Reality, they none the less flee from it'. 'If what long for the most intensely in their phantasies is presented them in That sustain our lives? The notion of fantasy has to be taken here in all its fundamentalĪmbiguity: far from being opposed to reality, fantasy is that which provides the basicĬoordinates of what we experience as 'reality' (as Lacan puts it, 'everything we areĪllowed to approach by way of reality remains rooted in fantasy' 2) - however, in order to fulfil this function, it has to remain hidden, it must exert its efficiency in the background: Somehow connected? What if her lack of style, her pathetic directness, is the formalĮffect of the fact that du Maurier's narratives directly, all too directly, stage the fantasies Tremendous power of fascination exerted by her stories? What if these two features are 1 She tells stories without truly being a writer in what, then, resides the secret of the undisputed The vague sentiment that it is no longer possible to write like that today. Or is this oblivion perhaps deserved? There is something radically untimely aboutĭaphne du Maurier: her prose seems marked by a melodramatic excess that often comesĭangerously close to the ridiculous-after reading one of her books, it is difficult to avoid Illiteracy of the younger generation-how can anyone not know about Rebecca? That this is the sequel to another book?' This was for me a depressing encounter with the Overheard a young man asking one of the staff: 'I just finished Mrs de Winter. A year or so ago, while waiting in line to pay at a London Waterstone bookstore, I

Daphne du maurier