Less than a week now until my Zoom discussion on two stories by Daphne du Maurier on Wednesday, January 29, for the Center for Fiction. I’ve been re-reading both stories (of course) and delving into some more research for context in prep for our conversation—discovering new things myself from the last time I taught these stories! Here’s the full write-up from the Center for Fiction about the event:
Daphne du Maurier’s short stories “The Birds” and “Don’t Look Now” are better known through their successful film adaptations, directed by Alfred Hitchcock and Nicholas Roeg, respectively. But the original texts are among the author’s most inventive and thrilling, and are evidence of how du Maurier’s short stories challenged her reputation as a writer of romantic and historical novels and moved into the worlds of horror, speculative fiction, and psychological suspense. Uncanny and perhaps unknowable threats, the menacing aspects of place and space, and ominous endings—these elements are hallmarks of both stories, though each twists them in unique ways.