FAMOUS WOMAN NOVELIST OF 20th CENTURY-- DAPHNE DU MARRIER

DAPHNE DU MAURIER, THE GREAT WOMAN NOVELIST

A majority of the English-speaking and reading public would have read or heard about a number of woman writers all over the world and of their talent in attracting the interest of the reader irrespective of the language they choose to write. A great many have succeeded in being nominated to such prestigious awards such as Booker Prize, Nobel Peace Prize and such other titles. The British authoress, Daphne Du Maurier by her writing had created such a sort of sensation and excitement among the public that one who is initiated to start reading her work is so spellbound that he will not stop till the end.

Whether it is a sort of supernatural mystery woven into the fabric of narration or her mode of presentation and word play, sure it is bound to cast a magic spell on the reader and make him or her a permanent member of her fan club! Her famous novels like the ‘Rebecca’, ‘Scape Goat’, or any other such work, they all carry a wonderful web of curiosity along with continuous run of the story, all stops removed as it were. It reminds me of an express train driven by an engine that has lost control of the breaks and is running fast never to stop at any signal as they become irrelevant!

In her novel ‘SCAPE GOAT, here is an English worn out professor John Baratt on a trip to France presumably to regain a part of his spent life happens to find a double-an French citizen -Jean- exactly like himself in a railway station. Their resemblance to each other is uncanny, and they spend the next few hours talking and drinking – until at last John falls into a drunken stupor. It’s to be his last carefree moment, for when he wakes, Jean has stolen his purse and identity and disappeared. So the Englishman with no other alternative, steps into the Frenchman’s shoes and proceeds to Jean’s rural home. Capable of speaking French, faces a variety of perplexing roles – as owner of a chateau, director of a failing business, head of a fractious family and a husband, sidestepping an amorous in-law and in real fact master of nothing but carrying a variety of things bought by his counterpart to the family members. The experiences and strange conversations with no full information at hand about the people there – bitter at times and entertaining on occasions all make a frightful experience. After a period of time how he gets away atlast from this bitter situation makes the reading more and more suspenseful and a thirst for more and more of this mystery. She handles the strange story with convincing reality -with a personal touch as it were- with so many personalities involved. It was made into a successful film(1959) with Alec Guiness, Pamela Brown and others.

‘REBECCA is another master stroke of a novel. An ordinary housemaid is driven into the seat and place of a rich countess, wife of an somewhat egocentric, mysterious count who could be a father figure by age. As the story unfolds with the dialogue as he languidly smoking a cigarette says, it would not matter if he calls her ‘my child’ and he shall sweep her off her young, impressionable feet with his aristocratic hauteur and studied melancholia.”Oh, thank you, Daddy,” she would say, her heart soaring with passion. In reply, he preferred her to call him Maxim and feels she is very different from all the others and wanted to marry her, and after honeymooning in Venice shall return to Manderley. The staff lined up outside the front door as they motored out, all the staff would bid her“Good-day, Mrs de Winter”! So much for a sudden change of status! Unsmiling Mrs Danvers at that time-–what a picture she presented!.So, the story proceeds

As the story opens up, the reader is ushered into an isolated gray stone mansion on the windswept Cornish coast, where De Winter as the second Mrs. Maxim de Winter recalls the chilling events that transpired as she began her new life –an young bride of an older husband she barely knew. For in every corner of every room were phantoms of a time dead but not forgotten—a past devotedly preserved by the sinister housekeeper, Mrs. Danvers: a suite immaculate and untouched, clothing laid out and ready to be worn, but not by any of the great house’s current occupants. With an eerie presentiment of evil tightening her heart, the second Mrs. de Winter walked in the shadow of her mysterious predecessor, determined to uncover the darkest secrets and shattering truths about Maxim’s first wife—the late and hauntingly beautiful Rebecca. The reader is driven to complete reading non-stop with such force that he experiences the same effect as of an Alfred Hitchcock’s suspenseful movie.

Many of her other writings such as “JAMAICA INN”, “DON’T LOOK NOW”, “KING’S GENERAL”, “LOVING SPIRIT”, “MY COUSIN RACHEL”, “FRENCHMAN’S CREEK”, “BIRDS”-this last one was made into an exciting film by famous mystery film producer Alfred Hitchcock- and many more all carry her stamp of authority in style, content and theme which cannot be imitated besides the art of attracting readers of all tastes and regions world over. She was born in London on 13th May 1907 as the daughter of Sir, Gerald Du Maurier, actor-manager and mother Muriel Beaumont an actress, married to a Frederick Browning in 1932, got three daughters. She was honoured by the Queen as ‘DAME OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE’. She was an avid reader of R.L.Stevenson, Walter Scott, Guy De Mupasant, Somerset Maugham, W.M.Thackery and others. She had private schooling in her childhood and later finishing school at a village in France. Started writing at the age of eighteen. Died in Fowey, U.K., at the ripe age of 82 years leaving to the world unforgettable novels and books. There is a society of her name by her fan club.