Open Book - Daphne du Maurier

Books and Authors

BBC

Society & Culture, Books

4.2 • 824 Ratings

🗓️ 10 March 2024

⏱️ 28 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

"Last night I dreamt of Manderley again..." begins Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier one of the most well-loved novels of the 20th century. As part of the Daphne du Maurier: Double Exposure season on Radio 4, Open Book looks again at her hugely popular novels to reveal the enduring qualities and appeal of her writing.

From the pirates, smugglers and bewitching Cornish wilds of Jamaica Inn and Frenchman’s Creek, to the gender politics and class commentary of Rebecca and My Cousin Rachel, du Maurier’s reputation as a romance novelist misrepresented the true breadth of her work. Octavia Bright is joined by Olivia Laing, author of The Lonely City, Funny Weather and Crudo; novelist, short story writer and Cornish resident Wyl Menmuir and Dr Laura Varnam of Oxford University, an expert on du Maurier’s life and work, to strip away some of the undermining labels she struggled to shake in her lifetime.

Transcript

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0:00.0	On a winter's night in 1974, a crime took place that would obsess the nation.
0:07.0	It was an extraordinary news story.
0:09.0	The story of an aristocrat, Lord Lucan, who's said to have killed the family Nanny,
0:14.0	mistaking her for his wife, then somehow just disappeared.
0:18.0	One of the great mysteries in English criminal history. We're still looking for Lucan.
0:21.6	It's honestly one of the most powerful stories of my lifetime.
0:25.6	I'm Alex von Tundselman.
0:26.6	This is The Lucan Obsession.
0:28.6	Listen on BBC Sounds.
0:30.6	BBC Sounds, music, radio, podcasts.
0:36.6	Last night I dreamt I went to Mandalay again. ABC Sounds, Music, Radio, Podcasts.
0:41.4	Last night I dreamt I went to Mandalay again.
0:44.4	I was aware of a change from before.
0:48.4	The woods crowded dark and uncontrolled to the drive.
0:53.1	When I saw the grey stones of Mandalay shining in the moonlight of my dream,
0:55.8	I could swear the house lived and breathed as it had done in the old days. And so begins one of the most well-loved novels of the
1:02.2	20th century, Rebecca by Daphne D'Amourier. As part of the Dumorrier double exposure season
1:08.5	on Radio 4, today we'll be looking again at her hugely popular
1:12.5	books to reveal the enduring qualities and appeal of her writing. From the pirates, smugglers and
1:18.6	bewitching Cornish wilds of Jamaica Inn and Frenchman's Creek to the gender politics and class
1:24.0	commentary of Rebecca and my cousin Rachel, Dumorese's reputation as a romance novelist misrepresented the true breadth of her work.
1:32.9	So today, we're going right back to the texts to see what rereading can open up,
	...

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