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1998 · 23919 — London England: British Film Institute 1998. First Edition. First Printing. Softcover. Fine/No Dust Jacket As Issued. London England: British Film Institute 1998. Softcover. Fine/None As Issued. First Edition/First Printing. 96 pages. Book-length account on subject. The single best title in the BFI Series thus far. The 1998 true First Edition. Precedes and should not be confused with all other subsequent printings of which there are many and the 2020 Reprint Edition which is also now in subsequent printings. Published in a small and limited first print run as a softcover original only. The text by Camille Pagila is lavishly supplemented with black-and-white and color film stills. Without DJ as issued. Presents in its First Edition format Camille Paglia's "The Birds". Whose subject - the revenge of Nature upon Man - is right up the author's alley. "Considers the film's aesthetic technical and mythical qualities and analyses its depiction of gender and family relations. A film about anxiety sexual power and the violence of nature it is quintessential Hitchcock" Publisher's blurb. It is also quintessential Paglia and is her most important book since "Sexual Personae" 1990. For Hitchcock as much as for Paglia sex and sexuality are from the very beginning and in the end about our Nature that is to say biology. Human beings consciously and unconsciously may fight back rebel against and try to overcome Nature. Our civilized acts behavior and values "Culture" are attempts to counteract the power of Nature in our daily lives often to no avail: Only think about our irresistible sexual drive and carnal desires designed as such by Nature - not by us - as pleasurable in order to fulfill her imperative of survival procreation and propagation of the species. Yet there is art the greatest product of culture and as Paglia shows in her intense microscopically detailed study "The Birds" is a great work of cinematic art. For Paglia there is NO such thing as "gender trouble". Nature has pre-determined sex and gender making her an "essentialist" thinker versus contemporary "gender identity" ideologues like Judith Butler. An absolute "must-have" title for Alfred Hitchcock and Camille Paglia collectors. This title is a contemporary film book classic. This is one of very few copies of the First Edition/First Printing 1998 still available online and is in especially fine condition: Clean crisp and bright. Please note: Copies available online have very serious flaws are in multiple subsequent printings or the 2020 Reprint Edition. This is surely an accessible and lovely alternative. A rare copy thus. The greatest film director of the 20th century. One of the most brilliant writers of our time. A fine copy. SEE ALSO OTHER CAMILLE PAGLIA TITLES IN OUR CATALOG. . ISBN 0851706517. British Film Institute paperback