What Influenced Daphne Du Maurier

“Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again,”—this is the famous and evocative opening line from Daphne du Maurier’s Rebecca, often considered the first gothic romance novel of the 20th century and one of Britain’s most beloved fictional literary works. Du Maurier, who was an active writer from 1931 until her death in 1989, came from a prominent, creative, and well-to-do British family and published several novels, short stories, biographies, and plays over her lifetime. One of the great shapers of British popular culture, du Maurier is renowned for her application of realistic psychological suspense, dark and often macabre plot lines, and bold writing style. Her unique writing style was influenced by genres such as mystery, Gothicism,

suspense, and romance. In both her personal life and her hauntingly nostalgic literary works, Daphne du Maurier reflected and influenced her time by transcending the restrictions of 20th century womanhood, purposefully avoiding the literary conventions of the time, and infusing her writing with vignettes of the past.
In the 1930s when du Maurier began her writing career (as well as centuries before and decades after), the ‘ideal’ male was thought to be intellectual, emotionally sturdy, and hardworking, while the ‘ideal’ female was beautiful, charming, and happy to settle for a serene, domestic life. Many facets of du Maurier’s personal life and childhood influenced her decision to write stories that both reflect and reject these notions. Firstly, her rather famous father, Sir Gerald du Maurier, had always wished for and never fathered a son, but quickly embraced Daphne as his favorite daughter (Shallcross 42). As a result, she wished she had been born a boy her whole life, and even preferred wearing boys clothes as a child (Shallcross 43). As she grew, she began to both mistrust men and envy their independence. Her father’s constant infidelity influenced her views on men, and she became disenchanted with the institution of marriage, although she did eventually marry (Shallcross 46). In marriage, she found “maintaining the outer front as the wife of an army officer” and the resulting distant relationship with her husband to be disappointing (Wisker, “Dangerous” 86). In order to publicize her commentary on the polarized gender roles, du Maurier turned to the creative outlet of writing.
As an author, du Maurier wrote several stories from the first person male perspective (e.g. My Cousin Rachel, The Scapegoat, and The House on the Strand, among others). She used the pen name of ‘Eric Avon’, her male alter ego (Shallcross 43). Writing from the male perspective as a woman was uncommon, and men of her time were surprised to find how easily they could relate to her writing. Many elements of du Maurier’s writing style, including the crime and adventure themes, were once considered to be appealing only to men, but when popularized by authors like her, resulted in cultural divergence from women’s preferences for typical ‘romance’ novels in the mid 20th century. Some of her female characters seem to fit the gender confines of the interwar years, while others deviate. Du Maurier’s descriptions of the villainous ‘Rebecca’ from Rebecca (1938) depict her as “fearless, wild and immoral, the epitome of female licentiousness” (Light 157). While readers in the 1930s would likely have had more respect for the second Mrs. De Winter’s “self contained solitude” than for Rebecca’s “independent, sexually adventurous femininity” (Giles 42), it is clear that the second ‘Mrs. De Winter’ feels trapped by her gender and uncomfortably obligated to transform into the ‘ideal’ woman (i.e. the narrator’s original image of Rebecca). Her desperation for Mr. De Winter’s approval, especially when contrasted with du Maurier’s own independent personality, can be interpreted as social commentary on the expected submissiveness of women. Female characters from other du Maurier novels, like ‘Mary Yellan’ and ‘Dona St Columb’ also want to escape from the social expectations of womanhood and “its is attempted escape which fuels the plots” (Light 156). ‘Mary’, the assertive and bold narrator of Jamaica Inn (1936), is “one of the many heroines who no longer believe in the myth of the male protector” (Light 171). This and many of du Maurier’s other stories suggest that marriage and peaceful domestic life are not necessarily the cures to all women’s ills, an idea that would have been controversial in the early years of du Maurier’s career. Her work emphasizes male dominance, the social constrictions of women, and feminine strength, which, if unleashed, could upset the accepted behaviors of male possession of female bodies (Wisker, “Don’t Look” 24). Du Maurier reflected her time by creating many characters that correspond with 20th century gender conventions, but their discomfort within these confines calls into question the social constructs related to gender and marriage, thereby influencing the growth of feminist thought in her time.
Daphne du Maurier also influenced society with her avoidance of the literary conventions of the time by refusing to align with any particular genre of literature, her use of previously unpopular topics, and her tendency to twist the plot into dark directions.

