Tuesday, May 17, 2022

Short Story Wednesday: Don't Look Now by Daphne du Maurier


After I purchased this book of short stories, I noticed that the cover was a blurry photo of a face of a person in anguish, or so it looks to me. Later I learned that it is a video still from the horror film Repulsion. At that point I wasn't sure what to expect.  Are these horror stories? I had never associated that word with Daphne du Maurier before, but it appears that many reviewers do consider some of her works to be horror. So far, however, I have found none of the stories in this book horrifying. I did find some of them dark and tension-inducing. 


Each of the first three stories in this book are very different. They vary in length from 20 to 55 pages.


"Don't Look Now" has elements of the supernatural and is set in Venice, where an English couple is vacationing. They have recently lost their youngest child, and the trip is an attempt to move past that. Sometimes the supernatural in a story puts me off, but not in this case. The atmosphere is tense and I was dreading the outcome of the story. It wasn't what I expected at all. (about 55 pages)


The second story is "The Birds," which was the inspiration for the film by the same name. I say inspiration because the story is quite different from the film, but both are unsettling. The story focuses on a farm hand and his family who are trying to save themselves from birds of all types and sizes who are driven by some compulsion to invade their house. He recognizes the threat early on but most people laugh it off, and are not prepared.

This story comes the closest to horror (but then I don't read many horror stories).  I would say that the story is darker than the film but it has been years since I have seen the film. (about 40 pages) 


"Escort" confused me a bit, but I liked it. A tramp steamer is returning to England from a Scandinavian port in the early months of World War II. At some point they see the periscope of a German submarine. Another ship comes up beside them, offering to escort the ship to safety. At first I thought this one was just a simple, straightforward story, but it turns out to have a supernatural element too. (about 20 pages)


Patrick McGrath's introduction to this collection of stories notes that du Maurier often writes inconclusive endings; the stories are not tied up neatly, with a clear ending. She leaves the reader to embellish the ending or decide how they think the story ends. This is true of at least two of these stories: "The Birds" and "Escort." And "Don't Look Now" certainly left me tense and reviewing the events for quite a while after finishing it.


Per the Internet Speculative Fiction Database, "Escort" was first published in 1940, "The Birds" in 1952, and "Don't Look Now" in 1970.



20 comments:

Cath said...

I've definitely read one volume of DdM's short stories and a few more in various anthologies. She really did write cracking short fiction, and none of what I read was less than good and yes, she did write some which were definitely disturbing! The Birds springs to mind but there were others. I've just checked and one collection I read was called, Don't Look Now and was excellent but I know I have read another anthology by her.

pattinase (abbott) said...

I have this collection but many years later have only read Don't Look Now and The Birds.

George said...

I think Daphne du Maurier is a very underrated writer. Hitchcock loved her work.

TracyK said...

Cath, the Goodreads "record" for this book combines this book, titled DON'T LOOK NOW and published in 2008, and another book with a similar name, DON'T LOOK NOW AND OTHER STORIES, published much earlier and then reprinted. Those books have different stories, possibly no overlap, except for "Don't Look Now" of course. I will be looking for other collections online, used.

I found several posts online about du Maurier and horror. All very interesting.

TracyK said...

Patti, according to some reviews of this collection those two are the best stories in the collection. I did like "Escort" also.

TracyK said...

George, just on the basis of what I have read myself recently, which isn't much, and other articles I have read online, I have to agree with you. So I will be reading more, both novels and stories.

Rick Robinson said...

Good morning, I hope your eye appointment goes well. Barbara’s cataract surgery (eye #1) is tomorrow at Noon.

Sorry to say I hate that cover, enough to keep me from buying the book. Nor would I seek horror or supernatural stories from her or others, so this one will be a “no, thank you “ for me.

FictionFan said...

I certainly think of some of her short stories as horror, though of the unease kind rather than the gruesome gore kind! I'd class The Birds as horror, and one of my favourite horror stories of all time is The Apple Tree, though I don't think it's in the Don't Look Now collection. For me, her short stories are where she really excels - I always enjoy them more than her novels.

