Rediscovering Three Short Stories by Daphne du Maurier: “Terror,” “A Man of Straw,” and “Portrait of an Actress”
Three of Daphne du Maurier’s early stories, published in The Bystander (1928-1929) and in The Saturday Review (1931) but never anthologised or reprinted ever since, are discussed for the first time in this article. First, by comparing du Maurier’s autobiography and one of her notebooks, this article...
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| Pubblicato in: | URI:https://journals.openedition.org/jsse, |
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| Autore principale: | |
| Natura: | Article ou chapitre numérique |
| Lingua: | Anglais |
| Pubblicazione: |
Journal of the Short Story in English
2023
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| Accesso online: | Accès Université d'Orléans et IFPM |
| Riassunto: | Three of Daphne du Maurier’s early stories, published in The Bystander (1928-1929) and in The Saturday Review (1931) but never anthologised or reprinted ever since, are discussed for the first time in this article. First, by comparing du Maurier’s autobiography and one of her notebooks, this article establishes that the titles of two of them (“Terror” and “Portrait of an Actress”) were already known to the general public whereas the third is only mentioned in du Maurier’s notebook, under a different name. It is then argued that, although penned early on in her career, “A Man of Straw” pitilessly deconstructs masculinity to lay bare the senseless vacuum on which a phallocratic and patriarchal society is built. Finally, “Terror” and “Portrait of an Actress” are presented as stories in which du Maurier is able not only to express unsentimental views on the artificiality of human interactions but also to show the difficulty of relating to one’s body and of voicing one’s emotions. |
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