閱讀達夫妮·杜穆裏埃 Daphne du Maurier在小说之家的作品!!! | |||
达夫妮·杜穆里埃達夫妮·杜穆裏埃-生平
達夫妮·杜穆裏埃出身書香門第、藝術世傢，祖父喬治•杜穆裏埃也是小說傢和插圖畫傢。祖父的這一經歷對達夫妮産生強烈影響，使她終生從事文學創作，並養成為文學特別是為小說作品畫插圖的習慣。父親傑拉爾德•杜穆裏埃爵士是著名演員，並從事演出經紀人的職業，在這樣的家庭裏，杜穆裏埃自幼受到了藝術的熏陶。戲劇對達夫妮的影響也是顯而易見的，她的小說註重情節和人物性格的刻畫，具有引人入勝的戲劇性。達夫妮•杜穆裏埃開始在倫敦受教育，後到巴黎求學。她聰明博學，極有文學天賦，1931年她創作出了她的第一部長篇小說《可愛的精神》，在文壇上嶄露頭角。1938年出版了《呂蓓卡》(Rebecca)，國內又譯為《蝴蝶夢》。這部小說使她名噪全球，躋身於世界當代有影響的作傢之林。《牙買加客棧》是她1935年的作品，也是她的代表作之一。她發表的一係列哥特式浪漫主義作品均以她的家乡康沃爾郡海岸為背景。她還寫過一部歷史小說和幾個劇本。《牙買加客棧》和《蝴蝶夢》分別於1939年和1940年被搬上銀幕。雖然《牙買加客棧》在英國上演時引起了不小的轟動，但《蝴蝶夢》的成功則更加輝煌。杜穆裏埃於1969年被授予英帝國女爵士勳位。
達夫妮•杜穆裏埃對於資産階級工業革命帶來的科學進步和城市文明沒有興趣，都市的浮華和道德淪喪使她厭倦都市生活。她離開倫敦，避居英國西南部大西洋沿岸的康沃爾郡。康沃爾郡的農場莊園悠閑暇適的鄉下生活和綺麗迷人的自然風光很適合達夫妮的心情。她潛心研究欣賞十九世紀反映維多利亞時代風俗和生活的作品，閱讀十八世紀、十九世紀的哥特式小說。這些小說崇尚原始生活的粗野、神秘、恐怖、冒險,充滿浪漫感傷的情調。康沃爾郡的生活保留了很多維多利亞時代的特徵，也是寫作哥特式小說的最好土壤。達夫妮的主要小說作品《牙買加旅店》、《蝴蝶夢》、《法蘭西人的支脈》都是以康沃爾郡為背景的。因此，哥特式小說的藝術風格和維多利亞時代的民風鄉俗，是理解、詮釋達夫妮康沃爾小說的關鍵。
達夫妮·杜穆裏埃-評價
英國著名的小說傢和評論傢福斯特(Forster E.M.，1879—1970)在評論達夫妮·杜穆裏埃的小說時說過，英國的小說傢中沒有一個人能夠做到像杜穆裏埃這樣打破通俗小說與純文學的界限，讓自己的作品同時滿足這兩種文學的共同要求。福斯特不愧為著名的作傢和評論傢，他對小說傢創作過程的理解和對評論鑒賞的正確領悟使他對杜穆裏埃的作品不抱偏見，給出了恰到好處的評論。達夫妮·杜穆裏埃所用的藝術表現手法是註重形式和故事情節的通俗小說手法，所以不管是什麽層次的讀者，是知識分子，還是工人、家庭婦女、農民，衹要有一定的文化，都可以讀達夫妮·杜穆裏埃的小說，都會感到通俗易懂。這與她喜歡哥特式的小說是分不開的。但她的小說又與哥特式小說有很大的區別。哥特式小說為了情節而忽略社會，忽略生活的內容，而達夫妮·杜穆裏埃的小說具有非常堅實的社會生活內容，她是把人物放在特定的生活環境中、社會關係中來刻畫，人性在金錢、名利、情感所織成的畫面中得到展示和考驗。這是她熱愛和崇尚布蘭韋裏·勃朗特姐妹小說的直接結果。勃朗特姐妹的作品曾使達夫妮·杜穆裏埃深深感動，她為她們姐妹專門寫了傳記，研究她們的傳記過程，在自己的小說和傳記創作過程中不斷汲取勃朗特姐妹的長處，取得了顯著的成功。從達夫妮·杜穆裏埃作品中，通俗小說傢應該看到和衆也有麯寡的深刻性，純文學小說傢應該看到麯寡完全可以和衆的現實性。
達夫妮·杜穆裏埃-主要作品
《蝴蝶夢》
《蝴蝶夢》原名《呂貝卡》，是達夫妮·杜穆裏埃的成名作，發表於一九三八年，已被譯成二十多種文字，再版重印四十多次，並被改編搬上銀幕，由擅長飾演莎士比亞筆下角色的名演員勞倫斯·奧利維爾爵士主演男主角。該片上映以來久盛不衰。
達夫妮·杜穆裏埃在本書中成功地塑造了一個頗富神秘色彩的女性呂蓓卡的形象，此人於小說開始時即已死去，除在倒敘段落中被間接提到外，從未在書中出現，但卻時時處處音容宛在，並能通過其忠僕、情夫等繼續控製曼陀麗莊園直至最後將這個莊園燒毀。小說中另一女性，即以故事敘述者身份出現的第一人稱，雖是喜怒哀樂俱全的活人，實際上卻處處起着烘托呂蓓卡的作用，作者這種以“實有”陪襯“虛無”的手法頗為別緻。
