Derek Jarman, Chroma: A Book of Colour, June 93

John Mepham (Kingston University)

The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.2.1.09: English Writing and Culture: Postwar and Contemporary Britain , 1945-present.
Vol. editors: Kerry Myler (Newman University), Jenni Ramone (The Nottingham Trent University)

Dates

First circulation or publication 1994

Places

England (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Autobiography (any)
Essays/ Lectures (any)
Cinema/ Film/ TV
- Screenplay

Resources

Derek Jarman wrote a series of autobiographical texts, scripts and journals, in which he again and again revisited his past and continually reinvented the forms of self-writing. The sequence includes Dancing Ledge (1984), The Last of England (1987) (republished as Kicking the Pricks (1996)), Modern Nature (1991), At Your Own Risk (1992), Smiling in Slow Motion (2000), Blue (1993), and Chroma (1994).

This volume was published posthumously in 1994. It is a meditation on colour, written as Jarman's sight was deteriorating late in his life. It is a fascinating, quirky compilation, made up of quotations from many, many sources, from Aristotle and Alberti to Wittgenstein and …

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Citation: Mepham, John. "Chroma: A Book of Colour, June 93". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 21 March 2002 [https://staging.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=6023, accessed 25 November 2024.]

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