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Du Maurier is respected as 'one of ours' by the literary establishment. Yet scrutiny shows that strip away the fine writing, and hers are merely gothic novels writ large.
Daphne du Maurier has been acclaimed as 'one of ours' by the respectable literary establishment. Yet scrutiny shows that strip away the fine writing, and hers are merely gothic novels writ large. So how has she been able to achieve this comparative respectability? Partly it is background. Du Maurier came from a long line of artists -- her grandfather was a famous artist and writer and her father was a famous Actor Manager -- and while each artist is always judged on his or her merit, context of course plays a background. Du Maurier had the benefit of having a virtual track record before she had even started. What today is known as networking also comes into effect. Finally, du Maurier wrote biographies, which is a sure-fire way to literary respectability. This is not to suggest that her writing was in any way second-rate. Far from it. But the reality is that novels such as Jamaica Inn, My Cousin Rachel and Rebecca -- as well as short stories such as The Birds and Don't Look Now are unashamedly populist, which is usually a short-cut to critical disdain rather than literary acclaim. Rebecca opens with the unnamed narrator dreaming of Manderley, the house where she lived with Max de Winter. Decay and neglect rule. She and her husband are staying in a hotel, reading newspapers, avoiding news that reminds them of England, in short behaving as exiles always have. But what they are exiled from is not immediately made clear. Flashback to when Mrs de Winter meets her husband. The narrator is a mousy little woman in the thrall of her snobbish, domineering employer. She comments that "I wonder what my life would be today had Mrs. van Hopper not been a snob." Max de Winter takes his new wife back to Manderley, where she is clearly assessed by Mrs. Danvers, the de Winter's devoted housekeeper, and equally clearly found wanting. Other novels in the gothic sub-genre are driven by plot, which is the resolution of conflict. However, within Rebecca, the prose — like that of many literary novels — creates a sense of discomfort within the reader, either by using an unsympathetic protagonist, such as the rather weedy narrator, or a clash of personalities, amongst other methods. But whereas mainstream authors use discomfort as a substitute for plot, du Maurier uses the dissonance to supplement the plot. Nonetheless, because she is using literary methods, it has validated her prose in mainstream critic's eyes.
The copyright of the article Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier in Modern American Fiction is owned by Colin Harvey. Permission to republish Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
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