1 September: Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier

 

Rebecca by Daphne du Marier

 

It was not until I started doing a bit of research to give details of this month’s play that I discovered that Rebecca is a 1938 Gothic novel.   The novel depicts an unnamed young woman who impetuously marries a wealthy widower, before discovering that both he and his household are haunted by the memory of his late first wife, the title character.

 

Rebecca is a bestseller which has never gone out of print, and has been adapted numerous times for stage and screen (both film and TV), including a 1939 play by du Maurier herself.  The 1940 directed by Alfred Hitchcock won the Academy Award for Best Picture, and in 2020 there was a remake for Netflix.  The original novel has been translated into many and diverse languages.

 

It has been suggested that the novel drew inspiration from Jane Eyre, and Daphne du Maurier admitted that the theme of jealousy was drawn from her own experience of having a husband who had been engaged before to a glamorous woman.

 

The novel is remembered especially for Mrs. Danvers, the West Country estate Manderley, and its opening line: "Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again."

 

Characters

Maxim de Winter	Owner of Mandalay
Mrs de Winter	His new bride
Frith	Butler
Mrs Danvers	Housekeeper
Beatrice Lacy	Maxim’s sister
Giles Lacy	Her Husband
Frank Crawley	Estate Manager
Jack Favell	Friend of Mrs Danvers
Colonel Julyan	Chief Constable

 

Daphne du Maurier 1907-1989

Although she married Frederick Browning, she continued to write in her maiden name.  She became Daphne du Maurier, Lady Browning when she was elevated to the Dame Commander of the British Empire in 1969, but she never used the title.  According to her biographer Margaret Forster, she told no one about the honour, so that even her children learned of it only from the newspapers. "She thought of pleading illness for the investiture, until her children insisted it would be a great day for the older grandchildren. So she went through with it, though she slipped out quietly afterwards to avoid the attention of the press."