值得註意的是，作者通過刻畫呂蓓卡那種放浪形骸之外的腐化生活，以及她與德溫特的畸形婚姻，對英國上層社會中的享樂至上、爾虞我詐、窮奢極侈、勢利偽善等現象作了生動的揭露。作者還通過情景交融的手法比較成功地渲染了兩種氣氛：一方面是纏綿悱惻的懷鄉憶舊，另一方面是陰森壓抑的絶望恐怖。這雙重氣氛互相交疊滲透，加之全書懸念不斷，使本書成為一部多年暢銷不衰的浪漫主義小說。但在這部作品中也反映了作者某些不足之處，如作品反映的生活面比較狹窄，若幹描寫景色的段落有點拖沓，且時有重複等。
《牙買加客棧》
《牙買加客棧》是作者的另一部哥特體懸疑經典小說。故事發生在英國康沃爾郡的博德明沼澤地，在這人煙稀少的沼澤地中央孤零零地矗立着一座兩層高的樓房，這就是牙買加客棧。二十三歲的農傢女瑪麗因為父母雙亡，無依無靠，衹好背井離鄉，來到這窮鄉僻壤投奔她的姨媽佩興斯——牙買加客棧的老闆娘。然而她很快發現，牙買加客棧實際上是一夥歹徒的秘密據點，而這夥歹徒的首領就是牙買加客棧老闆、她的姨夫喬斯·默林。一開始，她以為這夥歹徒衹是在暗中進行走私活動，可姨媽那痛苦而恐懼的眼神和月黑風高時客棧內外的種種奇怪跡象卻讓她深信，走私活動的背後一定還有更為可怕的犯罪活動。為了揭開這個謎，瑪麗用自己的柔弱之軀與一群殺人不眨眼的亡命之徒展開了一場鬥智鬥勇的較量。在此過程中，她結識了一個盜馬賊和一個教長。在與他們的交往中，瑪麗的情感和理智又一次陷入了混亂之中……
《浮生夢》
這部作品以康沃爾郡的莊園為人物活動的主要舞臺。莊園主安布魯斯·艾什利因病出國作短期休養旅行，在意大利邂逅孀居的表妹拉吉奧，雙雙墜入愛河，並很快結婚。消息傳到莊園，替他管理莊園的菲利普自幼失去雙親，是堂兄安布魯期將其撫養大，安布魯斯是他的監護人、教師，是他的兄長，又像他的父親，甚至是他的整個世界。在實際生活中，安布魯斯也把菲利普視為農莊的繼承人，安布魯斯的死去對菲利普是一個巨大的打擊。隨後，拉吉奧來到這個莊園，她的來因未明，之後發生一係列的事把故事推上高潮……
《徵西大將軍》
達夫妮·杜穆裏埃以《蝴蝶夢》享譽文壇的英國作女作傢達夫妮·杜穆裏埃一生著作甚豐，《徵西大將軍》就是其中一部頗具代表性的作品。
昂納·哈裏斯小姐是蘭雷斯特莊園最小的女兒，在十八歲生日那天邂逅年輕軍官理查德·格倫維爾後，經歷了一段田園詩般的浪漫時光。不料，婚禮前夕，昂納猝遭不幸，從幸福的雲端墜入絶望的𠔌底。而恰在此時，英國內戰爆發，昂納的個人生命被無情地捲入了戰爭的旋渦……
《徵西大將軍》以十七世紀中葉英國內戰時期為背景，以當時英格蘭西部發生的保王黨人和議會派之間的爭鬥及相互間勢力消長為主綫，敘述了一個回腸蕩氣的愛情故事，讀之令人扼腕，催人深思。
《瑪麗.安妮》
本書是達夫妮·杜穆裏埃的一部主要作品。瑪麗·安妮出身低微，但她從小就不甘心受窮。成人後，她以姿色、智慧、野心斡旋於社會。在一些不懷好意的男人的慫恿下，她走上了一條出人頭地的捷徑——做了約剋公爵情婦。在過了一段風光的日子之後，遭到了遺棄。
《統治吧,不列顛》
達夫妮·杜穆裏埃一生曾涉獵多種文學題材，《統治吧，不列顛》是她所著的為數不多的幻想小說之一。
少女埃瑪與祖母麥德——一位退休女明星以及她所領養的六個性格迥異的男孩共同生活在英國康沃爾地區，日子過得富足而快樂。不料，某一天早上醒來，周圍世界突然發生了驚人的變化：由於英國政府的無能，美國軍隊打着“共建美英國”的旗號進駐英國各個地區，激起軒然大波，埃瑪一傢也不可避免地被捲進了旋渦。逆來順受？消極抵抗？還是主動出擊？埃瑪一傢與不列顛王國的所有家庭一樣，都陷入了進退維𠔌的險境……
杜穆裏埃在虛擬的情節背景下，以嫻熟的技巧、幽默的筆觸和大膽的想象力講述了一個引人入勝的故事，塑造了一組性格鮮明的人物群像，同時也含蓄地抒發了她深沉的民族情感，既秉承了作者一貫重視作品可讀性的優勢，又以潑辣、奇特的文風為全書註入了頗為新穎的元素。
書名引自英國著名詩人詹姆斯·湯普森（1700-1748）的詩句，原意是頌揚大不列顛“君臨天下”的霸權統治，作者以此為題，似含反諷之意。
《法國人的小灣》
達夫妮·杜穆裏埃朵娜為逃避大都市生活來到海濱納維隆別墅，她遇到並愛上了海盜首領，當貴族們將海盜投入監獄，朵娜在一個漆黑的夜晚毅然衝進黑暗，去拯救她所愛的人。
杜穆裏埃受神秘主義影響很深。作品大多麯折，引人入勝，人物鮮明，刻畫細膩。
