How to Read Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier (Introductory Lecture)
Added 2025-09-21 21:20:28 +0000 UTC'Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again.'
It’s time to begin our journey into the heart of Daphne du Maurier's dark gothic bestseller: Rebecca.
Our reading will teach us about possessive jealousy, hauntings of the past, the evolution of gothic literature, the rise of the bestseller, the interwar years, identity, memory, class, marriage, women in the modern world, the human condition, and much more.
Today we’re meeting Daphne du Maurier together, contextualising her life, the modern era, and the history of the gothic genre, with a spoiler-free discussion, in order to elevate our appreciation of one of the most iconic works of 20th century British Gothic Literature.
Video Timestamps:
0:00 ‘last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again’
1:30 Daphne du Maurier’s Rebecca spoiler-free talk
2:30 book club autumn lecture series for Rebecca
3:00 meeting the author Daphne du Maurier
5:00 when writers fall in love with a locale
6:00 growing up in the du Maurier family
7:00 Daphne’s trauma and identity crisis
8:00 portrait of the artist as a young woman
9:00 writing in the 1920s Paris cafe culture
10:00 leaving the Victorian era behind
11:00 landmark era for women’s rights
12:00 Victorian to Edwardian to Modern
14:00 birth of Modernism out of WWI
16:00 channeling trauma into great art
18:00 Daphne du Maurier’s Cornwall
20:00 Cornish myths, legends, folklore
21:00 a shipwreck inspires her first story
22:00 Daphne du Maurier’s Jamaica Inn
23:00 Menabilly, the real life Manderley
24:00 how Daphne met husband Tommy
25:00 real life romantic jealousy of the past
26:00 letters from her husband’s ex-fiancée
27:00 haunted by the ghost of her father
28:00 the marriage of Daphne du Maurier
29:00 trauma from the First World War
30:00 Daphne’s struggles with motherhood
31:00 the challenge of being the breadwinner
32:00 Daphne du Maurier in Alexandria
33:00 what inspired the novel Rebecca?
34:00 feeling of homesickness in Rebecca
35:00 the destruction of the first draft
36:00 Alfred Hitchcock’s film adaptations
37:00 Daphne du Maurier on writing
38:00 the double life of Daphne du Maurier
40:00 Rebecca during the Interwar Years
41:00 looming threat of Second World War
42:00 Britain enters World War Two
43:00 carrying the scars of two world wars
44:00 Daphne du Maurier during WWII
45:00 crisis of faith in the 20th century
46:00 Daphne du Maurier’s The Birds
47:00 Rebecca and the Gothic tradition
48:00 was Daphne du Maurier a Modernist?
49:00 what does gothic literature mean?
50:00 formulation for unlocking the gothic
52:00 French Revolution and gothic evolution
54:00 Gothic as corrupted quest romance
55:00 structural definition of romance
57:00 rebirth, renewal and reunion
58:00 heroines at the centre of the gothic
1:00:00 gothic as male or female fantasy?
1:02:00 the byronic anti-hero archetype
1:04:00 brooding Maxim de Winter
1:05:00 on the rise of women writers
1:06:00 gothic and the rise of the novel
1:08:00 sublime terror in the gothic
1:09:00 difference in terror vs horror
1:10:00 why do we love the sublime?
1:11:00 the war of realism vs romance
1:13:00 gothic literature as political force
1:14:00 proto-feminist critique in the gothic
1:15:00 historical skewed marital rights
1:17:00 woman defined in relation to man
1:18:00 Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre
1:20:00 Sally Beauman on Rebecca
1:22:00 gothic as eternally popular literature
1:23:00 the threat feared becomes internal
1:25:00 identity crisis at the heart of Rebecca
1:26:00 the story of du Maurier’s Rebecca
1:28:00 the narrator’s possessive jealousy
1:29:00 marriage in modern gothic novels
1:30:00 Manderley as masculine metaphor
1:31:00 the two Mrs de Winter characters
1:32:00 the dominating presence of the book
1:33:00 reading as dreaming whilst awake
1:34:00 complex persona put into both women
1:35:00 what does being possessed mean?
1:36:00 haunting means returning home
1:37:00 how Rebecca became a bestseller
1:39:00 is du Maurier really a romance writer?
1:40:00 Daphne du Maurier vs the critics
1:41:00 why I reread Rebecca every few years
1:42:00 Rebecca book club lecture series
Recommended Resources:
Editions: I am working from the Virago Modern Classics paperback for our read-through, which is also available in hardback, and has a thought-provoking afterword by Sally Beauman. There is also a beautiful edition from Everyman's Library. One of my favourite copies of the book is an old battered and well-loved Penguin paperback with a wonderful cover. There are plenty of editions to choose from, so grab whatever comes most easily to hand for you. And, for fellow audiobook lovers, Anna Massey and Harriet Walter have wonderful narrations on Audible. I'm also a huge fan of the abridged Talking Classics version, read by Jenny Agutter and Simon Williams.
