Project Report (M.Pub.) - Simon Fraser University, 2005. / Project Report (Master of Publishing Program) / Simon Fraser University. Also issued in digital format and available on the World Wide Web.

Scholarly communication of all types is changing dramatically with the introduction of electronic technologies. This new environment means that standalone print publishing risks being left behind, and as many STM journals acquired or launched by commercial publishers have been subject to dramatic price rises in the last few years, there has been much talk of ways to by-pass commercial publishers. The scholarly publishing market is fertile ground for innovation and there has been a lack of objective research regarding the UK university press. Despite the many changes that have occurred in the scholarly publishing industry in recent years, university presses in the UK that have not been in the forefront of innovation have remained minor players. The research focused on the university press, it's current situation and it's role in the electronic future. The research included: case studies that were conducted at both UK and USA university presses, along with the corresponding libraries, a questionnaire which was sent to academic authors that had published with both a university press and a commercial publishing house, and both qualitative and quantitative questionnaires sent to all operating UK university press directors. The thesis argues that university presses (in particular the smaller presses), as not for-profit organisations, are in a prime position to increase their power in the scholarly publishing system and can make changes to provide valued services to the Higher Education Community. Findings show that university presses, both in the USA as well as the UK, have faced, and continue to face change. Lack of funding and HEI support continues to make the traditional publishing role of the university presses difficult, and, in many cases, has caused the closure and sale of university presses in the UK. The university press continues to play an important role, and will continue to do so in the near future. However, in order for smaller university presses in the UK to remain sustainable, they must continue to adapt to, and take advantage of, change, recognise the value they add to the scholarly communication system and not rely on others to improve their situation. They cannot remain static in a changing environment. Through the work with university presses three potential business plans are proposed for a UK organisation of university presses, along with two business models to help the presses adapt to the changing environment and continue to play a role that is required by the HEI. Based on the results and conclusions of the research recommendations are made to stakeholders and ideas for further research are identified.

Cette thèse de doctorat porte sur l’évolution du discours critique et théorique sur le cinéma développé par les écrivains français de l’entre-deux-guerres (1918-1939). À une époque où le cinéma prend de plus en plus de place dans la société, les écrivains s’intéressent à cette nouveauté, y réfléchissent et tentent d’élaborer des canevas à partir desquels peut se former une cinéologie, c’est-à-dire, une écriture sur le cinéma. De très nombreux textes (articles, chroniques, essais, manifestes, préfaces, biographies), issus de publications diverses (revues de cinéma, revues littéraires, revues d’art, presse quotidienne, édition), témoignent de l’engouement pour ce qui sera rapidement présenté comme un art. S’inscrivant dans un vaste réseau de diffusion, ces textes aux prémisses essayistiques laissent une place centrale à la réflexion et sont représentatifs des tendances et des enjeux de l'époque. Ainsi, ils montrent les débats autour de l’acceptation du cinéma comme art tout comme les prises de position au sujet du parlant, ils abordent les relations avec la forme de représentation rivale qu’est le théâtre, ils témoignent de la modernité du nouveau média et en proposent des définitions mettant l’accent sur certains de ses aspects – thématiques (comme le rêve et l’inconscient), pratiques (comme la dépendance vis-à-vis de l’industrie et de la finance) et techniques (comme la photogénie et le rythme). Cette production textuelle doit également être abordée comme une mémoire du cinéma où se côtoient des figures (Charlie Chaplin, Douglas Fairbanks, ou encore Erich von Stroheim) et des films (The Cheat, Le Cabinet du Docteur Caligari, ou Hallelujah!) dont les seules évocations fonctionnent comme des citations et des arguments appuyant les propos. En plus de la richesse des idées proposées, l'étude de la posture, l’analyse des renvois intertextuels et des inventions lexicales montrent que des écrivains comme Louis Aragon, Blaise Cendrars, Pierre Mac Orlan, Jean Prévost ou encore Marcel Pagnol, ont largement contribué à l'élaboration d’un pan du savoir cinématographique et au développement d'un discours qui place l’expérience du cinéma et celle du spectateur au centre des préoccupations cinéphiliques. / This PhD dissertation is about critical and theoretical discourses on cinema that French writers have contributed to elaborate during the interwar period. At the beginning of the 20th century, cinema had acquired more importance in society. Therefore, some writers have tried to create new ways to write about it – what we called a cinéologie. They have expressed and discussed their ideas and views about what will soon become a new art in numerous and varied texts (articles, columns, essays, manifestos, prefaces, biographies). These texts come from diverse types of publications (film magazines, literary journals, art magazines, newspapers, publishing) and largely testify to the popularity of cinema. In the form of the essay, these texts are representative of the issues discussed at the time and need to be considered as a constituent part of an extensive network of diffusion. Thus, they present arguments about the acceptance of cinema as art, the talkies, the relations with drama and the place of cinema in modernity. These texts alos give several definitions about the possibilities of cinema in terms of esthetic, practice and technique. Besides, they can be considered as a cinematographic memory filled with artist names (Charlie Chaplin, Douglas Fairbanks or Erich von Stroheim) and film titles (The Cheat, The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari or Hallelujah). Those references, which need to be considered as quotes supporting the argumentation, are an important part of that cinéologie developed in the interwar period. In addition to the ideas and the thoughts presented in those texts, the study of the position of the writer, the intertextual references and the lexical inventions show that writers such as Louis Aragon, Blaise Cendrars, Pierre Mac Orlan, Jean Prévost and Marcel Pagnol have contributed to a part of the cinematographic knowledge putting both the experience of cinema and the one of the audience at the center of concerns about cinephilia.