The Philosophy of Charlie Kaufman

"Hollywood's brainiest screenwriter."—Wired

"To call Kaufman's clever, breathtaking work science fiction feels limiting, but no modern writer better charts the inner space of our anxieties and dreams better than this off-kilter chronicler."—Vulture

"How gratifying it is to have The Philosophy of Charlie Kaufman available in paperback. David LaRocca, the editor of this extraordinary collection, has brought together a distinguished group of contributors from a number of disciplines—political theorists, philosophers, classicists, theologians, professors of literature, filmmakers, and poets. The diversity of background ensures a wide range of stimulating response. Kaufman, whether working as a director or screenwriter, is undeniably an auteur, and one of the book's many achievements is to suggest how decisive and significant the artistic contribution of a screenwriter can be. The questions that propel Kaufman's fictions are overtly and demandingly philosophical, but everything Kaufman does with his existential forays is laced with wit, and extravagant mischief. LaRocca's collection also demonstrates how Kaufman's work is implicitly in dialogue with the ideas of Stanley Cavell. Kaufman's thinking about romantic relationships in terms of repetition and renewal, his preoccupation with the mystery of the film medium's ways of making and unmaking the world, and his beleaguered quest for moral perfectionism all exhibit kinship with Cavell's approach to the beautifully tumultuous human situation."—George Toles, Distinguished Professor and Film Chair, University of Manitoba, screenwriting partner of Guy Maddin, and author of Paul Thomas Anderson and A House Made of Light: Essays on the Art of Film

"I can't think of a contemporary filmmaker who is more philosophical, and more deserving of philosophical attention, than Charlie Kaufman. Sometimes—especially when I'm in the middle of one—I think I'd like to spend every minute of every day watching Kaufman's wildly creative, deliriously destabilizing, profound and at times beautiful films. Sadly, that is not possible. But reading these essays may well be the next best thing. This fascinating book will help audiences grasp and appreciate the full richness of what is to be found in the work of contemporary cinema's most madcap metaphysician."—Troy Jollimore, Professor of Philosophy, California State University, Chico, Guggenheim fellow, and author of Love's Vision, On Loyalty, and Syllabus of Errors: Poems

"This rich and varied collection of papers helps us to better understand Kaufman's wonderful films and explore the themes, philosophical and otherwise, that they contain. The section on the not-to-be-missed Synecdoche, New York, is especially rewarding. Read it and you will want to watch the film again and again."—C. D. C. Reeve, Delta Kappa Epsilon Distinguished Professor of Philosophy, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and author of Action, Contemplation, and Happiness and Blindness and Reorientation: Problems in Plato's Republic