法國人的小灣文詞精美，和蝴蝶夢一樣，曾被一些國傢作為學習英語的範本。
《替罪羊》（《TheScapegoat》）
達夫妮·杜穆裏埃《替罪羊》寫於1957年。故事發生在法國的拉孟斯城。一個教法國歷史的英國教師約翰，對於自己在課堂上死板地講解課文內容感到不滿意，他認為他的工作是失敗的，生活也是乏味、不幸福的。為瞭瞭解法國社會的真實情況，在假期裏他來到了法國的拉孟斯城。在那裏，他遇到一個與他長得一模一樣的法國人讓·杜歌。雖然讓·杜歌很富裕，但由於家庭生活瑣事的煩惱和經或的玻璃廠瀕於破産，他也感到生活很空虛、乏味，因而想逃離現實生活。兩人相遇後，讓·杜歌在酒中摻入了安眠藥，把約翰開得迷迷糊糊的，然後給他換上了自己的衣服，把他留在旅館中，而他自己卻溜走了。就這樣，約翰被讓·杜歌的傢人誤認為是讓·杜歌本人而接回傢中。在與杜歌一傢生活的一個星期中，約翰漸漸熟悉了杜歌傢的情況，並對他傢每個人的生活和工作作了適當的安排，他又設法使杜歌的玻璃廠避免倒閉，重新振興起來。這樣杜歌一傢人與讓·杜歌的矛盾也消除了。
Personal life
Daphne du Maurier was born in London, the second of three daughters of the prominent actor-manager Sir Gerald du Maurier and actress Muriel Beaumont (maternal niece of William Comyns Beaumont). Her grandfather was the author and Punch cartoonist George du Maurier, who created the character of Svengali in the novel Trilby. These connections helped her in establishing her literary career. du Maurier published some of her very early work in Beaumont's Bystander magazine, and her first novel, The Loving Spirit, was published in 1931. Du Maurier was also the cousin of the Llewelyn Davies boys, who served as J.M. Barrie's inspiration for the characters in the play Peter Pan, or The Boy Who Wouldn't Grow Up. As a young child she was introduced to many of the brightest stars of the theatre thanks to the celebrity of her father. On meeting Tallulah Bankhead she was quoted as saying that the actress was the most beautiful creature she had ever seen.[citation needed]
She married Lieutenant-General Sir Frederick "Boy" Browning,with whom she had two daughters and a son (Tessa, Flavia, and Christian). Biographers have noted that the marriage was at times somewhat chilly and that du Maurier could be aloof and distant to her children, especially the girls, when immersed in her writing. "Boy" died in 1965 and soon after Daphne moved to Kilmarth, near Par, which became the setting for The House on the Strand.
