Customer Reviews

Myself When Young: The Shaping of a Writer

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I sleep with a copy of Rebecca next to my bed - as a young writer I read it every now and then to remind myself of what I'm aiming for; I consider it a perfectly crafted novel, with beautiful writing, a compelling plot, and a character that I strongly identify with. DuMaurier's autobiography does not touch the time when she was writing Rebecca, but rather her life in London, Paris and in Cornwall, England from ages 3 to 25. If I could choose a life, her's would be the one I'd want. This is a must-read for anyone who feels that they have a gift of the written language (sometimes a burden, mostly a drive to do something REALLY BIG).

Du Maurier is the most underrated writer of the 20th century. I am not the only one to write this bold statement. She is certainly not a Joyce or a Sartre, two experimental writer's who have become legends of Modernism...

"May the common reader be damned!" was certainly the catch cry for Modernism in prose; I cannot exactly name who made this claim, but when reading Joyce's "Finnigan's Wake", this text is certainly out of most readers' reach. In Modernism, the reader is invited to take an Active role, a "writerly" mode as oppossed to a "Readerly" mode, that is to say, a passive role, in the task of reading.(Barthes) Chronology was out and Chaos, in some cases, moved centre stage. After WW1, art changed forever - cubism, surrealism, expressionism. Philosophy's like Existentialism and Marxism moved into the intellectual spotlight - Realism was out, named an illusion, a trick, and with the help of psychoanalysis, the imagination, the "unconscious" according to some, was the core of the imagination, and needed to be expressed.

Although Du Maurier was only a child during WW1 and a young adult during WW2, these sweeping movements in "art" did not appear to affect her work in anyway.

She wrote what she knew and did it extremely well.

In this text, written when the author was in her late sixties, constantly refering back to her journals at the time, in her simple and descriptive prose, somehow magically moves the reader to the period; an upper middle class English childhood; an imagination run wild amidst a very regulative life.

We see her grow as a writer, torn between her beloved England and her impressionable years in Paris.

Similar to many writers' I know, writing is a task, writing is work and it requires discipline to sit in front of a blank page everyday and worry, maybe only for a moment, that there is nothing more to say; that you just do not have the ability anymore. Then, you calmly sit down, take a deep breath, and you move into the Zone and simply begin as if on automatic, and before you realize it, five hours have passed.

Daphne had the same fears - everyday!

Du Maurier had that uncanny ability to write "literature" and thoroughly entertain at the same time.

Something that few writers, during this period, could accomplish.

If you have writerly inclinations, it helps to be born rich in a time and place where your first 20-plus years can be almost entirely given over to idleness and leisure pursuits. This is Dame Daphne's account of her life from age four until she married at twenty-five. She wrote it as she was approaching her 70th birthday, drawing from the diaries she kept as a youngster.

If you've enjoyed her novels, you'll appreciate how her early life nurtured that fertile imagination, and you'll also find some tidbits from real life that she incorporated into her fiction. What I found most striking was the way her innocence was sheltered long into her adolescence. At nearly sixteen years of age, she was still keen to act out Robin Hood scenarios in the woods with her sister. She was eighteen before she found out from a school friend what happens between men and women when they're naked, and her response was "what an extraordinary thing for people to want to do!"

Du Maurier's development as a writer wasn't particularly extraordinary until she found her niche. She wrote a lot of bad poetry and struggled with short stories that didn't generate enthusiasm when she submitted them for publication. She remained unfocused and undisciplined in her writing until she was encouraged by a mentor to forget about short stories and just write a novel. She took that advice, and everything changed. She found the focus she'd been lacking and wrote her first novel in ten weeks, followed by two more novels in quick succession.

Daphne's experience may be encouraging for frustrated writers. Find the right medium and you may blossom. If you stink at short stories, try a novel. If you stink at fiction, try nonfiction. (And if you stink at writing, self-publish?)

Based upon a collection of old diaries, Daphne du Maurier looks back in time to provide readers with a picture of who she was as a child and how she developed into both a young woman and successful author.

A compelling read that takes one to another time, it's fascinating to realise that far from being a precocious adolescent, she was a highly intelligent but emotionally immature child living much of her life in her own dream world almost up until her marriage. Definitely a worthwhile read for those who want to learn more about this elusive author.

It's interested peering into the upbringing of this most prolific and admired writer, written straight from the heart and without pretense, and demonstrating how her experiences and family and the places she went helped shape her stories.

While dated it does present a vivid picture of a very privledged youth around 1910/30 in England.Daphne's father Gerald was a famous Actor and the family had a French background which delighted her.Her happiest times were of course, in her beloved Fowey and Cornwall generally.When you have finished read Mgt.Forester's Biography for an insight into this lady.