Film & TV Adaptations: There are two major film adaptations that you will want to note. You've got the classic black-and-white 1940 Alfred Hitchcock masterpiece, starring Joan Fontaine and Laurence Olivier, which helped further propel Daphne du Maurier to superstardom. Then there's the more recent stunning 2020 film on Netflix, which has a very glossy production value. There are adaptation for television too, like the excellent BBC miniseries from 1979 and the 1997 series. All of these adaptations take different approaches into Dame du Maurier's great novel. My recommendation is to hold off on watching an adaptation until you've finished the book. Whilst reading, think about how you would adapt Rebecca to the screen. What directorial decisions would you make? We'll talk about the film adaptations together when we reach the climax of the story. Instead of watching an adaptation of Rebecca from the outset, you might enjoy watching another of her stories brought to life on screen instead. Hitchcock also adapted The Birds and Jamaica Inn. Nicholas Roeg directed a great adaptation of one of du Maurier's short stories with the 1979 film Don't Look Now.
Biography: There is an excellent biography of Daphne du Maurier by Margaret Forster, which is well worth dipping into. Forster has done a tremendous job researching the writer's private letters and papers to explore the secret drama of her personal life. If you're interested in knowing about du Maurier's life and craft in her own words, Virago has put together a work based on her personal diaries kept from 1920-1931, called Myself When Young: The Shaping of a Writer, and also The Rebecca Notebook.
Short Stories: Daphne du Maurier is a superb short story writer. Her stories offer us some of her darkest stories and make for perfect reading during the autumnal season. The Birds, and Other Stories and Don't Look Now are excellent volumes to have with a wonderful selection of some of her finest works in the mode.
Spoilers: This introductory talk is a spoiler-free discussion, designed for first-time readers and rereaders of Rebecca alike, mentioning only the plot details that one finds on the back cover of the book and things we learn early on. I will be refraining from spoilers for later in the story as we move through each lecture, focusing only on the events of the chapters up for discussion. If you're a rereader of this phenomenal novel, I ask that we make efforts to protect the secrets of the story for first-time readers. Unlike with Homer's Odyssey, the air of mystery shrouding Rebecca is a profound part of one's first engagement with the work.
Reading Assignment:
Our next discussion will cover events from chapter one up to and including chapter ten of the story, which will take us from Monte Carlo to the famed Manderley.
So start making your way into the work, enter the world of Daphne du Maurier, meet her complex characters, and note down any themes, ideas, or passages that personally resonate with you.
Questions for You:
1) What is your current relationship with Daphne du Maurier? Is this your first reading or a rereading of this great story?
2) What are you hoping to get out of your deep reading of Rebecca?
3) What themes from your wider reading would you like to pull into this journey?
4) Are you a fan of dark gothic narratives? And why do you think gothic stories are so popular with readers?
Happy reading, everybody!
Comments
I have recently watched this interesting presentation and discussion from the British Library about Daphne du Maurier’s short stories. Enjoyable and engaging but just a caution about occasional plot spoilers too, so be prepared! https://youtu.be/66nkdkKWMic?si=K8Vzhdtig6k0rVj5
Josie Swallow
2026-02-05 11:12:33 +0000 UTCIt has been over 30 years since I read Rebecca I consider this a first read. I watched the original movie and am finishing first 10 chapters. I am very interested in learning more about Daphne. Thank you for your incredible work and preparation. I feel fortunate to be a participant
Elizabeth Kamras
2026-02-01 02:21:41 +0000 UTCI also had thoughts of Scarlet O'Hara. if Rebecca had appeared in the film version, no-one but Vivienne Leigh could have played her.
Shelley
2026-01-12 13:11:14 +0000 UTCFirst read of de Maurier so I am excited to get into it. I’m a little behind the real time lectures but not by much. Thank you Benjamin!