Todd Mason said...

While "The Birds" could be called realistic suspense fiction if you squint hard at it, since the birds aren't acting impossibly enough to be in the realm of fantasy, it's interesting that you hadn't thought of her as a horror writer, since that's how I've mostly read her work, in horror and suspense anthologies over the decades. (Indeed, her "The Birds" is very different from and I say much better than the film, with a script by Evan Hunter, whose work almost always bugs me at some level, heavily worked over with him by Hitchcock.) I remember liking "The Blue Lenses" a lot. Need to pick up a collection...I don't think I've owned one yet!

REPULSION is a black and white film...I guess the color(s) were added for use here! Also, I'd definitely call REPULSION less a horror film than a psychodrama...the protagonist is going crazy. Then, by me, given the non-fantasticated nature of the "monsters" in them, the likes of PSYCHO and THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS are suspense rather than horror films.

Indeed, further good luck with the eye appointment and all today.

TracyK said...

Rick, I hope that Barbara's cataract surgery goes well. I know most people have a good experience. She is lucky to have a later appointment. All of Glen's eye surgeries have been scheduled insanely early in the a.m.

Regarding the cover, all I saw was an orangish cover, the face was not obvious to me until I saw the cover online. if I had known that some of the stories were horror, I wouldn't have bought it, but I was especially interested in "The Birds." Anyway, I liked the ones I read, as FictionFan below notes, they gave me an uneasy feeling, maybe dread.

My eye doctor and I decided I can wait another year (at least) for cataract surgery and I am going to try a new prescription for my glasses.

TracyK said...

FictionFan, I have always avoided anything with the label "horror" so have little experience with that genre. My husband has a good number of books / stories labeled horror. I think maybe the genre varying levels of that type of thing, many of which would probably not bother me at all.

I have heard others express the opinion that they like du Maurier's short fiction better than her novels.

TracyK said...

Todd, I haven't been that interested in du Maurier before, didn't know that much about her writing. And have never been interested in horror. So I never put the two together, I guess. I look forward to reading more of her short stories and novels.

Margot Kinberg said...

I've always thought du Maurier did such a great job of building atmosphere and tension, Tracy; it's good to see her mentioned here. A lot of people know about her novels, but I think fewer are familiar with her short stories. In my opinion, they're quite good.

Lark said...

I read this short story collection a few years ago and remember liking both The Birds and Don't Look Now. And I think it's interesting that Hitchcock used three of du Maurier's stories/novels as inspiration for his movies.

TracyK said...

Margot, reading Rebecca really had an impact on me. I wanted to read more by du Maurier, and many people mentioned her short stories, so I bought one novel and this book of short stories.

TracyK said...

Lark, your comment got lost in spam for a few hours but I rescued it. I agree about Hitchcock using three of her pieces for movies, and such different movies. I haven't seen the adaptation of Don't Look Now, but my husband knew of it.

CLM said...

I took a film class in NYC once that was called something like Hitchcock and His Influence on Later Filmmakers. I got very excited about writing a paper on the differences between the book and movie of Rebecca and Marnie and another I can't remember. Then I learned that only the students taking the course for credit had to write a paper, and I lost all momentum, which was a pity.

I'm glad you enjoyed this collection. It seems like there are several collections with overlapping stories. Mine has a different name but definitely includes the Birds (it is interesting reading about the development of the screenplay of the movie - it is not really based on du Maurier at all) but not the other two you mentioned. I think she did have a macabre streak but maybe not exactly horror.

TracyK said...

Constance, that sounds like an interesting course about Hitchcock. I have only read the first three stories but I will read the remaining ones too. Eventually. And look for more collections of her work at the next book sale... although I need to cut back on buying short story collections.

I would not mind seeing The Birds again but you are right, there is little connection between Hitchcock's story and du Maurier's, except for the birds and their behavior, which is unsettling.

col2910 said...

I like the sound of The Birds story, but the others not so much. I don't feel tempted, so thanks!

TracyK said...

I like these stories, Col, but I prefer to read more upbeat stories.