Leo Braudy

University Professor, Professor of English and Art History, and Leo S. Bing Chair in English and American Literature
Pronouns He / Him / His Email braudy@usc.edu Office THH 447 Office Phone (213) 740-3751

Video

Education

  • Ph.D. , Yale University, 1967
  • M.A. , Yale University, 1965
  • B.A. , Swarthmore College, 1963
  • Tenure Track Appointments

    • University Professor, University of Southern California, 07/01/1997 –
    • Leo S. Bing Professor of English, University of Southern California, 07/01/1985 –
    • Professor, University of Southern California, 07/01/1983 – 06/30/1985
    • Professor, Johns Hopkins University, 07/01/1976 – 06/30/1983
    • Visiting Professor of English, Yale University, Spring 1975
    • Professor of Cinema Studies, University of California, Santa Barbara, 1974 – 1980
    • Professor, Columbia University, 07/01/1973 – 06/30/1976
    • Associate Professor, Columbia University, 07/01/1970 – 06/30/1973
    • Assistant Professor, Columbia University, 07/01/1968 – 06/30/1970
    • Instructor, Yale University, 08/31/1966 – 06/30/1968
  • Summary Statement of Research Interests

    He is among America’s leading film critics. Braudy, a frequent finalist for national book awards, teaches Restoration literature and history, American culture after World War Two, popular culture and critical theory, including the histories of visual style and film genres. His work appears in journals such as American Film, Film Quarterly, Genre, Novel, Partisan Review, and Prose Studies- to name a few. His book Jean Renoir: The World of His Films was a finalist for the National Book Award. The Frenzy of Renown: Fame and Its History was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award. He has written for the New York Times, the Washington Post, and Harper’s. His most recent book, From Chivalry to Terrorism, was named Best of the Best by the Los Angeles Times and a Notable Book of the Year by the New York Times.

  • Book

    • Braudy, L., Cohen, M. (2016). Film Theory and Criticism, 8th edition. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
    • Braudy, L. (2016). Haunted: On Ghosts, Witches, Vampires, Zombies, and Other Monsters of the Natural and Supernatural Worlds. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
    • Braudy, L. (2011). The Hollywood Sign: Fantasy and Reality of an American Icon. New Haven, Connecticut: Yale University Press.
    • Braudy, Leo; Cohen, Marshall (Ed.). (2008). Film Theory and Criticism, Introductory Readings, 7th edition. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
    • Braudy, L. (2008). From Chivalry to Terrorism, Spanish language translation. Mexico City: Oceano.
    • Braudy, L. (2008). From Chivalry to Terrorism, Korean translation. Seoul: Samin Publishing Co..
    • Braudy, L. (2007). From Chivalry to Terrorism, Chinese translation. Beijing: The Oriental Press.
    • Braudy, L. (2005). On The Waterfront. London, Berkeley: British Film Institute/University of California Press.
    • Braudy, Leo; Cohen, Marshall (Ed.). (2004). Film Theory and Criticism: Introductory Readings, 6th edition. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
    • Braudy, L. (2003). From Chivalry to Terrorism: War and the Changing Nature of Masculinity. New York: Alfred Knopf.
    • Braudy, L. (2003). The Plot of Time. Los Angeles, CA: Figueroa Press.
    • Braudy, L. (2002). The World in a Frame: What We See in Films, 25th Anniversary edition. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
    • Braudy, L., Cohen, M. (1998). Film Theory and Criticism: Introductory Readings, 5th edition. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
    • Braudy, L. (1997). The Frenzy of Renown: Fame and Its History. New York, NY: Vintage.
    • Braudy, Leo; Cohen, Marshall (Ed.). (1992). Film Theory and Criticism: Introductory Readings, 4th edition. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
    • Braudy, L. (1989). Jean Renoir: The World of his Films, 2nd edition. New York, NY: Columbia University Press.
    • Braudy, L. (1986). The Frenzy of Renown: Fame and Its History. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
    • Braudy, L. (1984). The World in a Frame: What We See in Films, 2d edition. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
    • Braudy, Leo; Dickstein, Morris (Ed.). (1979). Great Film Directors. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
    • Braudy, L. (1976). The World in a Frame: What We See in Films. New York, NY: Doubleday.
    • Braudy, L. (1972). Truffaut’s Shoot the Piano Player: A Collection of Critical Essays. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall.
    • Braudy, L. (1972). Norman Mailer: A Collection of Critical Essays. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall.
    • Braudy, L. (1972). Jean Renoir: The World of His Films. New York, NY: Doubleday.
    • Braudy, L. (1970). Narrative Form in History and Fiction: Hume, Fielding, and Gibbon (1970). Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press.

