Subject
Re: Nabokov & Hitchcock (fwd) -- Possible Spoilers! (fwd)
Date
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---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: JR <bixx@mindspring.com>
At 09:55 AM 2/23/00 -0800, you wrote:
>----
>
>As readers of the Selected Letters know, there is indeed a connection, as
>Hitchcock attempted to solicit a screenplay from Nabokov in 1964 (VN:
>Selected Letters 1940-1977, pages 361-66). Hitchcock's interest in Nabokov
>as a potential screenplay collaborator makes explicit one's intuitive
>association of two artists who enjoyed playing with viewer/reader
>expectations, among other similarities that Davidson elucidates.
>
It so happens that I am re-reading KING, QUEEN, KNAVE: Franz's discovery
of the real state of his landlord's "wife" is extraordinarily similar to
the revelation of Norman Bates' mother in PSYCHO, even unto the staging
(seen from behind in chair, etc.). Did this scene exist precisely so in the
Russian original (where it seems unlikely Hitchcock would have read it) or
did Nabokov perform some alterations for the 1968 English translation (8
years after PSYCHO's release) as deliberate tribute?
Joshua Roberts
bixx@mindspring.com
http://www.mindspring.com/~bixx
From: JR <bixx@mindspring.com>
At 09:55 AM 2/23/00 -0800, you wrote:
>----
>
>As readers of the Selected Letters know, there is indeed a connection, as
>Hitchcock attempted to solicit a screenplay from Nabokov in 1964 (VN:
>Selected Letters 1940-1977, pages 361-66). Hitchcock's interest in Nabokov
>as a potential screenplay collaborator makes explicit one's intuitive
>association of two artists who enjoyed playing with viewer/reader
>expectations, among other similarities that Davidson elucidates.
>
It so happens that I am re-reading KING, QUEEN, KNAVE: Franz's discovery
of the real state of his landlord's "wife" is extraordinarily similar to
the revelation of Norman Bates' mother in PSYCHO, even unto the staging
(seen from behind in chair, etc.). Did this scene exist precisely so in the
Russian original (where it seems unlikely Hitchcock would have read it) or
did Nabokov perform some alterations for the 1968 English translation (8
years after PSYCHO's release) as deliberate tribute?
Joshua Roberts
bixx@mindspring.com
http://www.mindspring.com/~bixx