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A key part of this evolution in representation relies on the continual re-emergence of the artificial woman as longstanding expression of masculine artistic subjectivity, which, by the later nineteenth century, becomes a photographic and filmic drive. Moving through the beginning of film history, from Georges Méliès and other “silent” filmmakers in the 1890s, into more contemporary movies, including Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo (1958) and Blade Runner 2049 (2017), the book analyzes how films are often structured around the prior century’s mythic and literary principles, which now serve as foundation for film as medium—a phantom form for life’s re-presentation. Artificial Generation provides a crucial reassessment of the longstanding, mutual exchange between cinematic and literary reproduction, offering an innovative perspective on the proto-cinematic imperative of simulation within nineteenth-century literary symbolism.","forthcoming":false,"isbn13":"9781978825062","publication_date":"20211119","publisher":"Rutgers University Press","slug":"artificial-generation","subtitle":"Photogenic French Literature and the Prehistory of Cinematic Modernity","title":"Artificial Generation"},"discovery":{"categories":{"all":[{"bisac_code":"PER004030","confidence_band":"medium","label":"Film History","score":0.7848,"source":"bisac_hint_model"},{"bisac_code":"LIT004150","confidence_band":"medium","label":"French Literary Criticism","score":0.7591,"source":"bisac_hint_model"},{"bisac_code":"LIT024060","confidence_band":"medium","label":"21st Century Literature","score":0.7486,"source":"bisac_hint_model"}],"hint":[{"bisac_code":"PER004030","confidence_band":"medium","label":"Film History","score":0.7848,"source":"bisac_hint_model"},{"bisac_code":"LIT004150","confidence_band":"medium","label":"French Literary Criticism","score":0.7591,"source":"bisac_hint_model"},{"bisac_code":"LIT024060","confidence_band":"medium","label":"21st Century Literature","score":0.7486,"source":"bisac_hint_model"}],"publisher":[{"bisac_code":"LIT003000","confidence_band":"high","label":"Feminist Lit Crit","score":1,"source":"onix_publisher_code"},{"bisac_code":"LIT004150","confidence_band":"high","label":"French Literary Criticism","score":1,"source":"onix_publisher_code"},{"bisac_code":"PER004030","confidence_band":"high","label":"Film History","score":1,"source":"onix_publisher_code"}]},"genres":[{"label":"Film History","score":0.7848,"slug":"film-history"},{"label":"French Literary Criticism","score":0.7591,"slug":"french-literary-criticism"},{"label":"21st Century Literature","score":0.7486,"slug":"21st-century-literature"}],"reader_fit":["Good for readers who enjoy Film History","Good for readers who enjoy Film History and French Literary Criticism."],"related_lists":[],"series":null,"similar_books":[{"authors":["Bethany Wiggin"],"book_id":"9780801476808","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9780801476808.jpg?v=20260417T232332Z%3A2026-04-17T23%3A23%3A32Z","score":10.35,"title":"Novel Translations","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9780801476808"},{"authors":["Caroline Weber"],"book_id":"9780345803122","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9780345803122.jpg?v=20260417T232332Z%3A2026-04-17T23%3A23%3A32Z","score":10.3416,"title":"Proust's Duchess","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9780345803122"},{"authors":["Erin James"],"book_id":"9780803243989","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9780803243989.jpg?v=20260417T232332Z%3A2026-04-17T23%3A23%3A32Z","score":10.3261,"title":"The Storyworld Accord","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9780803243989"},{"authors":["Edward W. 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