Performing Arts History & Criticism
Strangers on a Train
A Queer Film Classic
- Publisher
- Arsenal Pulp Press
- Initial publish date
- Oct 2012
- Category
- History & Criticism, Gay Studies
-
Paperback / softback
- ISBN
- 9781551524825
- Publish Date
- Oct 2012
- List Price
- $14.95
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Description
Alfred Hitchcock's 1951 thriller based on the novel of the same name by Patricia Highsmith (author of The Talented Mr. Ripley) is about two men who meet on a train: one is a man of high social standing who wishes to divorce his unfaithful wife; the other is an enigmatic bachelor with an overbearing father. Together they enter into a murder plot that binds them to one another, with fatal consequences.
This Queer Film Classic delves into the homoerotic energy of the film, especially between the two male characters (played by Farley Granger and Robert Walker). It builds on the question of the sexuality the film puts on view, not to ask whether either character is gay so much as to explore the queer relations between sexuality and murder and the strong antisocial impulses those relations represent. The book also includes a look at the making of the film and the critical controversies over Hitchcock's representations of male homosexuality.
About the authors
Jonathan Goldberg is Arts and Sciences Distinguished Professor Emeritus at Emory University. His most recent books include Melodrama: An Aesthetics of Impossibility (Duke, 2016), The Seeds of Things: Theorizing Sexuality and Materiality in Renaissance Representations (Fordham, 2009), and the co-edited volume This Distracted Globe: Worldmaking in Early Modern Literature (Fordham, 2016).
Jonathan Goldberg's profile page
Thomas Waugh is the award-winning author or co-author of numerous books, including five for Arsenal Pulp Press: Out/Lines, Lust Unearthed, Montreal Main: A Queer Film Classic (with Jason Garrison), Comin' At Ya! (with David L. Chapman) and Gay Art: A Historic Collection (with Felix Lance Falkon). His other books include Hard to Imagine, The Fruit Machine, and The Romance of Transgression. He teaches film studies at Concordia University in Montreal, Canada, where he lives. He has published widely on political discourses and sexual representation in film and video, on lesbian and gay film and video, and has more recently undertaken interdisciplinary research and teaching on AIDS. He is also the founder and former coordinator of the Minor Programme in Interdisciplinary Studies in Sexuality at Concordia.
In addition to the titles below, Thomas is also co-editor (with Matthew Hays) of the Queer Film Classics series.
Matthew Hays is a Montreal-based critic, author, film festival programmer, and university instructor. He is the co-editor (with Thomas Waugh) of Arsenal Pulp's Queer Film Classics series. He has been a film critic and reporter for the weekly Montreal Mirror since 1993. His first book, The View from Here: Conversations with Gay and Lesbian Filmmakers (Arsenal Pulp Press), was cited by Quill & Quire as one of the best books of 2007 and won a 2008 Lambda Literary Award. His articles have appeared in a broad range of publications, including The Guardian, The Daily Beast, The Globe and Mail, The New York Times, Vice, The Walrus, The Advocate, The Toronto Star, The International Herald Tribune, Cineaste, Cineaction, Quill & Quire, This Magazine, The Hollywood Reporter, Canadian Screenwriter, and Xtra!. He teaches courses in journalism, communication studies and film studies at Concordia University, where he received his MA in communication studies in 2000. A two-time nominee for a National Magazine Award, Hays received the 2013 Concordia President's Award for Teaching Excellence. .
Matthew is also co-editor (with Thomas Waugh) of the Queer Film Classics series.
Editorial Reviews
If you're a fan of Hitchcock's classic film, this book is an intelligent must-have.
-EDGE Publications
EDGE
This latest entry to the Queer Film Classic series does not disappoint. Here Goldberg offers a compelling, scholarly look at the production of the film, critical (queer and otherwise) analyses, and the theme of "double-ness" and its (according to Truffaut) obsession with the number two ... Highly recommended for fans of Hitchcock, Highsmith, critical analysis, and film studies. Engaging and readable, this work-with all its light and intrigue-will make any reader want to pick up the DVD too.
-Library Journal (STARRED REVIEW)
Library Journal
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