Literature in its broadest conception for this, my little blog. Sometimes I have wanted to approach the work of writers quite distant from the novel as a great narrative reference. Cases like that of Nietzsche o Marx. Today is another of those tangentially literary references ...
That's right, because we talk about Alfred Hitchcock And, strange as it may sound, we're also talking about books. Beyond the seventh art in which this renowned director excelled above all others, the creator's ingenuity addresses the literary from his stories transformed into scripts, or from his films conceived as authentic novels, and also from his adaptations brought from novels from other authors ...
And it is that the cinema or literature pass by essentially sharing the great narrative resources that are capable of magnetizing the reader or the viewer, the tension, the tempo or rhythm, the always surprising turn (perhaps Hitchcock's greatest virtue), a sum of incentives that only someone gifted far above the average can finally dress up for an always commendable set.
The quickest comparison with Hitchcock that assails us is that of Agatha Christie, another narrator who, although she did not monopolize the two fundamental aspects in the communication of any story (literature and cinema), also knew how to display all that scenography easily transferable to the big screen in countless masterpieces.
But going back to Hitchcock, the truth is that I noticed him as a writer after becoming fond of buying some unique books such as the screenplay for the movie The Truman Show. If every movie has its script script, the Hitchcock scripts They had to be fascinating novels full of suspense and filled with that gift to penetrate into the mental recesses where fears, emotions and unknown drives coexist.
Beyond his films, for me, Hitchcock is above all the creator of great little horror stories that always surprised and made the skin crawl. It all began with an unmistakable melody, the director's profile on the screen and the lyrics: «Alfred Hitchcock presents ». That was it, we were entering stories of recognizable environments that ended up imploding with a brutal twist. So my ranking of his compilation books will be marked by that longing ...
Top 3 best books of Alfred Hitchcock
Subliminal adaptations
Somehow I consider this book as the starting point of everything in that happy coexistence, in that universal idyll between letters and frames that only Hitchcock knew how to conjugate.
This book addresses three essential adaptations in the author's filmography. "Vertigo" "Rear Window" and "Psychosis" and thanks to this book you can practically live in the mind of the genius who uses his imagination as a transmission belt from what is narrated to what is seen.
It is worth seeing the movies accompanied by this book, reliving their scenes while understanding the adjustments to the visual from the pages of the books.
Hitchcock acted as a magician in these cases to move the plot under the dark and disturbing trompe l'oeil of his final set design. And the result, having the knowledge of the tricks of the magician Hitchcock contained in this book, ends up being wonderfully revealing ...
Living blood
One of those compilations that can serve as a guide to compare with their representations in television series format. In the digital age, it is very easy to find any of the stories that make up this book and give yourself the pleasure of feeling like the screenwriter, discovering the changes and adjustments necessary for the narrative on paper to gain even more strength under the incomparable gifts of Hitchcock.
A set of 14 selected stories from which the director of directors was able to get gold in his version for viewers who are adept at his series.
Hitchcock-Truffaut
This tandem serves the cause of the understanding of genius. The compilation of conversations, interviews, letters and diversity of other documents shared between the two, serves the cause of the knowledge of the character capable of addressing the extensive creation of a work with edges on the sinister, the macabre and the psychotic.
No one with a "normal" development can be able to peek into Hitchcock's special sensitivity, and perhaps it is not the most advisable life journey to seek happiness in the most aseptic sense of this (which is at the same time the purest).
But once life did not make it easy for Hitchcock, he knew how to take advantage of his own neurosis to end up leaving at least the testimony of his fears, insecurities and ultimately unhappiness.
8 comments on «The 3 best books of Alfred Hitchcock»