I've come to the end of the NYRB collection of stories by Daphne du Maurier, Don't Look Now. I have to say it's a really excellent assortment of stories, so if you're in the market for something by DDM and want some of her shorter work, I can wholly recommend this one. The last story, Monte Verità, is really novella length. I'm not quite sure what I think of it. As I was reading, it was rivaling my favorites, Don't Look Now and The Birds (though I've enjoyed her stories so much it's hard to choose a favorite as so many are really, really good). But after finishing it, I'm not really sure what I think and have to let this one seep in a bit. It's the type of story where there's more under the surface than you first notice and only after thinking about it a while do you start making connections.
One thing I've noticed is that I often have to go back to the beginning of a story and reread the first few paragraphs or in this case since it's such a long story, the first few pages, as often there are clues in the text to aid in figuring things out that I miss when I'm reading. It seems that with stories is you have to orient yourself quickly as the action starts right away. Unlike a novel where the author can take her time developing characters and plot, I sometimes feel I've just been dropped into the middle of the action.
In Monte Verità the narrator, the story is told from first person, is looking back at events that happened much earlier in his life. As a young man (and this all takes place before and after WWI) he and his best friend were avid mountain climbers. What started out as a hobby soon becomes a passion.
"We used to climb, Victor and I, from no desire for danger or because we wanted to add mountain peaks to our repertoire of achievement. We climbed from desire, because we loved the thing we won."
When Victor announces his engagement to a beautiful, elusive Welshwoman, the narrator expects his friendship to change as Victor is lost to domesticity. Although never explained just what his work is, the narrator is often traveling and lives much of the time in America. When he finally returns to England and meets up with Victor and Anna again some eight months later he finds Anna's quiet thoughtfulness has rubbed off on his friend. I think he's as much attracted to Anna as is Victor, yet he would never betray his friend. Anna has this ethereal quality about her as if she's searching for something, some higher truth. Apparently she finds it on Monte Verità where she and Victor have come to climb to the mountain's twin peaks. Victor returns to England alone and has a nervous breakdown, where his friend finds him by chance. This is where the story takes an odd turn, and where I think I'll leave off describing it, so as not to give anymore of the plot away. I will share with you some of what Patrick McGrath had to say about it in the introduction.
"Clairvoyance hints at the existence of a supernatural realm, but can only offer glimpses of it. Du Maurier wrote a long story, Monte Verità, in which she attempted boldly to go deep into this territory, convinced perhaps, that if we humans share so much with the apes then it's not unreasonable to suppose we have something in common with the angels, too."
I'm leaving you hanging here a bit, but I will say there is a spiritual aspect to the story that I'm sure is meant to parallel or have significance in the act of climbing and searching. McGrath calls the story an allegory and perhaps this is where she started to lose me, not that she isn't successful in what she set out to do. It's just a story that involves more contemplation than instant gratification.
I also came across an explanation for DDM's inspiration for the story as well.
"One of the best holidays I've ever had. I had a heavenly time. I wasn't sure how I would get on, you know, with a rucksack on my back, and tramping the road, and sleeping at different places each night, but I adored every moment. My companion was an easy-going Cornish friend who had done an immense amount of walking in out-of-the-way countries, so we lived like two tramps, iron rations of cheese and chocolate mid-day, and a shaving-mug of glacier water to make Nescafé over a camp fire!"
"The Rhone is quite beautiful, when it is still a mountain torrent, and the strange thing is I found a village up a side valley so much like the valley village in the story, and a great rocky mountain that could have been Monte Verità. I tried to get up it but it defeated me."
She made it her own in her story, however. I plan to continue reading more of Daphne's short stories. I'm not sure which collection I'll start with. Although I won't be writing about them individually (I wonder what I will write about on Sundays now!), I'm sure they'll get blog time as I make my way through the books I've got on hand.