The Philosophy of Charlie Kaufman Book

Acknowledgments vii

Introduction: Charlie Kaufman and Philosophy's Questions David LaRocca 1

Part 1 On Being and Not Being One's Self

Charlie Kaufman, Screenwriter K. L. Evans 23

On Being John Malkovich and Not Being Yourself Christopher Falzon 46

The Divided Self: Kaufman, Kafka, Wittgenstein, and Human Nature Mario Von Der Ruhr 66

Unauthorized Autobiography: Truth and Fact in Confessions of a Dangerous Mind David LaRocca 89

Part 2 Being, or Trying to Be, with Others

Me and You: Identity, Love, and Friendship in the Films of Charlie Kaufman Douglas J. Den Uyl 111

I Don't Know, Just Wait: Remembering Remarriage in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind William Day 132

Charlie Kaufman, Philosophy, and the Small Screen Samuel A. Chambers 155

The Instructive Impossibility of Being John Malkovich Garry L. Hagberg 169

Part 3 Being in the World, Partially

Living a Part: Synecdoche, New York, Metaphor, and the Problem of Skepticism Richard Deming 193

"There's No More Watching": Artifice and Meaning in Synecdoche, New York and Adaptation Derek Hill 208

Human Nature and Freedom in Adaptation Gregory E. Ganssle 224

Synecdoche, in Part David L. Smith 239

Nietzschean Themes in the Films of Charlie Kaufman Daniel Shaw 254

Inconclusive Unscientific Postscript: Late Remarks on Kierkegaard and Kaufman David LaRocca 269

Filmography 295

List of Contributors 297

Index 303