Daphne du Maurier

Dame Daphne du Maurier DBE (13 May, 1907–19 April, 1989) was a famous British novelist best known for her short story "The Birds" and her classic novel "Rebecca", published in 1938. Both were adapted into films by Alfred Hitchcock; "Rebecca" won the Oscar for best film.

Personal life

Du Maurier was born in London (though spent most of her life in her beloved Cornwall), the daughter of the actor-manager Sir Gerald du Maurier, and granddaughter of the author and cartoonist, George du Maurier. These connections gave her a head start in her literary career, and her first novel, The Loving Spirit was published in 1931. Du Maurier was also the cousin of the Llewelyn-Davies boys (George, Jack, Peter, Michael, and Nicholas), who are known for serving as J.M. Barrie's inspiration for the play Peter Pan. As a young child she was introduced to many of the brightest stars of the theater thanks to the celebrity of her father; notably, on meeting Tallulah Bankhead she was quoted as saying that she was the most beautiful creature she had ever seen.

She married Lieutenant-General Sir Frederick "Boy" Browning and had two daughters and a son (Tessa, Flavia and Christian). Biographers have drawn attention to the fact that the marriage was at times somewhat chilly and that Du Maurier could be aloof and distant to her children, especially the girls, when immersed in her writing. As a product of well-to-do Edwardian society, it was the nanny who took care of the children.

Indeed, she has often been painted as a frostily private recluse who rarely mixed in society or gave interviews. A notable exception to this came after the release of David Lean's film, A Bridge Too Far, which portrayed her late husband in a less-than-flattering light. Du Maurier was incensed and wrote to the national newspapers decrying what she considered this unforgiveable treatment.

After her death, numerous references were made to her alleged lesbianism; an affair with Gertrude Lawrence as well as her infatuation for the wife of her American publisher, Ellen Doubleday, have been cited. Du Maurier stated in her memoirs that her father had wanted a son and as a tomboy, she had naturally wished that she had been born a boy. However, Du Maurier never publicly declared any sexual interest in women.

Novels

Though literary critics have often berated Du Maurier's writings for their lack of intellectual heft in the way that George Eliot's or Iris Murdoch's are praised, admirers of her novels highlight her talent for unfolding a story full of suspense. Indeed, for several decades she was the number one author for library book borrowings.

Her masterpiece is often cited as the novel Rebecca, which has been filmed on several occasions. One of her strongest influences here was Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë. Her fascination with the Brontë family is also apparent in The Infernal World of Bramwell Bronté, her biography of the troubled elder brother to the Bronte girls. The fact that their mother had been Cornish no doubt also played a part in her interest.

Another book, 'A King's General' was a romantic tale set in the middle of the 1st and 2nd English Civil Wars. Though written from the Royalist perspective of her native Cornwall, it gives an interesting and fairly neutral view of this period of history.

In addition to Rebecca, several of her other novels were made into films, including Jamaica Inn (1936), Frenchman's Creek (1942), Hungry Hill (1943) and My Cousin Rachel (1951). The Hitchcock film The Birds (1963) is based on a treatment of one of her short stories, as is the film Don't Look Now (1973). Of the films, Du Maurier often complained that the only ones she liked were Hitchcock's Rebecca and Nicolas Roeg's Don't look now. Hitchcock's treatment of Jamaica Inn is indeed unusually poor as the ending was completely re-written to accommodate the ego of its star, Charles Laughton. Du Maurier also felt that Olivia de Havilland was totally wrong as the (anti-)heroine in My Cousin Rachel. Frenchman's Creek fared rather better with its lavish technicolour sets and costumes, though Du Maurier later regretted her choice of Alec Guinness as the lead in the film of The Scapegoat which she partly financed.

Du Maurier was often categorised as a "Romantic Novelist" (a term she deplored), and quite rightly, as none of her novels, with the possible exception of Frenchman's Creek, follow the standard format of a Georgette Heyer or Barbara Cartland novel. Her novels very rarely have a happy ending, and her brand of romanticism is often at odds with the sinister overtones and shadows of the paranormal she so favoured. In this light, she has more in common with the 'sensation novels' of Wilkie Collins et al., which she admired.

Indeed, it was in her short stories where she was able to give free reign to the harrowing and terrifying side of her imagination.

In later life she wrote non-fiction, including several biographies which were well-received. This no doubt came from a deep-rooted desire to be accepted as a serious writer, comparing herself to her close literary neighbour, A L Rowse, the celebrated historian and essayist, who lived a few miles away from her house near Fowey.

One of her most imaginative works, The Glass-Blowers, traces her French ancestry and gives a vivid depiction of the French Revolution. The House on the Strand (1969) combines the elements of "mental time-travel", a tragic love-affair in 14th century Cornwall, and the dangers of using drugs.

She died at the age of 81 on April 19, 1989 at her home in Cornwall, in a region which had been the setting for many of her books. In accordance with her wishes, her body was cremated and her ashes were scattered on the cliffs near her home.

Awards and recognition

Du Maurier was named a Dame of the British Empire.

Trivia

• Du Maurier was a member of the Cornish nationalist pressure group/political party Mebyon Kernow.
• In Ken Follett's thriller The Key to Rebecca, du Maurier's novel Rebecca is used as the key for a code used by a German spy in World War II Cairo.
• Neville Chamberlain is reputed to have read Rebecca on the plane journey which led to Adolf Hitler signing the Munich Agreement.
• The central character of her last novel, Rule Britannia, is an aging and eccentric actress who was based on Gertrude Lawrence and Gladys Cooper (to whom it is dedicated). However, the character is most recognisably Du Maurier herself.
• Du Maurier's novel Mary Anne (1954) is a fictionalised account of the real-life story of her great-great grandmother, Mary Anne Clarke née Thompson (1776-1852). Mary Anne Clarke from 1803 to 1808 was mistress of Frederick Augustus, the Duke of York and Albany (1763-1827). He was the "Grand Old Duke of York" of the nursery rhyme, a son of King George III and brother of the later King George IV.

References

ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

• Kelly, Richard (1987). Daphne du Maurier. Boston: Twayne. ISBN 0-8057-6931-5. 
• Obituary in The Independent April 21, 1989
• Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, London, 1887– : Du Maurier, Dame Daphne (1907–1989); Browning, Sir Frederick Arthur Montague (1896–1965); Frederick, Prince, Duke of York and Albany (1763-1827); Clarke, Mary Anne (1776?-1852).
• Du Maurier, Daphne, Mary Anne, Victor Gollancz Ltd, London, 1954.

External links

• Daphne du Maurier
• Daphne du Maurier
• Interview with Daphne du Maurier — 1977
• Website of The Brontë Parsonage Museum in Haworth, Yorkshire
• Web news magazine of the Brontë Parsonage Museum

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