The Twelve Lives of Alfred Hitchcock: An Anatomy of the Master of Suspense

by Edward White

Overview

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.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781324022121
Publisher:	Norton, W. W. & Company, Inc.
Publication date:	06/07/2022
Pages:	400
Sales rank:	1,078,026
Product dimensions:	8.10(w) x 5.20(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

Edward White is the author of The Tastemaker: Carl Van Vechten and the Birth of Modern America and has written for publications including the Paris Review. He lives in England.

Table of Contents

Introduction xiii

1 The Boy Who Couldn't Grow Up 1

2 The Murderer 27

3 The Auteur 52

4 The Womanizer 81

5 The Fat Man 110

6 The Dandy 133

7 The Family Man 159

8 The Voyeur 181

9 The Entertainer 202

10 The Pioneer 226

11 The Londoner 250

12 The Man of God 276

Acknowledgments 297

Alfred Hitchcock Filmography 299

Abbreviations 301

Notes 303

Selected Bibliography 341

Credits 357

Index 361

Editorial Reviews

"White’s book is a perceptive, plainspoken, and vigorous portrait of an exceedingly strange, complicated, and perhaps deeply wounded man."

The New Republic - John Banville

"The great strength of The Twelve Lives is that a reader comes away from it with a vivid sense of how Hitchcock ignited screen masterpieces with the fires of his inner discord and contradictions."

Alexander Kafka

"Edward White’s The Twelve Lives of Alfred Hitchcock is a piñata of literary pleasures. Learned and graceful, thoughtful and provocative, White cracks the Hitchcock code with deft analysis and fine writing. It’s a high-stepping performance full of humor and depth. Walking a tightrope between criticism and biography, White places both the man and his myth in the cultural landscape of his times. In the process, he returns us to the films with a much more informed eye. A book to keep and to return to."

John Lahr

"Perceptive and gracefully written, The Twelve Lives of Alfred Hitchcock is a bracing study of the master of suspense.... It is a rare book that could pleasurably be twice as long."

The Economist

"Full of such sharp observations, offering a Hitchcock whose art endures alongside—and in some ways depends upon—his insecurities and mistakes."

Wall Street Journal - Farran Smith Nehme

04/12/2021

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. (Apr.)

Publishers Weekly

"By approaching the life and career of Alfred Hitchcock from a dozen distinct and revealing vantage points, Edward White presents a portrait that is highly nuanced, brimming with critical insights, and, like his subject, thoroughly entertaining."

Noah Isenberg

"[An] innovative biography of Alfred Hitchcock.... Tracking Hitchcock’s contemporary influence, White is an enterprising tour guide."

The Observer - Peter Conrad

"A provocative new way of thinking about biography....The radial structure vibrates, like Hitchcock’s best films, with intuition and mystery."

New York Times - Parul Sehgal

"Thoughtful and nuanced....Grasps Hitchcock’s enduring hold on our aspirations and our fears."

Glenn Frankel

"Rather than forcing Hitchcock’s often contradictory guises into a coherent whole, this deft account takes them as a starting point. The result is a nuanced and frequently unfamiliar portrait. Essays on the director’s sartorial and culinary preoccupations and his penchant for publicity—chapter headings include ‘The Fat Man’ and ‘The Dandy’—yield new perspectives on a multifaceted career."

The New Yorker

★ 02/01/2021

Alfred Hitchcock (1899–1980)has been the subject of dozens of books in the last 20 years, but White (The Tastemaker) distinguishes his work with an inspired approach. Bypassing a traditional narrative, this necessary and perceptive study of the filmmaker and his cinematic impact is framed in 12 separate portraits, each focusing on a particular aspect of Hitchcock's character. Crafting detailed but highly readable studies of, for example, the innovator, the frightened youth, and the dark-edged jester, White offers a kind of anatomical overlay, where each trait infuses the next with even more subtext. This is especially true of an early chapter presenting recently resurfaced stories about Hitchcock's alleged harassment and abuse of women in his professional life such as Tippi Hedren. This section, which gives readers a sense of the director's need for creative control, provides a fascinating contrast to later chapters that deal with his weight troubles, his lack of concern over analysis of his films, and the posthumous, living mythology associated with the name Hitchcock. VERDICT An absorbing, thoughtful, and balanced look at a master of his medium.—Peter Thornell, Hingham P.L., MA

Library Journal

Narrator Qarie Marshall’s amiable tone takes some of the academic edge off this fascinating deep dive into the influences, life, and legacy of the world’s most famous director. The episodic structure makes for easy listening and uses such personae as auteur, womanizer, and the fat man to cast different lights on Hitchcock. Marshall’s even delivery has just a touch of a smile to it, mirroring the droll humor of the subject. A strong case is made for Hitchcock's cultural importance, and there's much to enjoy for any film history buff. While being an avid Hitchcock watcher isn't required, beware of spoilers for most of his films, including lesser-known ones. S.T.C. © AudioFile 2021, Portland, Maine

SEPTEMBER 2021 - AudioFile

2021-01-19
A fresh assessment of the legendary director.

Following The Tastemaker, his outstanding biography of Carl Van Vechten, White takes on another titanic figure in the arts. The author plumbs Hitchcock’s films and TV shows to reinforce his view that he was a man of many contradictions, “usually complex, often troubling, but always vital.” White breaks down his subject’s psyche into 12 “lives,” beginning with “The Boy Who Couldn’t Grow Up,” which delves into his childhood trauma, “dread of authority,” and the “lifelong fascination with cruelty and violence that fueled his creativity.” In “The Murderer,” White posits that to “crack the Hitchcock code there’s no better place to start than at the grisly end,” as he leads us down a bloody path that runs from The Lodger to Psycho. The author reveals Hitchcock’s ability to promote his brand and create a “personal mythology.” In “The Womanizer,” White explores Hitchcock’s complex, contradictory relationships with women as a “creator and controller,” best seen in Vertigo, and his dependence on his wife, Alma. Discussing Shadow of a Doubt, “a point of continuity between the two halves of his career” gives White the opportunity to point out that the “most insistent theme of his work is a seemingly happy home cruelly torn asunder.” Examining Rear Window, which the director considered his “most cinematic” film, the author notes now “Hitchcock knew the power one could command by looking—and by denying others the opportunity to look.” It was the success of his two TV shows that helped create the “Entertainer,” and “The Pioneer” neatly shows how “each of his works is in deep conversation with the rest.” Hitchcock “The Londoner”—White is especially good on the director’s early English films—and the Catholic “Man of God” complete the 12 lives. Although the author doesn’t uncover much groundbreaking information, he presents the man and his films in a readable, entertaining package.

An incisive literary autopsy of the Master of Suspense.

Kirkus Reviews