Although she is often categorized as a “romantic novelist”, she abhorred this term. In the period between the wars, selecting books by genre became the norm and was a way for authors to gain readership, but du Maurier avoided categorizing herself (Light 160). Although romance is an element present in her works, there is also murder, mystery, adventure, suspense, and Gothicism, but “rather than see du Maurier as a writer who ‘crosses genres’, we might see her as one who resists them” (Light 164). In order to create something new that would appeal to the population because of its unique nature, du Maurier includes elements of different genres in her stories but never fully commits to them. Society’s desire for something ‘new’ may have stemmed from their eagerness to escape the harsh reality of the interwar

years.
In du Maurier’s time, critics often disliked her work, but the popularity of her novels and short stories eventually helped change society’s idea of what ‘good’ literature is. During the interwar years, cheaper paperback books became available, resulting in growth of the size and variety of consumers who read. Since the Age of Reason, ‘reason’ and ‘logic’ had been deemed the significant literary elements while ‘romance’ deemed foolish and simple. Thus, critics often read du Maurier’s works, experienced no obvious intellectual stimulation, and dismissed them as ‘cheap and easy’ (Light 161). What modern readers have come to understand is that du Maurier actually worked her intellectual ideas into romantic and suspenseful (i.e. entertaining) circumstances, and that’s why her work was both popular and influential on modern thought.
Du Maurier also avoided literary conventions of her time by including controversial and dark plot points. None of her love stories actually have a happy ending, and she uses psychological thriller elements to disrupt the classic romantic fiction elements (Wisker, “Dangerous” 86). While this tactic may have disappointed and dismayed some readers, her overwhelming popularity with the public is evidence that more people than not found it captivating. The conflicting elements of romance and death in some ways reflect the way their own interwar society faced both relief from the end of WWI and turmoil resulting from the aftereffects. An example of a controversial plot point in du Maurier’s work is in Jamaica Inn, where the true villain is “not the drunken Joss Merlyn but the sober and respectable, and quietly psychopathic priest,” (Light 157). Du Maurier took a risk in encouraging her readers to consider the moral legitimacy of their superiors, particularly of the clergy. Another example of a dissenting plot point is in Rebecca, when the narrator seems to be ‘ruled’ by her servant, Mrs. Danvers. “To reign as mistress of her own home was a position of, albeit limited, power for middleclass women” (Giles 41), and the narrator of Rebecca’s weakness may have influenced more submissive women to take charge of what they could within their household. Through her refusal to align with literary conventions, du Maurier reflected society’s desire to escape the continued unrest of the interwar era and influenced society to reimagine the definition of ‘good’ literature.
Shadows of the past pervade Daphne du Maurier’s writing, and in doing this, she makes visible to the reader the ways in which the course of history has changed the world they live in.

From a young age, she was always interested in history. She and her family often visited Cornwall, a British seaside holiday destination, and she was fascinated by its bountiful history (Shallcross 54). It is said, “the richness and romance of local legends captured her vivid imagination and stimulated her creative powers”, and she was always eager to “listen to the elderly and their stories of forgotten days” (Shallcross 56). It is also Cornwall where Menabilly, a historic estate that du Maurier relished as an adolescent and later purchased, is located. In her book, Letters from Menabilly: Portrait of a Friendship, Oriel Malet, du Maurier’s French pen pal, describes Menabilly as “one of these houses, in which layers of time seemed to have worn thin in places, so that the past now and then showed through”. After her father passed away and her husband was away for months at a time, du Maurier spent much of her time at Menabilly discussing the past with her mother and sisters (Shallcross

50).
Du Maurier wrote stories in both past and present settings, but even in the present settings the backdrop for her stories is often an old and historic, despite her innovative and liberal underlying themes. For example, Manderley, the estate where the majority of the plot takes place in Rebecca, was likely modeled after du Maurier’s beloved Menabilly. Just as real old buildings seem to emanate personality, Manderley itself seems to function as a wise and aged character in the story. Du Maurier’s descriptions of Manderly “use the imagery of the gothic to depict the loss of romantic dreams, and the end of an era of frivolous fantasy and lies,” (Wisker, “Dangerous” 84). Rebecca was published between WWI and WWII, after Britain had suffered great losses and would do so yet again. People of the upper class, particularly, missed the days when their money was enough to distract them from the world’s problems, and du Maurier’s nostalgic writing reflects this sentiment. While, in many ways, her writing was pioneering, du Maurier also included elements of the ‘old-fashioned’ novel. She claimed to have been a very big fan of the Brontë sisters, and by including romance in her adventurous and macabre stories, she “put romance back into the landscape of individualism” (Light 178). While many of her female characters are strong and independent, they are not immune to the pleasures of love, a popular subject in ‘old-fashioned’ novels, and in this way, du Maurier balances her advanced views on femininity with an outmoded subplot. Du Maurier both reflected and influenced her time with her use of history and ‘old-fashioned’ romance elements by creating a contrast between the beautiful but deceptive upper class history and the ugly but truthful present.
In many ways, the contradictions and deceitfulness which Daphne du Maurier’s protagonists face mirror those of her own life, and, by extension her era (Wisker, “Dangerous” 84). Du Maurier’s own notions about 20th century life are expressed through her characters, their various predicaments, and their surroundings. These notions are, in many cases, more akin to questions than criticisms; she wished to both “confirm conventional beliefs and behaviors and to deconstruct them, testing their limits,” (Wisker, “Don’t Look” 23). By exploring gender boundaries, avoiding literary expectations, and incorporating nostalgic glimpses of the past, du Maurier was able to leave an impression on the 20th century that consisted of calling social constructs into question, mitigating interwar disorder through reflection, and encouraging consideration of the ever-metamorphosing western world.