Daphne du Maurier (Magill Book Reviews)
At a glance:
- Author: Margaret Forster
- First Published: 1993
- Type of Work: Biography
- Genres: Nonfiction, Biography
- Subjects: Acting or actors, Homosexuality or homosexuals, Love or romance, Gender roles, Self, Authors or writers, Lesbianism or lesbians, Adultery, Death or dying, Great Britain
- Locales: Great Britain
DAPHNE DU MAURIER is the first biography of the author of REBECCA (1938) to be based on a full range of source materials. Writing with the cooperation of du Maurier’s family, Margaret Forster tells the story of this famous writer, who managed to conceal her uncertainties about her own identity from all except her closest friends.
Aware that her father would have preferred her to be a son, during her formative years Daphne du Maurier became convinced that she was in fact a boy in a girl’s body. However, after a brief involvement with a lesbian schoolteacher, du Maurier repressed her wayward impulses, married a handsome army major, and became the mother of three children. Meanwhile, she had found in writing an outlet for her fantasies, and with the publication of REBECCA in 1938, du Maurier became financially independent.
Although to outsiders Daphne du Maurier’s life seemed rosy, Forster reveals such evidence of conflict as her coldness toward her daughters, her resentment of her husband’s habit of command, and, after her intimacy with him ended, her involvement with the actress Gertrude Lawrence, whose death left du Maurier shattered. During her later years, du Maurier dealt bravely with adversity, remaining with her ailing husband until his death and continuing to practice her craft despite her awareness that her creative powers had dwindled.
Based on the insights she has derived from her research, Forster finds new implications in many of du Maurier’s novels. Perhaps even more important, however, is her appreciation of du Maurier herself, as a person of integrity, nobility, and dedication to her art.
Sources for Further Study
Booklist. XC, October 1, 1993, p.246.
Boston Globe. October 3, 1993, p.38.
Library Journal. CXVIII, November 1, 1993, p.92.
The New York Times Book Review. XCVIII, October 17, 1993, p.37.
The New Yorker. LXIX, November 8, 1993, p. 127.
The Observer. March 28, 1993, p.61.
Publishers Weekly. CCXL, September 13, 1993, p. 114.
Sight and Sound. III, June, 1993, p.45.
The Times Literary Supplement. April 9, 1993, p.23.
The Washington Post Book World. XXIII, October 3, 1993, p.3.
Navigate
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