Du Maurier has often been painted as a frostily private recluse who rarely mixed in society or gave interviews. An exception to this came after the release of the film A Bridge Too Far, in which her late husband was portrayed in a less-than-flattering light. Du Maurier, incensed, wrote to the national newspapers decrying what she considered unforgivable treatment. Once out of the glare of the public spotlight, however, many remembered her as a warm and immensely funny person who was a welcoming hostess to guests at Menabilly, the house she leased for many years (from the Rashleigh family) in Cornwall. Letters from Menabilly contains the letters from du Maurier to Malet over 30 years, with Malet's commentary. (Malet's real name is Auriel Malet Vaughan.)
Daphne du Maurier was a member of the Cornish nationalist pressure group/political party Mebyon Kernow. She was spoofed by her slightly older fellow writer P. G. Wodehouse as "Daphne Dolores Morehead".
Du Maurier died at age 81 at her home in Cornwall, the region that had been the setting for many of her books. Her body was cremated and her ashes scattered at Kilmarth.
Secret sexual relationships
After her death in 1989, numerous references were made to her secret bisexuality; an affair with Gertrude Lawrence, as well as her attraction for Ellen Doubleday, the wife of her American publisher, were cited. Du Maurier stated in her memoirs that her father, noted manager Gerald du Maurier, had wanted a son and being a tomboy, she had naturally wished to have been born a boy. Her father, unusual for such a prominent theatre personality, was vociferously homophobic. There is some evidence to suggest that Daphne's relationship with her father may have bordered on incest.
