Intimate violence : Hitchcock, sex, and queer theory

297 Pages·2017·4.676 MB·English

by  David Greven

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Intimate Violence
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Intimate Violence
HITCHCOCK, SEX, AND QUEER THEORY
David Greven
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© Oxford University Press 2017
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Greven, David.
Title: Intimate violence : Hitchcock, sex, and queer theory / David Greven.
Description: Oxford : Oxford University Press, 2017. | Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2016027885| ISBN 9780190214166 (cloth : alk. paper) |
ISBN 9780190214173 (pbk. : alk. paper) | ISBN 9780190214197 (Oxford scholarship online)
Subjects: LCSH: Hitchcock, Alfred, 1899–1980—Criticism and interpretation. | Women in motion
pictures. | Homosexuality in motion pictures. | Violence in motion pictures.
Classification: LCC PN1998.3.H58 G74 2017 | DDC 791.4302/33092—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016027885
9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Paperback printed by WebCom, Inc., Canada
Hardback printed by Bridgeport National Bindery, Inc., United States of America
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For Alex, as ever.
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One need not be a chamber to be haunted,
One need not be a house …
***
Ourself, behind ourself concealed,
Should startle most;
Assassin, hid in our apartment,
Be horror’s least.
The prudent carries a revolver,
He bolts the door,
O’erlooking a superior spectre
More near.
— Emily Dickinson
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Contents
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction: Intimate Violence 1
1. Queer Hitchcock: Psycho and North by Northwest 25
2. “You’re a Strange Girl, Charlie”: Sexual Hegemony in Shadow of a Doubt 53
3. Mirrors without Images: Spellbound 81
4. Making a Meal of Manhood: Rope, Orality, and Queer Anguish 113
5. The Fairground of Desire: Paranoia and Masochism in Strangers on a Train 137
6. The Death Mother in Psycho: Hitchcock, Femininity, and Queer Desire 169
7. Marnie’s Queer Resilience 189
Epilogue— Melanie’s Birds: Deconstructing the Heroine 217
Notes 229
Index 275
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Acknowledgments
Earlier, and in all cases quite distinct, versions of some of the chapters have been
previously published. An earlier version of c hapter 1 was published as “Hitchcock and
Queer Sexuality” in The Cambridge Companion to Alfred Hitchcock, edited by Jonathan
Freedman (Cambridge University Press, 2015). An earlier version of chapter 4 was pub-
lished as “Making a Meal of Manhood: Revisiting Rope and the Question of Hitchcock’s
Homophobia” in Genders (Issue 56, Fall 2012). Chapter 6 was originally published as
“The Death- Mother in Psycho: Hitchcock, Femininity, and Queer Desire” in Studies
in Gender and Sexuality (15:3, 2014). Chapter 7 was originally published as “Intimate
Violence: Marnie and Queer Resilience” in The Hitchcock Annual (Vol. 18, 2013). I grate-
fully acknowledge the publishers and their permission to reprint these materials. I am
grateful as well to the editors and the anonymous readers who provided such cogent and
incisive feedback in all cases.
I remain awestruck by the brilliance and kindness of Hitchcock scholars. Having
worked before with Richard Allen and Sidney Gottlieb, I am greatly indebted to their
editorial finesse, scrupulousness, insightfulness, and deep knowledge of Hitchcock’s
work. Their support, tough- mindedness, and selflessness have been inestimable. I thank
Jonathan Freedman for his expert editing and great generosity; what a pleasure to work
with a scholar who is as supportive as he is erudite. Tony Williams, Susan White, and
George Toles are inspiring commentators, and I thank Tony for his invaluable feedback
on the Rope chapter. I am deeply grateful to Julie Grossman and Cat Keyser for their
exhaustive and amazing feedback, respectively, on two of the chapters; their generosity is
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