Classical Vertigo: Mythic Shapes and Contemporary Influences in Hitchcock's Film

Mark William Padilla's book Classical Vertigo: Mythic Shapes and Contemporary Influences in Hitchcock's Film explores the film's source novel, symbolist novel, and first-draft screenplay, revealing how themes from Greco-Roman antiquity emerge in Hitchcock's project. He analyzes narrative figures such as Prometheus and Pandora, Persephone and Hades, and Pygmalion and Galatea, as well as themes like the dark plots of Greek tragedy, to demonstrate how Hitchcock used allusive form to construct an emotionally powerful experience with an often-minimalist script.

Format: Hardback
Length: 338 pages
Publication date: 15 March 2024
Publisher: Lexington Books

Since its debut in 1958, Alfred Hitchcock's Vertigo has captivated and perplexed audiences with its distinctive visual aesthetic and unexpected narrative twists. In his book, Classical Vertigo: Mythic Shapes and Contemporary Influences in Hitchcock's Film, Mark William Padilla delves into various antecedents, including the film's source novel, Dentre les morts (Among the Dead), the earlier symbolist novel, Rodenbachs Bruges-la-morte, and the first-draft screenplay of Maxwell Anderson, a prominent Broadway dramatist and Hollywood scenarist from the 1920s to the 1950s. The presence of Vertigo within these texts unveils and elucidates how themes from Greco-Roman antiquity manifest in Hitchcock's project. Padilla meticulously analyzes narrative figures such as Prometheus and Pandora, Persephone and Hades, and Pygmalion and Galatea, as well as themes like the dark plots of Greek tragedy, to demonstrate how Hitchcock employed allusive form to create an emotionally profound experience with a frequently minimalist script. This analysis underscores that Vertigo is a multifaceted work of intertextuality with artistic and cultural roots that extend deep into antiquity itself.

ISBN-13: 9781666915914