Smiling in Slow Motion

Zusatztext

<p>'For days now I have tried to start this diary, but the clatter of my existence has warned me off; the first mark on the page eludes me...'</p><p>Derek Jarman's<i>Smiling in Slow Motion</i>concludes the journey started in<i>Modern Nature</i>, these previously unpublished journals stretch from May 1991 until a fortnight before his death in February 1994. Part diary, part observation, part memoir, Jarman writes with his familiar honesty, wry humour and acuity. Friends, collaborators and enemies are catalogued as he races through his last year painting, film-making, gardening, and annoying his targets through his involvement in radical politics.</p><p>Writing from his Charing Cross Road flat, on his visits to international film festivals, his world famous garden at Dungeness in Kent, and finally from his bed in St Bartholomew's Hospital, Jarman illuminates an era which seems more ephemeral and out-of-grasp with each passing day.</p><p><i>Smiling in Slow Motion</i>is not a document of illness, regret and resignation, but one of endeavour, remembrance and love.</p>

Autorenportrait

Derek Jarman- painter, theatre designer and filmmaker- held his first one man show at the Lisson Gallery in 1969. He designed sets and costumes for the theatre (<i>Jazz Calendar</i>with Frederick Ashton and<i>Don Giovanni</i>at the Coliseum). He was production designer for Ken Russell's films<i>The Devils</i>and<i>Savage Messiah</i>, during which time he worked on his own films in Super 8 before making his features:<i>Sebastiane</i>(1975),<i>Jubilee</i>(1977) and<i>The Tempest</i>(1979). From 1980 he returned to painting (a show at the ICA) and design (<i>The Rake's Progress</i>with Ken Russell in Florence), and made the films<i>Caravaggio</i>(1986),<i>The Last of England</i>(1987),<i>War Requiem</i>(1988),<i>The Garden</i>(1990),<i>Edward II</i>(1991),<i>Wittgenstein</i>(1992) and<i>Blue</i>(1993). His books include:<i>Dancing Ledge</i>(1984),<i>The Last of England</i>(1987; now republished by Vintage under the title the author intended for it,<i>Kicking the Pricks</i>),<i>Modern Nature</i>(1991),<i>At Your Own Risk</i>(1992) and<i>Chroma</i>(1994). Derek Jarman died in February 1994.

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