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jazzy_daveDaphne Du Maurier "The Doll: Short Stories" (Virago)
I’d only read one of du Maurier’s stories (“The Birds,” which I loved) before reading this collection, which I’ve seen some readers classify as lesser du Maurier. If these are her less successful stories, I’m excited to dig into her best ones!
Best known for "Rebecca" and "Jamaica Inn", most of the 13 stories in this collection were published either in the 1920s and 1930s in various magazines and anthologies or in the 1955 collection Early Stories. All were written before du Maurier was 23 years old, and her potential as a storyteller is present in each and every story.
All of these stories have some sort of dark element at their core. Sometimes the darkness is in the form of a nasty twist at the end, as in the opening story “The East Wind” in which a temporary madness overtakes a seaside village. At other times, the main character is shown to be unaware of the potential disasters around them ("Tame Cat"). And then there are the characters who aren’t what they seem ("And Now to God the Father"). Sometimes the darkness has a comic twist ("Frustration").
Perhaps the oddest story in the collection is the title story. The revelation on which this story turns is excessively strange, but what interested me about it is what the secret he discovers represents. The horror here is not in what he learned, perhaps, but in two ideas: (1) That a woman can be utterly self-sufficient, not needing a man and (2) That a woman can have a strong sex drive. Which of these facts sent the narrator over the edge?
Although there were aspects of every story that I liked, a couple of them stand out as less successful. “The Happy Valley” is underdeveloped. “The Limpet” is sometimes wickedly funny, but it goes on too long.
I’d only read one of du Maurier’s stories (“The Birds,” which I loved) before reading this collection, which I’ve seen some readers classify as lesser du Maurier. If these are her less successful stories, I’m excited to dig into her best ones!
Best known for "Rebecca" and "Jamaica Inn", most of the 13 stories in this collection were published either in the 1920s and 1930s in various magazines and anthologies or in the 1955 collection Early Stories. All were written before du Maurier was 23 years old, and her potential as a storyteller is present in each and every story.
All of these stories have some sort of dark element at their core. Sometimes the darkness is in the form of a nasty twist at the end, as in the opening story “The East Wind” in which a temporary madness overtakes a seaside village. At other times, the main character is shown to be unaware of the potential disasters around them ("Tame Cat"). And then there are the characters who aren’t what they seem ("And Now to God the Father"). Sometimes the darkness has a comic twist ("Frustration").
Perhaps the oddest story in the collection is the title story. The revelation on which this story turns is excessively strange, but what interested me about it is what the secret he discovers represents. The horror here is not in what he learned, perhaps, but in two ideas: (1) That a woman can be utterly self-sufficient, not needing a man and (2) That a woman can have a strong sex drive. Which of these facts sent the narrator over the edge?
Although there were aspects of every story that I liked, a couple of them stand out as less successful. “The Happy Valley” is underdeveloped. “The Limpet” is sometimes wickedly funny, but it goes on too long.
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