Daphne du Maurier: Writing, Identity and the Gothic Imagination

by A. Horner, Kenneth J Falconer

Overview

This book is the first full-length evaluation of du Maurier's fiction and the first critical study of du Maurier as a Gothic writer. Using the most recent work in Gothic and gender studies, the authors enter the current debate on the nature of female Gothic and raise questions about du Maurier's relationship to such a tradition. They demonstrate that using recognizable popular forms, she was able to explore through Gothic writing the anxieties of modernity in the kind of fiction many people find accessible. This, they claim, explains the compulsive quality of her best novels and their enduring popularity.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780312211462
Publisher:	Palgrave Macmillan UK
Publication date:	05/14/1998
Edition description:	1998
Pages:	235
Product dimensions:	5.51(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.03(d)

About the Author

Avril Horner is Senior Lecturer in English and Associate Director of European Studies Research Institute at the University of Salford.

Sue Zlosnik is Head of the Department of English at Liverpool Hope University College.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments
• A 'Disembodied Spirit': Writing, Identity and the Gothic Imagination
• Writing, Gender and Anxiety
• Sexuality, Historical Moment and Identity
• Du Maurier and the Gothic: Disembodied Spirits?
• Family Gothic
• Cornish Beginnings: The Loving Spirit
• The 'Split Subject': I'll Never be Young Again
• The 'Other' and the 'Foreign': The Progress of Julius
• Cornish Gothic
• Transgression and Desire: Jamaica Inn
• 'The Boy in the Box': the King's General
• The Secrets of Manderley: Rebecca
• Foreign Affairs
• 'Nightmère': My Cousin Rachel
• The Stranger in the Mirror: The Scapegoat
• Murdering (M)others
• Homecomings: The Flight if the Falcon
• Deaths in Venice: 'Don't Look Now'
• Endword
• Notes and References
• Select Bibliography
• Index

Editorial Reviews

'In this skilful exploration of du Maurier's identity and writing, Avril Horner and Sue Zlosnik weave together analysis of the Gothic mode with historical, geographical and cultural contextualising. Theirs is a consistently illuminating study which moves the reader to a more complex appreciation of the author's work. Never again can du Maurier be dismissed as mere bedtime reading for middle England.' - Mary Eagleton, Principal Lecturer in Literature and Women's Studies, University College of Ripon and York St John

'A series of intricate and subtle readings...a major and timely reworking of du Maurier's fiction, which also raises fascinating questions about the persistence of the Gothic imagination.' - David Punter, Professor of English Studies, University of Stirling

'Well written and compellingly argued, Avril Horner and Sue Zlosnik use various perspectives offered by feminist and other recent critical methods to highlight just what it is that makes du Maurier so interesting. Importantly, they demonstrate that Gothic overtones are not merely formulas, but vital resources that du Maurier used with considerable creativity to work out her own anxieties as a woman and a writer.' - Anne Williams, Professor of English, University of Georgia

'A well-written and accessible study...offering an informed and consistently interesting reading of this under-valued writer's work.' - Gothic Studies

From the Publisher