SERGEI M EISENSTEIN

of writing the multivolume book on which Eisenstein was ready to work “till the
end of life,” were not born in the situation of the ban of the second part of Ivan
theTerrible.Instead, theywerebornin thetime ofmorethan auspiciousreception
of the first part, and, most importantly, in the period (in the context, the situation)
of the hopes brought about by the victory in the war. They were born as a
naturalmanifestationofEisenstein’struehistoricism.
List3ofthesamenotedelineatesthemainguidelineofthefuturehistory:
Cinema as such.*
Silent cinema is the completed cycle of following its own principles. What
was done and realized by it.
The limits it reached (intellectual cinema).
“The fundamental” history of cinema as the history of cinematographic
principles and ideas, not a portrait hall of characters.
To establish its general trend* from the beginning to the end.
Le Grand désarroi* [In French: The great disarray] at the coming of sound.
The period of “reaction” (y compris Jeannot* [in French: including Jeannot]). 15
Neuaufbau as Aussicht und Ausblick par excellence* [In German and French: The
new construction, essentially, as a view towards the future and as a
perspective]. 16
The draft of the subject area for this “fundamental” history made on the same
day is a direct precursor of the detailed plans of the “general” history of cinema
from1947. 17
Theseplanshavewaitedpatientlyforustoturnourattentiontothem.Thenew
edition of Eisenstein’s fundamental texts, textologically approximating the
authorial intent as far as it is possible, made us direct our attention to the notes
for the history of cinema. It has become evident that the hot lava of these drafts
erupted from the same depths where ideas, examples, and associations of the
unfinished books Metod, Nonindifferent Nature, and Memoirs were being fused.
Thesewere thedrafts ofonemore segmentof the“sphericalbook” 18 that hehad
conceivedlongagoandhadbeenworkingonforyears.
ThenotesfortheGeneralHistoryofCinemapublishedherecanbecomeanincentive
for a series of investigations, and form a field for research both for scholars
working in the sphere of art history and of film and media studies, as well as for
artistsworking withvariousmedia.Theywillnot havetoagreewiththeirbynow
“classic” author: his hypotheses can be refuted, his guesses can be contested,
and new conclusions can be suggested. The phenomenon of Eisenstein lies precisely
in his ability to broaden and develop – even when he is used for constructive
polemics or when unforeseen aspects are introduced into his theory. The
evidenceofthisisthepresentvolume.
foreword 17