Thesis (Ph.D.)--The University of Chicago, 2011.

This dissertation examines the problem of the early 20th century conception of film specificity using the work of Polish film theorist, Karol Irzykowski, as a case study and point of departure. This project aims to analyze and evaluate Karol Irzykowski's key text on film theory, The Tenth Muse, as to date this important and fascinating text has been neglected and/or misread by scholars. To rectify this situation, this dissertation challenges the approach that previous scholars have used to assess the import of Irzykowski's text, and, instead, offers a different way to examine The Tenth Muse. Until now, scholars have sought a systematicity and structure in Irzykowski's text which is not there, and, not finding it, have underestimated Irzykowski's thoughts on film. Considering Irzykowski's writing to be "full of contradictions" and "a labyrinth," scholars have cherry-picked discrete expressions or concepts from The Tenth Muse to illustrate or convey certain ideas without treating the text comprehensively. The problem with this approach, however, is that it has failed to recognize a broad spectrum of interesting issues regarding film and cinema that the text raises and that this dissertation addresses, including Irzykowski's ideas around film's medium specificity and film as an art versus entertainment.