A Hitchcock Reader

This new edition of A Hitchcock Reader aims to preserve what has been so satisfying and successful in the first edition: a comprehensive anthology that may be used as a critical text in introductory or advanced film courses, while also satisfying Hitchcock scholars by representing the rich variety of critical responses to the director's films over the years.

• a total of 20 of Hitchcock's films are discussed in depth - many others are considered in passing
• section introductions by the editors that contextualize the essays and the films they discuss
• well-researched bibliographic references, which will allow readers to broaden the scope of their study of Alfred Hitchcock

Preface to the Second Edition viii

Preface to the First Edition xi

A Brief Chronology xiii

Notes on Contributors xv

Acknowledgments xx

Introduction xxiii

Part one: Taking Hitchcock Seriously 1

1. Hitch and His Public 17
Jean Douchet

2. Hitchcock’s Imagery and Art 25
Maurice Yacowar

3. Retrospective 35
Robin Wood

4. Hitch as Matrix-Figure: Hitchcock and Twentieth-Century Cinema 47
John Orr

Part two: Hitchcock in Britain 69

5. Hitchcock’s The Lodger 75
Lesley W. Brill

6. Criticism and/as History: Rereading Blackmail 85
Leland Poague

7. Alfred Hitchcock’s Murder!: Theater, Authorship, and the Presence of the Camera 96
William Rothman

8. Consolidation of a Classical Style: The Man Who Knew Too Much 107
Elisabeth Weis

9. Through a Woman’s Eyes: Sexuality and Memory in The 39 Steps 114
Charles l. P. Silet

10. Rematerializing the Vanishing “Lady”: Feminism, Hitchcock, and Interpretation 126
Patrice Petro

Part three: Hitchcock in Hollywood 137

11. All in the Family: Alfred Hitchcock’s Shadow of a Doubt 145
James McLaughlin

12. The Moral Universe of Hitchcock’s Spellbound 156
Thomas Hyde

13. Notorious: Perversion par Excellence 164
Richard Abel

14. Strangers on a Train 172
Robin Wood

Part four: The Later Films 183

15. Hitchcock’s Rear Window: Reflexivity and the Critique of Voyeurism 199
Robert Stam and Roberta Pearson

16. Finding the Right Man in The Wrong Man 212
Marshall Deutelbaum

17. Male Desire, Male Anxiety: The Essential Hitchcock 223
Robin Wood

18. A Closer Look at Scopophilia: Mulvey, Hitchcock, and Vertigo 234
Marian E. Keane

19. North by Northwest 250
Stanley Cavell

20. “Oh, I See.…”: The Birds and the Culmination of Hitchcock’s Hyper-Romantic Vision 264
John P. Mccombe

21. Mark’s Marnie 280
Michele Piso

22. The Queer Voice in Marnie 295
Lucretia Knapp

23. Rituals of Defilement: Frenzy 312
Tania Modleski

Part five: Hitchcock and Film Theory: A Psycho Dossier 327

24. Psychosis, Neurosis, Perversion 341
Raymond Bellour

25. Psycho’s Allegory of Seeing 361
Christopher D. Morris

26. On Being Norman: Performance and Inner Life in Hitchcock’s Psycho 368
Deborah Thomas

Index 377

"The rewritten introductions to each section update scholarship on Hitchcock, engaging the reader in current debates among Hitchcock scholars and fans." (CHOICE, 2009)

"The detail is extraordinary and the insights remarkable and the director? He would have been flattered, but still retorted "Oh it's only a movie!"" (M/C Reviews, May 2009) Marshall Deutelbaum is Professor Emeritus of English at Purdue University, where he teaches courses in film history and theory.

Leland Poague is Professor of English at Iowa State University.

Alfred Hitchcock, the "Master of Suspense," has been internationally recognized as a technical and stylistic innovator in the history of cinema. A Hitchcock Reader grows out of the editors' desire as classroom teachers for a comprehensive and critical text in introductory or advanced courses devoted to the director's films. Yet the book should also satisfy scholars by providing an updated anthology representing the rich variety of critical responses that Hitchcock's films have evoked over the years.

This new edition of A Hitchcock Reader aims to preserve what has been so satisfying and successful in the first edition. The new volume provides updated scholarship and new editorial introductions, including a general introduction to the volume, added visuals, and a new comprehensive bibliography.

"This richly intelligent book, even more indispensable in its new edition, illuminates every facet of Hitchcock's importance as artist, entertainer, and philosopher-poet. Essential for students and film buffs alike."
–David Sterritt, Ph.D.Chairman, National Society of Film Critics; Professor Emeritus of Theater and Film, Long Island University

"A Hitchcock Reader is an admirably well-assembled entrée to the endless realm of Hitchcock criticism. Film teachers, students, and critics are well-served by this far-ranging collection of essays of lasting value, insightful introductions, and detailed bibliographies."
–Sidney Gottlieb, Co-editor, Hitchcock Annual; Professor of Media Studies,Sacred Heart University

"With judicious additions and updated introductions, the seminal status of A Hitchcock Reader is established anew. Quite simply, the best anthology available on the master."
–Richard Allen, Professor and Chair of Cinema Studies,Tisch School of the Arts,New York University