In correspondence released by her family for the first time to her biographer, Margaret Forster, du Maurier explained to a trusted few her own unique slant on her sexuality: her personality, she explained, comprised two distinct people—the loving wife and mother (the side she showed to the world) and the lover (a decidedly male energy) hidden to virtually everyone and the power behind her artistic creativity. According to the biography, du Maurier believed the male energy was the demon that fueled her creative life as a writer. Forster maintains that it became evident in personal letters revealed after her death, however, that du Maurier's denial of her bisexuality unveiled a homophobic fear of her true nature.
Titles and honours
* Miss Daphne du Maurier (1907–1932)
* Mrs Frederick Browning; Daphne du Maurier (1932–1946)
* Lady Browning; Daphne du Maurier (1946–1969)
* Lady Browning; Dame Daphne du Maurier DBE (1969–1989)
In the Queen's Birthday Honours List for June 1969, Daphne du Maurier was created a Dame of the British Empire. She never used the title and according to her biographer Margaret Forster, she told no one about the honour. Even her children learned of it from the newspapers. "She thought of pleading illness for the investiture, until her children insisted it would be a great day for the older grandchildren. So she went through with it, though she slipped out quietly afterwards to avoid the attention of the press".
Cultural references
English Heritage created controversy in June 2008 when an application to commemorate her home in Hampstead by a Blue Plaque was rejected by them.
Daphne du Maurier was one of five "Women of Achievement" selected for a set of British stamps issued in August 1996. The others were Dorothy Hodgkin (scientist), Margot Fonteyn (ballerina / choreographer), Elizabeth Frink (sculptor) and Marea Hartman (sports administrator).
Novels, short stories and biographies
Literary critics have sometimes berated du Maurier's works for not being "intellectually heavyweight" like those of George Eliot or Iris Murdoch.[citation needed] By the 1950s, when the socially and politically critical "angry young men" were in vogue, her writing was felt by some to belong to a bygone age of fiction. [citation needed] Today she has been reappraised as a first-rate storyteller, a mistress of suspense: her ability to recreate a sense of place is much admired, and her work remains popular worldwide. For several decades she was the number one author for library book borrowings.[citation needed]
The novel Rebecca, which has been adapted for stage and screen on several occasions, is generally regarded as her masterpiece. One of her strongest influences here was Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë. Her fascination with the Brontë family is also apparent in The Infernal World of Branwell Brontë, her biography of the troubled elder brother to the Brontë girls. The fact that their mother had been Cornish no doubt added to her interest.[citation needed]
Other notable works include The Scapegoat, The House on the Strand, and The King's General. The latter is set in the middle of the first and second English Civil Wars. Though written from the Royalist perspective of her native Cornwall, it gives a fairly neutral view of this period of history.
In addition to Rebecca, several of her other novels have been adapted for the screen, including Jamaica Inn, Frenchman's Creek, Hungry Hill and My Cousin Rachel (1951). The Hitchcock film The Birds (1963) is based on a treatment of one of her short stories, as is the film Don't Look Now (1973). Of the films, du Maurier often complained that the only ones she liked were Alfred Hitchcock's Rebecca and Nicolas Roeg's Don't Look Now. Hitchcock's treatment of Jamaica Inn involved a complete re-write of the ending in order to accommodate the ego of its star, Charles Laughton. Du Maurier also felt that Olivia de Havilland was totally wrong as the (anti-)heroine in My Cousin Rachel. Frenchman's Creek fared rather better with its lavish Technicolor sets and costumes, though du Maurier later regretted her choice of Alec Guinness as the lead in the film of The Scapegoat which she partly financed.
Du Maurier was often categorised as a "romantic novelist" (a term she deplored), though most of her novels, with the notable exception of Frenchman's Creek, are quite different from the stereotypical format of a Georgette Heyer or Barbara Cartland novel. Du Maurier's novels rarely have a happy ending, and her brand of romanticism is often at odds with the sinister overtones and shadows of the paranormal she so favoured. In this light, she has more in common with the "sensation novels" of Wilkie Collins et al., which she admired.
