David Lynch Swerves: Uncertainty from Lost Highway to Inland Empire

A study of the role of quantum physics and the Holy Vedas in the later works of filmmaker David Lynch.

“The richness of Nochimson’s writing, the thoroughness of her interpretation, and her assured stance in opposition to the canon of Lynch criticism to date all make David Lynch Swerves a must-read for anyone interested in the films of David Lynch. Or, for that matter, the state of film criticism in American culture. If criticism at its best is a form of revelation, then this is practically a new gospel.”―House of SpeakEasy

Beginning with Lost Highway, director David Lynch “swerved” in a new direction, one in which very disorienting images of the physical world take center stage in his films. Seeking to understand this unusual emphasis in his work, noted Lynch scholar Martha Nochimson engaged Lynch in a long conversation of unprecedented openness, during which he shared his vision of the physical world as an uncertain place that masks important universal realities. He described how he derives this vision from the Holy Vedas of the Hindu religion, as well as from his layman’s fascination with modern physics.

With this deep insight, Nochimson forges a startlingly original template for analyzing Lynch’s later films—the seemingly unlikely combination of the spiritual landscape envisioned in the Holy Vedas and the material landscape evoked by quantum mechanics and relativity. In David Lynch Swerves, Nochimson navigates the complexities of Lost Highway, The Straight Story, Mulholland Drive, and Inland Empire with uncanny skill, shedding light on the beauty of their organic compositions; their thematic critiques of the immense dangers of modern materialism; and their hopeful conceptions of human potential. She concludes with excerpts from the wide-ranging interview in which Lynch discussed his vision with her, as well as an interview with Columbia University physicist David Albert, who was one of Nochimson’s principal tutors in the discipline of quantum physics.

“The book succeeds in making more sense of Lynch's more puzzling works . . .Recommended.” —Library Journal

“This book is nothing less than a revelation of a new David Lynch . . .so convincing are the book’s claims, so well-substantiated and explained. . . . The focus on the physics of Lynch is a true paradigm shift in our understanding of the director. Nothing will ever be the same in Lynch studies again.” —Eric G. Wilson, Professor of English, Wake Forest University, author of The Strange World of David Lynch: Transcendental Irony from Eraserhead to Mulholland Dr.

© 2013 University of Texas Press (Ebook): 9780292748897

Release date

Ebook: 15 April 2013