Daphne du Maurier

You need not have already read a great deal of the written output of Daphne du Maurier (1907 - 1989) before opening Richard Kelly's literary biography of 1987's DAPHNE DU MAURIER. I first read Kelly's book a couple of months ago when I knew no more than du Maurier's novel THE SCAPEGOAT (1956). Before rereading the biography in the last few days, I have since perused three more novels, two books of short stories and have watched movie versions of REBECCA, FRENCHMAN'S CREEK and JAMAICA INN. I profited equally, I think, from both readings. *** Even when I knew even less of Daphne du Maurier than I do today in July 2013, Kelly was useful because he gave short but adequate descriptions of contents of du Maurier's published works, included his own interpretations and also cited contemporary book reviews by Graham Greene and others. Written two years before the still reclusive Miss du Maurier died in 1989, Richard Kelly's book is a decent place to begin your study of the author of REBECCA (1938), "one of the most widely read novels of all time" (Kelly, Chapter Three, p. 66). *** In his Preface, University of Tennessee English Professor Richard Kelly says that he has composed "the first comprehensive critical and analytical evaluation of her fiction in the hope that it may stimulate further discussion of her works." Chapter by chapter the Professor sketches the author's life, then her early novels, her masterpiece REBECCA and in Chapter 4 her romantic fiction of the 1940s and 1950s with their focus on"escapist themes of love adventure and rebellion," then the "more introspective novels of the last thirty years," next her supernatural and macabre short stories and finally in the concluding Chapter 7, du Maurier's present standing and contributions. *** Richard Kelly portrays Daphne du Maurier as the great 20th century revivalist of the gothic novel. Whether writing of her beloved Cornwall or of somewhere else, du Maurier is drawn repeatedly to "seductive villains and houses of horror and mystery, set against a pseudo medieval atmosphere of castles, cliffs, lonely moors and storms" (Chapter Three, p. 53). Miss du Maurier is also shown repeatedly bringing in themes from her personal life, her efforts to make her father love her more than Daphne's mother, his actress wife, or more than any of the young actresses with whom Gerald du Maurier had short, meaningless flings. Sex is a big part of Daphne du Maurier's novels aimed at women. Incest is touched on again and again. Also duality is deep within each individual human: both feminine and masculne, good and evil, dreamer and realist. *** The book is not overloaded with end "Notes and References, offers only two pages of "Selected Bibliography" and a 4 1/2 page Index. There are no maps or photographs, a notable absence. On balance: this a better than average introduction to a great, neglected author. -OOO-