ReFocus: The Literary Films of Richard Brooks

In this volume, the rich and varied career of ‘literary director’ Richard Brooks finally receives its well-deserved re-evaluation. The fine set of essays commissioned by Palmer and Pettey describes Brooks as a writer-filmmaker equally committed to the respectful adaptation of literary fiction as he was to a socially concerned cinema. -- Constantine Verevis, Monash University
A comprehensive and telling treatment of an often overlooked director, ReFocus: The Literary Films of Richard Brooks includes incisive and elegantly written essays from major film scholars that appreciate a genial director and his oeuvre. -- Tom Conley, Harvard University
In this edited collection, scholars working in film and cultural studies give Brooks his critical due as a filmmaker of literary fiction. The essays contain a panoply of perspectives that engage and otherwise challenge, in the words of the series’s mission, “American culture—its myths, values, and historical precepts.” -- Tiffany Gilbert * Tennessee Williams Annual Review *