Du Maurier's novel Mary Anne (1954) is a fictionalised account of the real-life story of her great-great-grandmother, Mary Anne Clarke née Thompson (1776–1852). Mary Anne Clarke from 1803 to 1808 was mistress of Frederick Augustus, the Duke of York and Albany (1763–1827). He was the "Grand Old Duke of York" of the nursery rhyme, a son of King George III and brother of the later King George IV. In Ken Follett's thriller The Key to Rebecca, du Maurier's novel Rebecca is used as the key for a code used by a German spy in World War II Cairo. Neville Chamberlain is reputed to have read Rebecca on the plane journey which led to Adolf Hitler signing the Munich Agreement. The central character of her last novel, Rule Britannia, is an aging and eccentric actress who was based on Gertrude Lawrence and Gladys Cooper (to whom it is dedicated). However, the character is most recognisably du Maurier herself.[citation needed]
Indeed, it was in her short stories that she was able to give free rein to the harrowing and terrifying side of her imagination; "The Birds", Don't Look Now, The Apple Tree and The Blue Lenses are exquisitely crafted tales of terror which shocked and surprised her audience in equal measure. Perhaps more than at any other time, du Maurier was anxious as to how her bold new writing style would be received, not just with her readers (and to some extent her critics, though by then she had grown wearily accustomed to their often luke-warm reviews) but her immediate circle of family and friends.
In later life she wrote non-fiction, including several biographies which were well-received. This no doubt came from a deep-rooted desire to be accepted as a serious writer, comparing herself to her close literary neighbour, A. L. Rowse, the celebrated historian and essayist, who lived a few miles away from her house near Fowey.
Also of interest are the "family" novels/biographies which du Maurier wrote of her own ancestry, of which Gerald, the biography of her father, was most lauded. Later she wrote The Glass-Blowers, which traces her French ancestry and gives a vivid depiction of the French Revolution. The du Mauriers is a sequel of sorts, describing the somewhat problematic ways in which the family moved from France to England in the 19th century and finally Mary Anne, a novel based on the life of a notable, and infamous, English ancestor—her great-grandmother Mary Anne Clarke, former mistress of Frederick, Duke of York.
Her final novels reveal just how far her writing style had developed; The House on the Strand (1969) combines elements of "mental time-travel", a tragic love-affair in 14th century Cornwall, and the dangers of using mind-altering drugs. Her final novel, Rule Britannia, written post-Vietnam, plays with the resentment of English people in general and Cornish people in particular at the increasing dominance of the US.
In late 2006 a previously unknown work titled And His Letters Grew Colder was discovered. This was estimated to have been written in the late 1920s, and takes the form of a series of letters tracing an adulterous passionate affair from initial ardour to deflated acrimony.
Plays
Daphne du Maurier wrote three plays. Her first was a successful adaptation of her novel Rebecca, which opened at the Queen's Theatre in London on 5 March 1940 in a production by George Devine, starring Celia Johnson and Owen Nares as the De Winters, and Margaret Rutherford as Mrs. Danvers. At the end of May, following a run of 181 performances, the production transferred to the Strand Theatre, with Jill Furse taking over as Mrs. De Winter and Mary Merrall as Danvers, with a further run of 176 performances.
In the summer of 1943 she began writing the autobiographically-inspired drama The Years Between about the unexpected return of a senior officer, thought killed in action, who finds that his wife has taken over his role as Member of Parliament as well as starting a romantic relationship with a local farmer. It was first staged at the Manchester Opera House in 1944, then transferred to London, opening at Wyndham's Theatre on 10 January 1945 starring Nora Swinburne and Clive Brook. The production, directed by Irene Hentschel became a long-running hit, completing 617 performances.
