Mandy Merck
Mandy Merck is Professor of Media Arts at Royal Holloway, University of London
Professor Merck's most recent book, Hollywood's American tragedies, looks at Paramount's attempt to adapt Theodore Dreiser's novel An American Tragedy under George Stevens' direction as A Place in the Sun (US, 1951). In researching the book she focused on a key discovery from a Hollywood archive – an unknown memorandum on cinematic narration written by the film's associate director for Stevens - which unlocks both the film's addition to the novel of an important scene in a movie theatre and its highly stylised use of dissolves to convey the fantasies of its central character.
Professor Merck is the former editor of the journal Screen and series editor of the pioneering Channel 4 lesbian and gay programme Out on Tuesday. She has written and edited a number of cultural studies, including:
Hollywood's American tragedies: Dreiser, Eisenstein, Sternberg, Stevens (Berg, 2007)
- a study of the attempts by major directors to bring Dreiser's tragedy of American injustice, inequality and sexual hypocrisy to the screen.
America first: naming the nation in US film (Routledge, 2007) [ed.]
- a collection in which noted scholars consider the significance of national nomination in films such as The Vanishing American, An American in Paris, American Graffiti, American Gigolo and American Pie.
The Art of Tracey Emin (Thames & Hudson, 2002) [ed. with Chris Townsend]
- volume of critical essays demonstrating how Emin's very personal work is also a carefully crafted response to both social and aesthetic issues.
In your face: 9 sexual studies (New York University Press, 2000)
- queer readings of twentieth century sexual representations ranging from Strauss's opera Der Rosenkavalier to the news reports on Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky.
After Diana (Verso, 1998) [ed.]
- irreverent elegies by commentators ranging from Homi Bhabha to Elizabeth Wilson examining the political implications of the mass mourning for Britain's celebrity princess.
Coming out of Feminism? (Blackwell, 1998) [ed. with Naomi Segal and Elizabeth Wright]
- anthology of writings by feminist and queer theorists examining the problematic relationship between their approaches to issues of gender and sexuality.
Perversions: deviant readings (Virago/Routledge,1993)
- deviant readings of Freud, feminist heroines and sexual politics.
