{"id":855,"date":"2021-10-14T00:41:20","date_gmt":"2021-10-14T04:41:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/403lit\/?p=855"},"modified":"2021-10-14T00:41:20","modified_gmt":"2021-10-14T04:41:20","slug":"daphne-du-maurier-biography","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/403lit\/2021\/10\/14\/daphne-du-maurier-biography\/","title":{"rendered":"Daphne du Maurier Biography"},"content":{"rendered":"

I\u2019m writing a biography about Daphne du Maurier because I really enjoyed her novel Rebecca<\/em>, which I read a few years ago.\u00a0 It\u2019s so rich with complex questions about gender, personal relationships, identity and the self.\u00a0 I\u2019m considering using this as my primary text perhaps alongside another one of her works, such as The Scapegoat <\/em>or My Cousin Rachel.\u00a0 <\/em>I\u2019m trying to work through these other primary texts to help me decide.<\/p>\n

Daphne du Maurier was born in 1907 in Regent\u2019s Park, London to an actress and actor-manager, growing up surrounded by art and theater.\u00a0 With their governesses, she grew up with her two sisters \u201cbound together in a world of the imagination, stories and fantasy\u201d, which greatly influenced her creative career (\u201cDaphne\u201d).\u00a0 Her works often depict romantic narratives set in the wild coast of Cornwall, a place she developed an intense passion for due to years spent at their country home during family holidays (\u201cDaphne\u201d).\u00a0 While her work is often classified as romance, she is considered \u201c\u2018the mistress of suspense\u2019\u201d and much of her works illustrate gothic undertones (\u201cDaphne du\u201d).\u00a0 Maurier met her husband Lieutenant-Colonel Frederick Browning when he sailed to London to meet her after reading her debut novel The Loving Spirit<\/em>; they were married for 33 years(\u201cDaphne du\u201d).\u00a0 Allegedly, their marriage dealt with difficulties \u201cbecause of Daphne du Maurier\u2019s secret bisexuality however she denied this fact\u201d (\u201cDaphne du\u201d).\u00a0 Questions in her own sexuality could perhaps coincide with Maurier\u2019s continuous emphasis on the identity and the self in her works.\u00a0 She often wrote about marital problems and the type of psychological stress that caused.\u00a0 Rebecca, <\/em>written in 1938, was inspired by the marital difficulties she faced with Browning during the war as a wife of an active member of the military; much like the protagonist of Rebecca, <\/em>Maurier felt jealous of her husband\u2019s former fianc\u00e9e while living there in Egypt (\u201cDaphne\u201d).\u00a0 Additionally, she had a difficult relationship with her father, which publicly arose in her biography of him entitled Gerald: A Portrait <\/em>(\u201cDaphne\u201d). \u00a0Daphne du Maurier\u2019s literary talents spanned a wide variety as she wrote novels, short stories, biographies, and plays.\u00a0 She had three children with Frederick Browning and died in Cornwall in 1989 at the age of 81.<\/p>\n

\u201cDaphne du Maurier.\u201d British Library, <\/em>https:\/\/www.bl.uk\/people\/daphne-du-maurier<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cDaphne du Maurier.\u201d Famous Authors, <\/em>https:\/\/www.famousauthors.org\/daphne-du-maurier<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I\u2019m writing a biography about Daphne du Maurier because I really enjoyed her novel Rebecca, which I read a few years ago.\u00a0 It\u2019s so rich with complex questions about gender, personal relationships, identity and the self.\u00a0 I\u2019m considering using this as my primary text perhaps alongside another one of her works, such as The Scapegoat … Continue reading Daphne du Maurier Biography<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3893,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[145909],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-855","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-2021-blog-posts"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/403lit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/855","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/403lit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/403lit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/403lit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3893"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/403lit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=855"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/403lit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/855\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/403lit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=855"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/403lit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=855"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/403lit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=855"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}