    Book Chapters

    • Braudy, L. (2012). “Photography Changes the Way We Represent Ourselves and See Others”. Photography Changes Everything New York, NY: Aperture/Smithsonian.
    • Braudy, L. (2010). ‘The Director, That Miserable Son of a Bitch’: Kazan, Viva Zapata, and the Problem of Authority. Kazan Revisited Wesleyan University Press.
    • Braudy, L. (2010). Secular Anointings: Fame, Celebrity, and Charisma in the First Century of Mass Culture. New York, New York: Berghahn, New York University Press.
    • Braudy, L. (2010). “Los Angeles Cultures and Communities”. Oxford: Blackwell’s.
    • Braudy, L. (2008). “Leo Braudy’s Favorite Moments of Horror vs. Terror in Film. New York, NY: HarperColins.

    Essay

    • Braudy, L. (2014). “Pete Seeger Was No Llewyn Davis”. Los Angeles, CA. Los Angeles Review of Books.
    • Braudy, L. (2011). “Knowing the Performer from the Performance: Fame, Celebrity, and Literary Studies”. New York, NY. PMLA.
    • Braudy, L. (2011). “Afterword to special issue on Jean Renoir”. Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Southern Review.
    • Braudy, L. (2010). “Near Dark: An Appreciation”. Berkeley, California. Film Quarterly.
    • Braudy, L. (2008). “Walt Whitman and Photography”. (Marvin Heiferman, Ed.). Washington, DC. Smithsonian Click!.

    Other

    • Braudy, L. (2013). The Highbrow Populist: George Plimpton on Film. Los Angeles Review of Books.
    • Braudy, L. (2013). Trying to be Cool: Growing Up in the 1950s. Asahina & Wallace.
    • Braudy, L. (2011). “The Time of Our Lives” [on Christian Marclay’s The Clock],. Los Angeles Review of Books.
    • Kitchen, E., Braudy, L. (2010). Suburban Knights: A Return to the Middle Ages. powerHouse Books.
    • Braudy, L. (1992). Native Informant: Essays on Film, Fiction and Popular Culture (1992). Oxford University Press.
    • American Academy of Arts and Sciences Fellow, Fellow, 2010
    • USC University Professor, , 2001
    • Director, NEH Seminar for Secondary School Teachers, 1986
    • USC Endowed Chair, Leo S. Bing Chair in English and American Literature, 1985
    • Director, NEH Seminar for College Teachers, 1978
    • Honorary DHL, Swarthmore College, 2016
    • Honorary DHL, Swarthmore College, 2016
    • Phi Kappa Phi Faculty Recognition Award for From Chivalry to Terrorism, 2004
    • ‘War and Masculinity’ listed as one of ten “Best of the Best” by Los Angeles Times Book Review, 2003
    • ‘War and Masculinity’ listed under Notable Books by the New York Times Book Review, 2003
    • USC Presidential Medallion, , 1994
    • Visiting Writer, American Academy, Rome, Spring 1991
    • Phi Kappa Phi Faculty Reognition Award for the Frenzy of Renown, Spring 1987
    • National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship Recipient, NEH Senior Research Fellowship, 1978-1979
    • American Council of Learned Societies Fellowship Recipient, Grant-in-Aid, 1971-1972
    • Guggenheim Fellowship Recipient, , 1971-1972
  • Committees

    • Member, General Education Committee, 2014 – 2016
    • Chair, Steering Committee, Sidney Harman Academy of Polymathic Study, 2013 – 2016
    • Member, Scripter Prize Committee, 2013 – 2016
    • Member, Provost’s Humanities Advisory Committee, 2011 – 2013
    • Member, University Club Board of Directors, 2010 – 2013
    • Chair, University Committee on Appointments, Promotions, and Tenure, 07/01/2008 – 06/30/2013
    • Member, University Committee on Academic Review, 2008 – 2012