[Commlist] Call for chapters: edited collection on Daphne du Maurier’s Rebecca and its legacy

Call for chapters: edited collection on Daphne du Maurier's 
/Rebecca/ and its legacy.

Deadline for submissions: August 1st, 2023.


“I am glad it cannot happen twice, the fever of first love,” writes 
Daphne du Maurier in her 1938 domestic Gothic novel Rebecca. But to look 
at Rebecca’s legacy is to see the fever of love for the story itself 
happen over and over again. Its influences on the 20th century domestic 
gothic and 21st century domestic noir literary genres have been well 
documented, while it has been adapted for the screen multiple times, 
most notably by Alfred Hitchcock in 1940 and Ben Wheatley in 2020. 
Literary sequels have been penned by Susan Hill in 1993 (Mrs. de Winter) 
and Sally Beauman in 2001 (Rebecca’s Tale), while Taylor Swift has 
spoken of the novel as inspiration for her song ‘Tolerate It’ on her 
2020 album Evermore. The novel has won multiple awards, consistently 
proving its enduring influence and popularity, even while it has been 
accused of plagiarism for its similarities to other novels traversing 
comparable thematic ground, perhaps complicating such a clear cut idea 
of ‘Rebecca and its legacy’.

Such a sprawling, complex and ever-developing legacy illustrates the 
indelible mark Rebecca has left on popular culture, but, as du Maurier 
suggests, the fever of first love might never be truly replicated. How, 
then, can we consider the lasting legacy of Rebecca, particularly its 
many adaptations? What is lost in the retelling of this tale, and how 
might it have been changed and updated to rekindle something of that 
feverish first love for new audiences? In what ways do these adaptations 
cross boundaries of genre and media formats? What might this tell us 
about the nature of adaptation more generally, particularly in a 
contemporary climate obsessed with nostalgic remakes and revivals? And, 
looking to the past, to what extent can Rebecca even be considered a 
point of origin for this legacy, considering the long tradition of 
female Gothic fiction, for example, Jane Eyre?

Following our symposium ‘Reimagining Rebecca’, held at the University of 
Sussex in May 2022, we are putting together an edited collection 
exploring these questions and beyond through examinations of du 
Maurier’s novel and its legacy: its feverish first love, its second 
wives, and its haunting, ghostly imprint on popular culture.

We invite proposals from scholars of all stages and fields for 
6,000-7,000 word (incl. references) chapters on any topic related to 
Rebecca and its legacy, which could include but are not limited to:


  *

    Landscape / Cornish Gothic

  *

    Domestic space

  *

    Formulations of family

  *

    Lesbian subtext & queer readings

  *

    Iterations of masculinity and femininity

  *

    The second wife in domestic Gothic/noir

  *

    Traces of Rebecca across popular culture

  *

    Trans-media adaptations, e.g. adapting literature for popular music

  *

    Comparative explorations of different versions of Rebecca

  *

    Problematising Rebecca as point of origin: e.g. allegations of
    plagiarism, previous works of female Gothic, etc.

  *

    Updating Rebecca for the 21st century

  *

    Adaptation & the contemporary culture of popular nostalgia

  *

    The evolution of women’s literary/cinematic genres

  *

    Modes of reception and viewership

Please submit abstracts of up to 500 words, plus a short bio of 50 
words, to the editors, Katharina Hendrickx ((K.Hendrickx /at/ sussex.ac.uk)) 
and Amelia Crowther ((Amelia.Crowther /at/ sussex.ac.uk)), by August 1st 2023. 
Please also send any questions to the above email addresses.


Following the selection of successful abstracts we will put together a 
book proposal with which to approach publishers. First drafts of 
chapters will be expected by January 29th 2024.


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