Obituary - Alan Williams 08/16/2023

Education:

B.A., University of Washington
M.A., University of Washington
Ph.D., SUNY Buffalo

Fields of Research:

Professor Alan Williams worked primarily in the field of film history, defined very broadly. He tried to tie together ways of studying cinema that are normally considered distinct: theories of spectatorship, economic history, study of film genres, the influence of social events and configurations on filmmaking, and so on. He was particularly interested in crisis points in film history--"overdetermined" moments where striking changes at apparently different levels occur in a relatively brief space of time. These included (for French cinema) the transition from "silent" cinema to the talkies, the German Occupation, the years of the nouvelle vague and, most recently, the time of the final negotiations of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade.

Books (click on image for details):

Other Publications:

• Max Ophuls and the Cinema of Desire. (Arno, 1980)
• "Pierrot in Context(s)", in D. Wills, ed., Pierrot le fou (Cambridge University Press, in press)
• Making Different Kinds of Circles:  Reigen and the Cinema, in T. Ballhausen et al (eds.), Die Tatsachen der Seele:  Arthur Schnitzler und der Film (Verlag Filmarchiv Austria, 2006)

Program Connections:

Cinema Studies
Comparative Literature