Leigh Coop
2025-10-27 17:43:16 +0000 UTCI loved the comment by Maryann Dawson who references to the wind. And building on that my experience with Rebecca is primarily sensory- smell for example and the musty air in rooms or the scent of flowers. Sound of the sea and the changing sky with its mists. There is definitely psychological tension but it’s not for me anyway the murder, rather the way the narrator absents her identity . Let’s call her Ms No Name who plays with the reader’s sympathy- a very young woman who is preyed on by a much older man - and who becomes devoted to him i in n a chilling manner. Ms No Name becomes Mrs de Winter No 2 and she reminds us of the loyalty that Danny (Mrs Danvers) gives to the first Mrs de Winter
Dr Jenny
2025-10-15 10:53:57 +0000 UTCI’ve appreciated this novel’s beauty and suspense more on my second read. Heading to the movie theater today to watch Hitchcock’s 1940 movie of Rebecca starring Laurence Olivier and Joan Fontaine!
Lisa Vehe
2025-10-12 17:49:40 +0000 UTCI first read Rebecca when I was 14 at the prompting of my school librarian and my mother who read it when it was first published. As a 14 year old i was drawn on by the story and the romance. I was impervious to the nuances of imagery and character development. If a mousy young woman could attract a mysterious hearthrob like Maxim de Winter there was hope for me! Rebecca and Daphne du Maurier remained part of my adult life until my forties and i reread the book at different stages and watched each of the TV and film adaptations as they came out. I read many of Daphne du Maurier's books and loved them all. When I went to England at the age of 21, I dragged my boyfriend to Bodmin Moor so we could have a drink at Jamaica Inn (he was very patient, he also endured breathless pilgrimages to Tintern Abbey and Stratford Upon Avon). Then surprisingly when I was in my forties I went off Rebecca, prompted largely by a radio interview where a feminist commentator dismissed it as being unsuitable for anyone but teenaged girls and even for them it was not empowering and should be kept away from them. I remember her critique being fueled in part by Maxim's charming proposal; "I'm asking you to marry me, you little fool". Thank goodness for the wisdom that comes with age and for Benjamin McEvoy. I treated myself to a beautiful new hardbacked copy which has the swirling capital R from Rebecca's linen on the cover and am loving every moment that I can snatch (we're moving house) to read it. Just a couple of observations because this post is becoming overlong. I am noticing many references to the wind from stormy winds to light breezes and at one point the phrase "gone with the wind" is used. That prompted thoughts about Rebecca and possible similarities to Scarlet O'Hara as a character. The other striking piece of imagery for me is the differences between the foreboding blood red rhododendrons around the house and drive and the gentle colours and scent of the azaleas and rhododendrons in Happy Valley. There is so much more and I'm so happy to have this book restored to my love and affection for it. I'm hoping that there will be discussions around feminist discourse about Rebecca. Cogratualtions on your baby daughter, Benjamin. She looks lovely and as another commenter said, take the time to enjoy and wonder at her.
Maryan Dawson
2025-10-11 22:45:33 +0000 UTCAfter Rebecca, I feel a Bronte Sisters re-read coming on. Though with Halloween approaching, Shirley Jackson too!
Yoknapatawpha
2025-10-10 04:39:59 +0000 UTCI agree with you! Love the book, the storytelling. Looking forward to reading the stories in After Midnight. Maybe this weekend...
Yoknapatawpha
2025-10-09 20:15:15 +0000 UTCI just found this! Full series! Jeremy Brett as Maxim de Winter Joanna David as Mrs de Winter Anna Massey as Mrs Danvers https://youtu.be/lBcP5sJY5EY?si=t9hQAPhNjmoEZHHb
Clement Lee
2025-10-09 18:07:28 +0000 UTCUpdate: I have finished my first read of Rebecca and I am at once bursting with thoughts and left with my mind completely blank following the read. I loved it! Truly. I did not expect to enjoy it as much as I did, but it has cemented my love for the gothic novel even more. It may well become one of my autumnal moody reads. I still hold that the imagery in the novel was absolutely captivating. Every image was extremely clear and crisp in my mind as I read. The descriptions reminded me of the scene in The Master and Margarite where Homeless was in the asylum during the rainstorm; sublime as Ben would say. I felt a very strange kinship with our narrator here. She so vociferous in her own mind, playing out scenarios step by step to the point of mock reenactment at times; thoughts so loud they may as well have been spoken. I'm learning a bit about this genre as well. Our heroine, as it were, was not always so or at least she was unaware that she was so. It's a reminder of how a single moment; one instant can fundamentally change who we are from that point on. Let it always be for the better.
Ashley August
2025-10-09 15:48:55 +0000 UTChttps://youtu.be/gToj6SLWz8Q?si=IcUBSXuXHQTVmMtv I was intrigued by the poem that Rebecca reads add the end of the brilliant Chapter 4 and did a little research. It is called ‘The Hound of Heaven’ by Francis Thompson (1893) and above is a tremendous reading by Richard Burton.
Jonathon Glover
2025-10-09 10:18:01 +0000 UTC
