Description
This comparative study of Alfred Hitchcock and Vladimir Nabokov makes an important contribution to cultural analysis by opening up the work of two canonical authors to issues of exile and migration. Questions about the contingencies of history and the rupture of the real are hardly ever brought to bear on their highly self-reflexive texts. Barbara Straumann counters this critical gap by reading real-life exile as the 'absent cause' of Alfred Hitchcock's and Vladimir Nabokov's brilliant virtuosity. Her 'cross-mapping' of the two seemingly disparate authors takes as its point of departure the conditions of exile in which they found themselves and goes on to show how the relentless playfulness of their language and irony points to the creation of a new home in the world of signs. Straumann's close reading of selected films and literary texts focuses on Speak, Memory, Lolita, The Real Life of Sebastian Knight, Suspicion, North by Northwest and Shadow of a Doubt and explores the connections between language, imagination and exile. This book is aimed at those with an interest in Nabokov, Hitchcock, Freud, Lacan, cultural theory, media and/or exile. Key Features o Brings an entirely new perspective to the work of Hitchcock and Nabokov o Discusses psychoanalysis both as a critical approach and as a crucial reference point for the cinematic and literary texts themselves o Analyses figurations of exile in different aesthetic media
About the Author
Barbara Straumann is Lecturer in the English Seminar at the University of Zurich. She is currently working on a book on female performer voices.
Reviews
Within Nabokov criticism especially, effort has traditionally been concentrated on detective-style exegesis. This study offers a highly interesting alternative that provides a basis for a new area of debate in the future. -- Laurence Piercy, University of Sheffield European Journal of English Studies (EJES) Within Nabokov criticism especially, effort has traditionally been concentrated on detective-style exegesis. This study offers a highly interesting alternative that provides a basis for a new area of debate in the future.
Book Information
ISBN 9780748636464
Author Barbara Straumann
Format Hardback
Page Count 248
Imprint Edinburgh University Press
Publisher Edinburgh University Press
Weight(grams) 542g
Dimensions(mm) 234mm * 156mm * 20mm
About the Author
Barbara Straumann is Lecturer in the English Seminar at the University of Zurich. She is currently working on a book on female performer voices.
Reviews
Within Nabokov criticism especially, effort has traditionally been concentrated on detective-style exegesis. This study offers a highly interesting alternative that provides a basis for a new area of debate in the future. -- Laurence Piercy, University of Sheffield European Journal of English Studies (EJES) Within Nabokov criticism especially, effort has traditionally been concentrated on detective-style exegesis. This study offers a highly interesting alternative that provides a basis for a new area of debate in the future.
Book Information
ISBN 9780748636464
Author Barbara Straumann
Format Hardback
Page Count 248
Imprint Edinburgh University Press
Publisher Edinburgh University Press
Weight(grams) 542g
Dimensions(mm) 234mm * 156mm * 20mm
