The Daphne du Maurier Society of North America, April 2026 event - The Male Narrators in the Novel
I realised, with a strange sense of shock and fear and nausea all combined,
that his face and voice were known to me too well. I was looking at myself.
The Scapegoat, this edition published by Virago in 2004.
Don’t miss the Daphne du Maurier Society of North America’s meeting on Saturday, 11th April 2026, at which Society member Leonard Cox will be discussing Daphne du Maurier’s use of male narrators as a literary device.
The novels discussed will be I’ll Never Be Young Again (1932), My Cousin Rachel (1951), The Scapegoat (1957), The Flight of the Falcon (1965), and The House on the Strand (1969).
During the afternoon, Leonard will reflect on how the author leads readers through five of her seventeen novels and many of her short stories with the use of a male voice. He will ask the listener to contemplate whether du Maurier preferred the male voice, and if so, why? Was it because, as du Maurier explains in her biography, her father wanted a male child instead of Daphne? As a result, she wanted to be a boy and created an alter ego, Eric Avon. Or was it because in many of her writings, she continuously made insightful “explorations of gender, examining the societal restrictions placed on women and the failings of a society steeped in masculinity…?” (Thorton, J. 2022). Leonard will encourage an active discussion on these and other questions.
Date: Saturday, 11th April, 2026
Time: 1:00 pm - 3:00 pm
Venue: 5214 Palomar Lane, Dallas, TX 75229.
Tea will be served.
ZOOM is available for this meeting.
To reserve your place, please click here: https://daphnedumauriersociety.org/2026-events