A Literary Life

Andrea Heiberg’s short story collection, ‘Next Stop: Sejer Island’, is an adroit introduction to this extremely talented writer.   It appears a rather slight collection, just 84 pages in the Salt publication that I read.   There are eight stories here, of varying lengths, but all eight have a cohesive bond in that they present snapshots of life on the isolated Sejer Island, where Heiberg calls home. Andrea Heiberg's 'Next Stop: Sejer Island' In Denmark, Heiberg is known for her work in the theatre (she has had work performed on television there), but there are huge ellipses in her writing life – theatre in the 80s, and then little or nothing until the early 2000s.   During this time she clearly honed her talent for writing in English, and ‘Next Stop: Sejer Island’ is untranslated.   She displays a deft ear for English, and at many times throughout this collection, Heiberg’s prose sings beautifully. A few stories in this collection, despite their br...

The Two Faces of Alfred Hitchcock Hitchcock (2012) Dir. Sacha Gervasi The Girl (2012) Dir. Julian Jarrold --- Please note that these reviews contain discussion of major plot points of both films and so should be considered spoiler heavy. --- Alfred Hitchcock was notoriously difficult with women.   The sound tests he made with Anny Ondra for the 1929 film Blackmail see him quizzing her about her sex life.   Just under a decade later, he maximised discomfort for Madeleine Carroll on The 39 Steps by handcuffing her to co-star Robert Donat.   Such incidents were presented as part of Hitchcock’s playful nature; they fit with the man known for directing such suspenseful pictures with tongue firmly in cheek. When Hitch decamped to Hollywood in 1940 he was already an international star, and the studio system wanted some of that glory for themselves.   He made three pictures with super-producer David O. Selznick, and Selznick kept loaning him out to oth...