After 60 years of neglect the play was revived by Caroline Smith at the Orange Tree Theatre in Richmond upon Thames on 5 September 2007, starring Karen Ascoe and Mark Tandy.
Better known is her third play, September Tide, about a middle-aged woman whose bohemian artist son-in-law falls for her. The central character of Stella was originally based on Ellen Doubleday and was merely what Ellen might have been in an English setting and in a different set of circumstances. Again directed by Irene Hentschel, it opened at the Aldwych Theatre on 15 December 1948 with Gertrude Lawrence as Stella, enjoying a run of 267 performances before closing at the beginning of August 1949. It was to lead to a close personal and social relationship between Daphne and Gertrude.
Since then September Tide has received occasional revivals, most recently at the Comedy Theatre in London in January 1994, starring film and stage actress Susannah York in the role originally created by Lawrence, with Michael Praed as the saturnine young artist. Reviewing the production for the Richmond & Twickenham Times, critic John Thaxter wrote: "The play and performances delicately explore their developing relationship. And as the September gales batter the Cornish coast, isolating Stella's cottage from the outside world, she surrenders herself to the truth of a moment of unconventional tenderness."
Plagiarism allegations
Shortly after Rebecca was published in Brazil, critic Álvaro Lins and other readers pointed out many resemblances between du Maurier's book and the work of Brazilian writer Carolina Nabuco. Nabuco's A sucessora (The Successor) has a main plot similar to Rebecca, including a young woman marrying a widower and the strange presence of the first wife — plot features also shared with the far older Jane Eyre. Nina Auerbach alleged, in her book Daphne du Maurier, Haunted Heiress, that du Maurier read the Brazilian book when the first drafts were sent to be published in England and based her famous bestseller on it. According to Nabuco's autobiography, she refused to sign a contract brought to her by a United Artists' worker in which she agreed that the similarities between her book and the movie were mere coincidence. Du Maurier denied copying Nabuco's book, as did her publisher, claiming that the plot used in Rebecca was quite common.
Publications
Fiction
* The Loving Spirit (1931)
* I'll Never Be Young Again (1932)
* The Progress of Julius (1933) (later re-published as Julius)
* Jamaica Inn (1936)
* Rebecca (1938)
* Rebecca (1940) (play—du Maurier's own stage adaptation of her novel)
* Happy Christmas (1940) (short story)
* Come Wind, Come Weather (1940) (short story collection)
* Frenchman's Creek (1941)
* Hungry Hill (1943)
* The Years Between (1945) (play)
* The King's General (1946)
* September Tide (1948) (play)
* The Parasites (1949)
* My Cousin Rachel (1951)
* The Apple Tree (1952) (short story collection, AKA Kiss Me Again, Stranger)
* Mary Anne (1954)
* The Scapegoat (1957)
* Early Stories (1959) (short story collection, stories written between 1927–1930)
* The Breaking Point (1959) (short story collection, AKA The Blue Lenses)
* Castle Dor (1961) (with Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch)
* The Birds and Other Stories (1963) (republication of The Apple Tree)
* The Glass-Blowers (1963)
* The Flight of the Falcon (1965)
* The House on the Strand (1969)
* Not After Midnight (1971) (short story collection, AKA Don't Look Now)
* Rule Britannia (1972)
* "The Rendezvous and Other Stories" (1980) (short story collection)
Non-fiction
* Gerald (1934)
* The du Mauriers (1937)
* The Young George du Maurier (1951)
* The Infernal World of Branwell Brontë (1960)
* Vanishing Cornwall (includes photographs by her son Christian)(1967)
* Golden Lads (1975)
* The Winding Stairs (1976)
* Growing Pains -— the Shaping of a Writer (1977) (a.k.a. Myself When Young -— the Shaping of a Writer)
* Enchanted Cornwall (1989)
Translations
* Hungry Hill (1943) was translated into Dutch and published under the title 'De kopermijn. De geschiedenis van de familie Brodrick' (literally: The coppermine. The history of the family Brodrick).