Eisenstein's reputation has long been secure as creator of the Soviet cinema's earliest and most enduring classics, and as a pioneer theorist and teacher. Yet the English-speaking world has not kept pace with a rising tide of Eisenstein scholarship further enriched by new publications emerging from the former Soviet Union.

Eisenstein Rediscovered presents the first true East-West symposium on Eisenstein with an unparalleled diversity of views and methodologies. Scholars from ten countries examine the vast legacy he bequeathed, and offer important new perspectives for reinterpreting Russian culture of the Soviet period. They explore how much Eisenstein owed to the Symbolist culture of his youth; how his involvement in theatre has been undervalued; what role he played in both the artistic and philosophical avant-gardes of the '20s; and how both Pushkin and the English Elizabethans shaped his later concept of tragedy. Including two newly discovered texts by Eisenstein which are translated for the first time, this collection makes extensive use of material only recently available. The `new' Eisenstein that emerges is a far more eclectic and engaging figure than is traditionally perceived.