It’s Only Chance That You’re Safe and Sound’
Meanings of the Body in Humphrey Jennings’ A Diary for Timothy
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 12914706 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Leo Mellor (Edwards (United Kingdom), corresponding author) |
| Year | 2019 |
| Volume | 13 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 163-178 |
| Publication date | 2019-08-27 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Journal of War and Culture Studies (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1752-6272 • E-ISSN: 1752-6280 |
| Publisher | Routledge (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/17526272.2019.1644271 |
| OpenAlex | W2970745011 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 10 |
This article examines Humphrey Jennings’ film A Diary for Timothy (1945) and makes the case for understanding the form and aesthetic power of the film through the multiple meanings of the human body. Bodies — of the infant Timothy and of others — are literally depicted throughout in a variety of ways, showing both the cost of the conflict in corporeal terms and the different roles played by civilians in a Total War. But bodies are also used conceptually in the film, they allow a movement beyond the diary structure and introduce a more complex temporality, with visions of a world worth fighting for and memories of the interwar years. Moreover, Jennings’ own past as a Surrealist helps explain his interest in the implied or imagined body, with a tension present throughout between Timothy — a baby with a body but no voice; and the narrator’s commentary — a voice without a body
Acoustics · Aesthetics · Art · Art history · Epistemology · Literature · Movement (music · Power (physics · Sociology · Sound (geography · Temporality · Variety (cybernetics · Vision · Anthropology · French Historical and Cultural Studies · History · Memory, Trauma, and Commemoration · Philosophy · World Wars: History, Literature, and Impact
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |