Islam, consciousness and early cinema: Said Nursî and the cinema of God
Islam, consciousness and early cinema: Said Nursî and the cinema of God
The early 20th century works of Kurdish Islamic thinker Said Nursî explore how cinema can provide access to the divine. Yet, considering the periods of Nursî’s life that were spent in prison, or in exile in remote locations, it is likely that the cinema he was discussing was, very specifically, the early silent cinema of attractions. Thus the distinctive format of this cinema can be uncovered in, and seen to structure, Nursî’s formulation of ‘God’s cinema’. With this proposition in mind, this article indicates something of the potential that an engagement with Nursî’s cinematic writing offers for reconsidering topics already much discussed in film-philosophy, such as that of time in the works of Gilles Deleuze.
Deleuze, Islamic philosophy, Said Nursî, Turkey, early cinema, religion
47-62
Balan, Canan
c7e26268-543a-4197-a731-8f3028c55c4a
Balan, Canan
c7e26268-543a-4197-a731-8f3028c55c4a
Balan, Canan
(2016)
Islam, consciousness and early cinema: Said Nursî and the cinema of God.
Film and Philosophy, 20 (1), .
(doi:10.3366/film.2016.0004).
Abstract
The early 20th century works of Kurdish Islamic thinker Said Nursî explore how cinema can provide access to the divine. Yet, considering the periods of Nursî’s life that were spent in prison, or in exile in remote locations, it is likely that the cinema he was discussing was, very specifically, the early silent cinema of attractions. Thus the distinctive format of this cinema can be uncovered in, and seen to structure, Nursî’s formulation of ‘God’s cinema’. With this proposition in mind, this article indicates something of the potential that an engagement with Nursî’s cinematic writing offers for reconsidering topics already much discussed in film-philosophy, such as that of time in the works of Gilles Deleuze.
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e-pub ahead of print date: 1 January 2016
Keywords:
Deleuze, Islamic philosophy, Said Nursî, Turkey, early cinema, religion
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Local EPrints ID: 484486
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/484486
ISSN: 1466-4615
PURE UUID: ee18a70f-0767-4271-b6a5-0370922a37b9
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Date deposited: 16 Nov 2023 13:30
Last modified: 17 Mar 2024 05:51
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Canan Balan
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