| Description | This collection of papers consists of a number of edited typescripts of Daphne du Maurier's published works as edited by Sheila Hodges. The following typescripts are contained (they are mainly du Maurier originals):
'Golden Lads' (1946), 'The Scapegoat' (1957), 'The Flight of the Falcon' (1963), 'The Infernal World of Branwell Bronte' (1966), 'Vanishing Cornwall' (1967), 'The House on the Strand' (1969), stories from 'Not After Midnight' (1971) (later published as 'Don't Look Now'), 'The Winding Stair' (1976), 'Growing Pains' (1977) (later published as 'Myself When Young') and 'The Rebecca Notebook' (1981). Also included is a copy of a journal article by Sheila Hodges on her editorial collaboration with Daphne du Maurier.
Almost all of the typescripts have been annotated in pen by du Maurier, and in pencil by her editor Hodges.
Additional papers in the form of bound annotated photocopies of letters from Du Maurier to Leo Walmsley, novelist (1892-1966), c 1932-1948 were added to the collection in 2002. |
| Admin History | Sheila Hodges joined the publishing firm of Victor Gollancz in 1936, becoming Assistant Managing Director in 1943 to take charge of the editorial department. Taking over from Daphne du Maurier's previous editor who had been called up during the war, she edited the works of Daphne du Maurier over a period spanning nearly forty years from 1943-1981. Even from the start of this collaboration, du Maurier was already well-established as a world-famous writer and had published six novels and two biographies. Leaving Gollancz in 1953, Hodges continued to work as a freelance editor and reader for Gollancz and other publishing houses. Author of eight published works herself, these include a biography of the Mozartian librettist Lorenzo Da Ponte and histories of Gollancz and Dulwich College. She has also contributed articles to the 'Women's History Review', 'Opera Quarterly' and 'Music Review'.
Daphne du Maurier (1907-1989) was the daughter of the actor Sir Gerald Du Maurier (1873-1934), and his wife Muriel, and the granddaughter of the artist and novelist George Louis Palmella Busson du Maurier (1834-1896). She grew up in Cumberland Terrace, London, and Cannon Hall, Hampstead, but the family developed strong links with Cornwall after buying a riverside house near Fowey, and it was in Cornwall that Daphne settled. She began publishing stories and articles in 1928; her first novel, 'The Loving Spirit', was published in 1931 by Heineman. There followed 'The Progress of Julius' (Heineman, 1933) and 'Gerald, a portrait' (Gollancz, 1934) before her first enduring success, 'Jamaica Inn', which was published by Gollancz in 1936. Two years later she published her most significant and best-loved novel, 'Rebecca'. Besides these she published a number of other novels, short-stories and biographical portraits, blending history and literary art in some, while developing her own unique vision of the macabre in others. She published one volume of autobiography, 'Growing Pains', about her early life in 1977. Du Maurier used both male and female narrators in her novels and her works often explored themes around gender and sexuality. Until the age of 15, Daphne du Maurier had a male alter ego, 'Eric Avon' (see 'Growing Pains: The Shaping of a Writer', p. 59) and she often spoke privately about having a masculine side to her personality (see M. Forster, 'Daphne du Maurier, p. 222). During her life, du Maurier experienced attraction to both men and women, but she never spoke or wrote publicly about her own sexual identity. In 1932, she married Frederick A M Browning, later Lieutenant-General Sir Frederick (d 1965); they had one son and two daughters. |