Nightmares in the Dream Sanctuary

This is a genuinely moving and deeply insightful book on what turns out to be the very long history of war and atrocity in animated films. With equal attention to the aesthetics, stories, and contexts of a global range of work, Kornhaber has excavated the melancholic (when not actually heartbreaking) saga of an imaginative medium grappling with the complexities of the unimaginable. She is a hugely sensitive writer while still remaining clear-eyed and analytical. This book is an immense contribution to the field of animation studies and well beyond. --Scott R. Bukatman, Stanford University Extraordinarily engaging, psychologically penetrating, and intellectually absorbing. In short, this is a new classic of topical film studies and the literature of art and war. --Booklist A valuable contribution to an overlooked aspect of cinematic history. --The Spectator Nightmares in the Dream Sanctuary: War and the Animated Film is a hugely valuable survey that reveals how animation is a resource for resistance, protest, and memorialization of war. Crucially, its framework is global, from Korea to Kenya, from Russia to Chile, from Bosnia to Syria. One encounters compelling interpretations of acclaimed feature films such as Israel's Waltz with Bashir and Japan's Grave of the Fireflies, along with fascinating histories and analyses of short form and experimental work spanning many, many countries and traditions. This cultural history, covering over one hundred years, sets itself apart by its deep knowledge, range, breadth. There is much to be learned from this study. --Hillary Chute, author of Why Comics? From Underground to Everywhere and Disaster Drawn: Visual Witness, Comics, and Documentary Form