A Pordenone postscript on a subject very dear to my heart – Asta Nielsen.
While I was at the Giornate I was lucky enough to talk to scholar Julie K. Allen about her research into Asta Nielsen, including her English-language translation of the actress’s fascinating memoir, The Silent Muse, which was released by Boydell & Brewer earlier this year. It is a tremendous book. An engrossing read, which offers insights into Nielsen’s life and work and especially the world of Weimar Cinema.
I will let you know when that interview is available – it is for a forthcoming journal issue. But for now, you can buy yourself a copy of The Silent Muse, at a 50% discount, with the special offer on this flyer. The offer is valid until the end of October. I thought you’d like to know.

- You can read all my Giornate 2022 posts here.
- More on Asta Nielsen here.
- For more on Weimar Cinema – explore the fabulous new resource WeimarCinema.org.
- Silent London will always be free to all readers. If you enjoy checking in with the site, including reports from silent film festivals, features and reviews, please consider shouting me a coffee on my Ko-Fi page.
I’m dying to read this, but my god, the price! At least the discount makes it semi-affordable 😅
Still outrageous, that price, rather than semi-affordable.
The book sounds really tempting, but prices like that are just not appropriate in such difficult times.
IMHO, books published at such excessive prices ought not to be reviewed on Silent London.
Or has being interested in silent film turned into a Rolex for the rich and infamous?
You make an excellent point about the high price point of academic/scholarly books – not just in cinema studies, but across the board.
Asta Nielsen’s most important period was not Weimar cinema, but Wilhelmine (pre-World War One).
Absolutely. The book is particularly good on the milieu of Weimar Berlin though.