If you are a fan of Daphne Du Maurier you probably know that this year is the centenary anniversary of her birth. The actual date was May 13th, so while I have missed many of the festivities (including a BBC Radio serialization of My Cousin Rachel), I can still focus some of my reading on Daphne and her work. I have been slowly reading Margaret Forster's biography of her. It is excellent reading. The only reason it is going slowly is my copy happens to be a used hardcover, and it is somewhat hefty to carry around. As Don Quixote goes to work with me every morning, I can't carry another heavy book in my bookbag. I usually read a bit each night--having a hard time setting it down. (Yes, both Katherine Mansfield and Daphne Du Maurier compete for attention each night. On a good night I get to read a little of both.)
There are also a few new books out that I have splurged and ordered from The Book Depository. One arrived today--The Daphne Du Maurier Companion edited by Helen Taylor. At first glance I was afraid I was going to be disappointed. It appeared to contain quite a few essays. It turns out, however, that these are the same essays which appear in the Virago editions (I own many of these editions already). After looking through it a bit more closely, though, I think it is still a worthwhile book to add to my Du Maurier collection. It contains interviews, letters, a complete bibliography and list of works about her as well as a filmography as well as an unpublished short story. No photos, but I am hoping Vanishing Cornwall will more than make up for that. I also decided I need an updated version of Rebecca. The Virago edition is much prettier than the old American edition, don't you think (the cover seems a little too bland)? I am waiting for both to arrive in the mail.
I know several people have told me that they read Daphne when they were young adults. In some cases she was the first adult writer they read when they were younger. I discovered her much later. My first book, not surprisingly, was Rebecca, which I read when I was in college. At various times I have read different books by her, including Jamaica Inn and My Cousin Rachel. Most recently I read Frenchman's Creek (earlier this year). Already I am narrowing down the other books I have by her (and I have been collecting them for a while) to choose one to read for the summer reading challenge (Virago in the UK publishes many of her books--only a few are published here in the US, however). I think part of my draw for Daphne's work is the setting. Many of her books are set in Cornwall--a place I know only in my imagination. One of my biggest fixations is to live near a coast, and I get the feel that the Cornish coast would be a sort of paradise for me.
In the introduction of the companion, written by Sir Christopher Frayling, he writes:
"I don't know why, maybe because I grew up in a house full of popular fiction, but I have always felt queasy about the critical reflex which tends to patronise a writer just because she/he is popular. It is as if, in the eyes if some parts of academe and the literary establishment , a wide readership automatically confers pulp status. At least that was the orthodoxy then. In case of Daphne Du Maurier, the verdict was particularly unjust--as I discovered when I began seriously to read her books in the 1970s, starting with Rebecca (who doesn't?), then most of her other novels, then writings on the Cornish landscape, the biographies and autobiographies. This coincided with my researches into Gothic literature, another genre of fiction that was despised in those days. Since then, there has been an ever increasing critical focus on both categories - 'romantic fiction' and 'Gothic fiction' - what they mean and what they don't mean, as well as deep reappraisals of their most substantive authors. In the United States, the most dramatic reappraisal has been the work of Mary Shelley. In Britain, of Daphne Du Maurier. It has been a spectacular transformation scene."
I am happy if there has indeed been a resurgence of Daphne's work. I like what he says about popular fiction not necessarily being pulp. I have really enjoyed the books I have read by her so far and plan on reading more (would like to read them all eventually). From what I have been learning in her biography, she was an intriguing woman.