Hitchcock and philosophy

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David Baggett and William A. Drumin

The shower scene in Psycho; Cary Grant running for his life through a cornfield; innocent birds lined up on a fence waiting, watching these seminal cinematic moments are as real to moviegoers as their own lives. But what makes them so? What deeper forces are at work in Hitchcock s films that so captivate his fans? This collection of articles examines those forces with fresh eyes. These essays demonstrate a fascinating range of topics: Sabotage s lessons about the morality of terrorism and counter-terrorism; Rope s debatable Nietzschean underpinnings; Strangers on a Train s definition of morality. Some of the essays look at more overarching questions, such as why Hitchcock relies so heavily on the Freudian unconscious. In all, the book features 18 philosophers paying a special homage to the legendary auteur in a way that s accessible even to casual fans.

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Douglas E. Cowan

"Why do religious elements so often lurk at the heart of horror films? And why do they scare us so? In this book, Douglas Cowan argues that horror films are opportune vehicles for externalizing the fears that lie inside our religious selves: fear of evil; of the flesh; of sacred places; of death, dying badly, or not remaining dead; and of the power - and powerlessness - of religion."--BOOK JACKET.

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Paul Merrick

This study of Liszt and his music aims to restore a balanced view of both man and artist. In contrast to the familiar portrayal of the virtuoso pianist, Liszt is considered here as a serious man of ideas.

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Arthur Koestler. --

Janus is both a summing up and continuation of Koestler's work over the past twenty-five years, since he turned from politics to the sciences of life- or more precisely, to the 'evolution, creativity and pathology of the human mind'. The insights gained on that long journey are here assembled in a coherent and comprehensive synthesis, and in the last part of the book, he offers us a tantalizing 'glance through the key-hole' from subatomic physics to metaphysics.