-Gillece, Kati Sweaney, and Meredith Ward. For their continuing friendship, I thank Richard Abel, Charles Acland and Haidee Wasson, Dana Benelli, Joanne Bernardi, Bill Bleich, Jeremy Cohen and Catherine Jordan, Kelley Conway and Matthew Sweet, Mark Garrett Cooper and Heidi Rae Cooley, Don Crafton and Susan Ohmer, Nick Davis, Leslie Midkiff DeBauche, Nico de Klerk, Carol Donelan and Shannon Spahr, Nataša Ďurovičová, Dirk and Myrna Eitzen, Jen Fay, André Gaudreault, Philippe Gauthier, Frank Gray, Alison Griffiths and William Boddy, Barbara Hall and Val Almendarez, Sara Hall and Monty George, Stefanie Harris, Micaela Hester, Chris Horak, Laura Horak and Gunnar Iverson, Rembert Hueser, Jenn Horne and Jonathan Kahana, Christopher Hurless and Rachel Henriquez, Zara Kadkani and Axel Schmitt, Jim Lastra, Tom Levin, Melody Marcus, Caitlin McGrath, Christie Milliken, Priska Morrissey, Tania Munz, Bill Palik, Anna Parkinson, Jennifer Peterson, Sarah Projansky, Christian and Grace Quendler, Isabelle Raynauld, Mark Sandberg, Ben Singer, Blane Skowhede, Jake Smith and Freda Love Smith, Stefan Soldovieri, Matthew Solomon, Shelley Stamp, Bing Stickney, Claudia Swan, Steve Tremble, Alison Trope, Mark Williams and Mary Desjardins, Tami Williams, Michael and Julia Wilson, Pam Robertson Wojcik, Robb Wood and Hanaa Issa, Steve Wurtzler, Harvey Young, and Josh Yumibe.
I should stress that this book would not have been published except for the efforts of John Belton and Jennifer Crewe, whose stubborn determination to wrest the manuscript from me finally overmatched my stubborn refusal to give it up. I also thank my editorial team at Columbia University Press: Ben Kolstad, Roy Thomas, Jennifer Jerome, Anne McCoy, and Kathryn Schell.
Of course, my family also deserves a large share of credit, not the least for their good-natured and bemused acceptance of a project that seemed never to end. Cindy and Randy Lee have been unconditional in their love and acceptance; Brandon and Noelle Lee, Trevor, Josh, and Michael Lee all are great relatives to have. Grant and Donna Boyles deserve mention for their love, care, and hospitality. I know my grandmother, Louise, and my aunt, Dian, would have been proud. I thank the Pike and Kelly families for welcoming me into their close-knit web of love and kindness: Ken and Elnora Kelly, Clayton and Carol Pike, Kerry and Kelli Graf (and Kaitlyn and Kayla), and Kory Pike; Kevin and Meredith Pike, especially, are not just relatives, but friends, which is a rare thing to say. But I owe most to Kirsten Pike, who has been my anchor, sail, and compass since I met her; this book and I would not be the same without her years of love and encouragement. If I had another book in me, I would dedicate it to her. But I must dedicate this work to my parents, Ray and Pat Curtis, whose inexhaustible patience, support, and love made everything possible.
There have been publications of parts of this project along the way, but what lies in the pages ahead is usually significantly different from what came before. Even so, we should note that parts of
chapter 1 originally appeared as “Die kinematographische Methode. Das ‘Bewegte Bild’ und die Brownsche Bewegung,”
montage/AV: Zeitschrift für Theorie & Geschichte audiovisueller Kommunikation 14, no. 2 (2005): 23–43; and “Science Lessons,”
Film History 25, nos. 1–2 (2013): 45–54. Parts of
chapter 2 originally appeared as “Between Observation and Spectatorship: Medicine, Movies, and Mass Culture in Imperial Germany,” in
Film 1900: Technology, Perception, Culture, edited by Annemone Ligensa and Klaus Kreimeier (New Barnet, U.K.: Libbey, 2009), 87–98; and “Dissecting the Medical Training Film,” in
Beyond the Screen: Institutions, Networks and Publics of Early Cinema, edited by Marta Braun, Charlie Keil, Rob King, Paul Moore, and Louis Pelletier (New Barnet, U.K.: Libbey, 2012), 161–167. Parts of
chapter 3 originally appeared as “The Taste of a Nation: Training the Senses and Sensibility of Cinema Audiences in Imperial Germany,”
Film History 6, no. 4 (Winter 1994): 445–469. Parts of
chapter 4 originally appeared as “Einfühlung und die frühe deutsche Filmtheorie,” in
Einfühlung. Zur Geschichte und Gegenwart eines ästhetischen Konzepts, edited by Robin Curtis and Gertrud Koch (Paderborn: Fink, 2009), 61–84.