The importance of genre (Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier)

Member Name: brokenangel

Product:	Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier
Date:	07/02/09 (309 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: A thoroughly interesting tale

Disadvantages: An irritating narrator

Though REBECCA is often marketed as a Romance, it is worth noting that the author herself thought it was rather a dark tale of jealousy and envy, with an unconventional ending. I was struck by the strong elements of the nineteenth century sensation novel, intertwined with gothic pieces, which continues until we learn of Maxim's true relationship to the dead Rebecca, at which point the tale takes a strong turn into detective fiction, though the twists and turns are still occasionally sensational. This is perhaps a long-winded way of saying that REBECCA is not a traditional romance and has anything but the traditional happy ending, so don't read it expecting a touching love story, regardless of the blurb on the jacket.

The next important thing to note is that though Rebecca, the first wife of
Maxim de Winter, is dead before the novel is gone, she haunts the text to a degree that means she is much easier to remember than the nameless narrator, the second wife. This is not to say that she literally haunts the couple, though the housekeeper, Mrs Danvers, would like to think she does! Instead, her apparently wonderful reputation and ability to manage the house have left an impression so deep that she gradually takes over much of the narrator's thoughts. The new Mrs de Winter reflects that she is sitting in Rebecca's chair, drinking from Rebecca's mug. This subtle haunting is much more interesting than a few chairs thrown around poltergeist style, I think!

A big preoccupation of the novel is with class, but it is not so dominant that it undermines your enjoyment in the novel. However, it is noticeable that a large part of why the new Mrs de Winter cannot escape her sense of her predecessor is the class gap between herself and her husband. Maxim does not instruct her in her role, assuming she will fill it, but she does not know how and many of the most amusing moments in the novel come when the new mistress of the house is found hiding behind a door or fleeing down a corridor to escape guests!

I think my favourite episode in the entire novel is the chapter in which the narrator tells only Clarice, her maid, what she will be wearing to the ball and, knowing that Clarice is the only person the narrator could have chosen to confide in who is as new to Manderley (the estate) as the narrator herself is, and wouldn't realise if there was a problem with the outfit, I knew there was trouble ahead! The suspense was marvellous.

Personally, I found the narrator's attitude highly irritating at times, (she reminded me in places of the incredibly passive Laura Fairlie in THE WOMAN IN WHITE, an archetypal sensation novel,) but it works as part of the beautifully melded whole.This is a wonderful story, not to digest unthinkingly, but to ponder over and re-read in hopes of answering burning questions. Is Maxim's account of the late Rebecca true? Given the narrator's continual lapses into fantasy, how reliable is her narration? What was the relationship between Rebecca and Mrs Danvers? What exactly do we think of Maxim's patronising attitude to the narrator? Can the new Mrs de Winter be happy once the novel ends?

As with JANE EYRE, in which one might want to think about Bertha's account of her life with Rochester, I would love to hear Rebecca's version of her life with Maxim. Which leads to the biggests question of them all - who is the heroine in the novel? The instantly forgettable, incredibly passive narrator or the haunting, dominant Rebecca?

Summary: An intriguing search for the truth