Everything about George Du Maurier totally explained
George Louis Palmella Busson du Maurier (
6 March,
1834 –
8 October,
1896) was a
French-born British
author and
cartoonist.
He studied art in
Paris, and moved to
Antwerp,
Belgium, where he lost vision in his left eye. He consulted an oculist in
Düsseldorf,
Germany, where he met his future wife, Emma Wightwick. He followed her family to
London, where he married Emma in
1863.
He became a member of the staff of the satirical magazine
Punch in 1865, drawing two cartoons a week. His most famous cartoon, "", was the origin of the expressions "good in parts" and "a
curate's egg". (In the original caption, a bishop addresses a curate [avery humble class of clergyman] whom he's condescended to invite to breakfast: 'I'm afraid you've got a bad egg, Mr. Jones.' The curate deprecatingly replies, 'Oh no, my Lord, I assure you - parts of it are excellent!') In an earlier (1884) cartoon, du Maurier had coined the expression 'bedside manner'.
Owing to his deteriorating eyesight, du Maurier reduced his involvement with
Punch in 1891 and settled in
Hampstead, where he wrote three novels (the last was published posthumously).
His second novel
Trilby, published in 1894 fits into the
gothic horror genre which was undergoing a revival during the
fin de siecle. The story of the poor artist's model Trilby O'Ferrall, transformed into a diva under the spell of the evil musical genius
Svengali, created a sensation. Soap, songs, dances, toothpaste, and a town in
Florida were all named for the heroine, and a variety of soft felt hat with an indented crown (worn in the London stage production of a dramatization of the novel) came to be called a
trilby. The plot inspired
Gaston Leroux's 1910 potboiler
Phantom of the Opera and the innumerable works derived from it. Although initially bemused by Trilby's success, du Maurier eventually came to despise the persistent attention given to his novel.
George du Maurier was a close friend of
Henry James, the novelist; their relationship was fictionalised in
David Lodge's
Author, Author.
George du Maurier was the father of actor
Gerald du Maurier and grandfather of the prominent writer
Daphne du Maurier. He was also the father of
Sylvia Llewelyn Davies and thus grandfather of the five boys who inspired
Peter Pan.
He was interred in Saint John's Churchyard in
Hampstead parish in London.
Novels
Further Information
Get more info on 'George Du Maurier'.
|
External Link Exchanges
Do you know how hard it is to get a link from a large encyclopaedia? Well we're different and will prove it. To get a link from us just add the following HTML to your site on a relevant page:
<a href="http://george_du_maurier.totallyexplained.com">George du Maurier Totally Explained</a>
Then simply click through this link from your web page. Our crawlers will verify your link, extract the title of your web page and instantly add a link back to it. If you like you can remove the words Totally Explained and embed the link in article text.
As long as your link remains in place, we'll keep our link to you right here. Please play fair - our crawlers are watching. Your site must be closely related to this one's topic. Any kind of spamming, dubious practises or removing the link will result in your link from us being dropped and, potentially, your whole site being banned. |
