Hitchcock and the
Anxiety of Authorship examines issues of
cinema authorship engaged by and dynamized within the director's films. A
unique study of self-reflexivity in Hitchcock's work from his earliest English
silents to his final Hollywood features, this book considers how the director's
releases constitute ever-shifting meditations on the conditions and struggles
of creative agency in cinema. Abramson explores how, located in literal and
emblematic sites of dramatic production, exhibition, and reception, and
populated by figures of directors, actors, and audiences, Hitchcock's films
exhibit a complicated, often disturbing vision of authorship - one that
consistently problematizes rather than exemplifies the director's longstanding
auteurist image. Viewing Hitchcock in a striking new light, Abramson analyzes
these allegories of vexed agency in the context of his concepts of and
commentary on the troubled association between cinema artistry and authorship,
as well as the changing cultural, industrial, theoretical, and historical
milieus in which his features were produced. Accordingly, the book illuminates
how Hitchcock and his cinema register the constant dynamics that constitute
film authorship.
"Just when it seemed like scholars had little new to write about Hitchcock's films, Abramson provides us with an original reading ranging from the early British films to the American productions of the 60s and 70s. By integrating the director's extensive nonfiction writings and interviews with the self-reflexive artistry that characterizes his movies, Abramson reveals how Hitchcock contradicts traditional auteurist claims about his work, allowing readers to (re)consider how the director articulates the complexities of the creative process. Abramson's accessible writing will encourage those new to Hitchcock to relish the joy of discovering his classic movies and film scholars to applaud her insights into this treacherous cinematic landscape." - Lester D. Friedman, Professor, former Chair, Media and Society Program, Hobart College, USA and William Smith College, USA
