Daphne Du Maurier

(1907 –1989)

www.guardian.co.uk/.../dontgetcarriedawayaboutdu

Chronology

1907

Daphne du Maurier was born in London, England, in 1907. The du Mauriers were a privileged and prosperous family. Her father, Gerald, was a well-known actor and theater manager whose own father, George, had been an artist and a writer. Her mother, Muriel Beaumont, was an actress until the birth of her third child in 1911. Du Maurier had both an older sister, Angela, and a younger sister, Jeanne.

1911

Daphne’s younger sister, Jeanne, born.

1925

Du Maurier herself began writing during her adolescence as a way to escape reality and in the process discovered more about her and what she wanted in life. At the age of 18, she completed her first work, a collection of 15 short stories entitled The Seekers. Du Maurier left England to attend finishing school at Camposena, a village near Meudon, outside of Paris, France.

1926

The du Mauriers purchased a vacation home called Ferryside in the town of Fowey, a harbor town on the rocky southwestern coast of Cornwall, England.

1929

She was 22 when she published her first short story, And Now to God the Father, in the Bystander magazine.

1931

Her first novel, The Loving Spirit, was published in 1931. (The title was inspired by lines from an Emily Brontë poem.) The book's success finally made it possible for her to gain financial independence from her family.

1932

Frederick Arthur Montague Browning, a member of the Grenadier Guards, gets married with Daphne du Maurier in July 19, 1932 in the Lanteglos Church near Fowey. In true romantic fashion, the new Mr. and Mrs. Browning then set off in the Ygdrasil to begin their life together.

Also in 1932, du Maurier published her second novel; I'll Never Be Young Again.

1933

Another novel, The Progress of Julius, followed in 1933. A little over a year after her marriage, du Maurier gave birth to her first child, a daughter named Tessa.

1934

Gerald du Maurier's death from colon cancer in 1934 and his daughter wrote his biography, Gerald, which proved to be very successful upon its publication later that same year.

1936

It has place the publication of a new novel, Jamaica Inn. Du Maurier sailed to Alexandria, Egypt, to join her husband at his new post, but she hated it and ended up returning to England in January 1937.

1937

She gave birth to her second daughter, Flavia, in April of 1937. That same year, du Maurier published a biographical work on her famous family entitled simply The du Mauriers.

1938

Publication of du Maurier's most acclaimed novel, Rebecca.

1940

On November 3, 1940, du Maurier gave birth to a son, Christian. Du Maurier's own stage adaptation of her novel Rebecca into a play. She published a short story called Happy Christmas and also a short story collection: Come Wind, Come Weather.

1941

Publication of the historical novel, Frenchman's Creek.

1943

Another one of her fondest wishes came true in 1943 when she finally signed a lease on her beloved Menabilly. Du Maurier publishes Hungry Hill.

1945

The Years Between (play).

1946

The King's General.

1948

September Tide (play).

1949

The Parasites.

1951

My Cousin Rachel. And also: The Young George du Maurier.

1952

The Apple Tree (short story collection)

1954

Mary Anne.

1957

The Scapegoat.

1959

Early Stories (short story collection, stories written between 1927–1930).

The Breaking Point (1959) (short story collection).

1960

The Infernal World of Branwell Brontë.

1961

Castle Dor.

1963

The Birds and Other Stories. And also: The Glass-Blowers.

1965

The Flight of the Falcon.

1967

Du Maurier branched out into yet another genre when she and her son collaborated on a travel book about the Cornish countryside entitled Vanishing Cornwall. It featured du Maurier's text accompanied by Christian Browning's photographs. Vanishing Cornwall (a non-fiction publication).

1969

She remained at Menabilly for more than 25 years until she was forced to vacate the estate in 1969 when her landlord decided he wanted to live there instead. Du Maurier then settled nearby at Kilmarth, a seaside home in the village of Par. The House on the Strand (a short novel)

1971

Browning made a film of their joint effort that also proved to be a great success. Not After Midnight (short story collection).

1972

Rule Britannia.

1975

Golden Lads.

1976

The Winding Stairs.

1977

Growing Pains—the Shaping of a Writer (From Myself When Young—the Shaping of a Writer).

1980

Du Maurier spent her later years walking, traveling, and writing. She eventually lost her appetite for life after her creativity and imagination began to fail her. By the late 1980s her health had declined to the point that she required nursing care. "The Rendezvous and Other Stories" (short story collection).

1989

Daphne Du Maurier died in her sleep at the age of 81 at her home in Par. Enchanted Cornwall appeared completed shortly before Daphne du Maurier's death.

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Academic year 2008/2009
© a.r.e.a./Dr.Vicente Forés López
© Sara de Julián Ponce
Universitat de València Press
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