Parallel Tracks

The Railroad and Silent Cinema

By (author) Lynne Kirby

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Extent: 348 pages

Publisher: University of Exeter Press

Series: Exeter Studies in Film History

Language: English

Paperback (Published)

(February 1997)

ISBN: 9780859895309

5.928 x 8.931 inches

Price: $38.00

Out of stock

Hardback (Published)

(February 1997)

ISBN: 9780859895286

5.928 x 8.931 inches

Price: $94.00

In stock

This highly original work reveals the profound impact that the railroad and the cinema have had on Western society and modern urban industrial culture.


From its earliest days, the cinema has enjoyed a special kinship with the railroad, a mutual attraction based on similar ways of handling speed, visual perception, and the promise of a journey. PARALLEL TRACKS is the first book to explore and explain this relationship in both historical and theoretical terms, blending film scholarship with railroad history. This highly original work reveals the profound impact that the railroad and the cinema have had on Western society and modern urban industrial culture. It will be eagerly received by those involved in film studies, American studies, feminist theory and the cultural study of modernity. It will also have appeal to general readers interested in silent films or in the history of the railroad.

Acknowledgments Introduction 1. Inventors and Hysterics: The Train in the Prehistory and Early History of Cinema 2. Romances of the Rail in Silent Film 3. The Railroad in the City 4. National Identity in the Train Film Conclusion Notes Works Cited Index

  • By (author) Lynne Kirby