In this fascinating and pioneering study of the short stories of Daphne du Maurier, Setara Pracha redefines for the twenty-first century the reputation of this famous novelist, making the case for her reassessment as an accomplished, cosmopolitan and radical short-story writer. Taking corporeality as a thematic framework in her close critical commentary and analysis of eight key stories, du Maurier’s symbolic and literal representation of parts of the body facilitates Pracha’s broader – and compelling – discussions on human desire, power, culture, and history. Du Maurier’s short stories are thus revealed as the most daring – and modern – of all her fiction, the contents of which wrestle with issues facing British society in the aftermath of the Second World War.

Gerri Kimber, Visiting Professor, University of Northampton, UK

By dissecting eight spine-chilling short stories in the Daphne du Maurier corpus, Setara Pracha tantalizingly demonstrates how the writer addresses key contemporary issues through the body part centerstaged in each. Such a “literary embodiment of cultural and social themes” allows Pracha to anatomize the gender, sexual, political, moral, and historical considerations which these stories support. One’s perception of the scope and depth of du Maurier’s stories is markedly broadened by this first full-length study of her short fiction, which also aims at placing du Maurier among the masters of the genre.

Xavier Lachazette, Le Mans University, France