Sherry Chandler » Manderley
Manderley
Those among us who may have sighed over Maxim de Winter, especially as embodied by Laurence Olivier (that’s Lord Olivier, I know), will be interested to know that May 10 is Daphne du Maurier’s centenary and the Brits are planning great celebrations.
As for Manderley, as in “Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again,” it apparently had its origins in a real dwelling:
Manderley was partly inspired by a real house in Cornwall, Menabilly. Du Maurier fell in love with it and wrote about it before she ever lived there (uninhabited, its windows blinded by ivy, she saw it as ‘asleep’, waiting for her). A photograph shows Menabilly as unexpectedly plain, with an unreadable facade. Like Manderley, it was hidden in woods and could not be seen from the shore. Pleasingly, du Maurier was able to rent it partly through the proceeds of Rebecca: Manderley paid for Menabilly. Du Maurier never owned the house. It was like an illicit affair - hers, yet not hers. She once said, ‘Houses are not like marriages … one cannot just walk out and leave them.’ According to Margaret Forster, Menabilly was ’secretive - and Daphne loved secrets’.
H/T to Poppysmatus.
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