The Twelve Lives of Alfred Hitchcock: An Anatomy of the Master of Suspense
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5.0 • 1 Rating
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- £8.49
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- £8.49
Publisher Description
Winner of the 2022 Edgar Award for Best Biography
An Economist Best Book of 2021
A fresh, innovative biography of the twentieth century’s most iconic filmmaker.
In The Twelve Lives of Alfred Hitchcock, Edward White explores the Hitchcock phenomenon—what defines it, how it was invented, what it reveals about the man at its core, and how its legacy continues to shape our cultural world.
The book’s twelve chapters illuminate different aspects of Hitchcock’s life and work: “The Boy Who Couldn’t Grow Up”; “The Murderer”; “The Auteur”; “The Womanizer”; “The Fat Man”; “The Dandy”; “The Family Man”; “The Voyeur”; “The Entertainer”; “The Pioneer”; “The Londoner”; “The Man of God.” Each of these angles reveals something fundamental about the man he was and the mythological creature he has become, presenting not just the life Hitchcock lived but also the various versions of himself that he projected, and those projected on his behalf.
From Hitchcock’s early work in England to his most celebrated films, White astutely analyzes Hitchcock’s oeuvre and provides new interpretations. He also delves into Hitchcock’s ideas about gender; his complicated relationships with “his women”—not only Grace Kelly and Tippi Hedren but also his female audiences—as well as leading men such as Cary Grant, and writes movingly of Hitchcock’s devotion to his wife and lifelong companion, Alma, who made vital contributions to numerous classic Hitchcock films, and burnished his mythology. And White is trenchant in his assessment of the Hitchcock persona, so carefully created that Hitchcock became not only a figurehead for his own industry but nothing less than a cultural icon.
Ultimately, White’s portrayal illuminates a vital truth: Hitchcock was more than a Hollywood titan; he was the definitive modern artist, and his significance reaches far beyond the confines of cinema.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
White (The Tastemaker) suggests legendary director Alfred Hitchcock had more lives than a cat in this sweeping biography. In his coverage of Hitchcock's 60-plus-year career, White examines 12 "lives" that shaped what he terms the "Hitchcock brand" (as opposed to the familiar "Hitchcock touch"). "The Boy Who Couldn't Grow Up" recalls Hitchcock's childhood traumas of abandonment and punishment (from his experience at school) as the basis for the distress and fear he portrayed in his films. "The Murderer" discusses "voyeurism, guilt, enchanting blondes" and covers Hitchcock's desire to reframe the slasher genre. The core of "The Auteur" follows Hitchcock's films from "conception to projection," detailing conflicts with collaborators, while "The Womanizer" tackles what critics have called "full-on misogyny" on-screen. Inside stories behind the director's classic films abound, as with an anecdote about Evan Hunter, who wrote the screenplay for The Birds to little credit; after telling a child he wrote it, the child responded, "No, you didn't... Alfred Hitchcock did." Hitchcock fans will be enamored of this canny, full portrait of an artist with a singular vision.
