Daphne Du Maurier - Plagiarism Accusations

Plagiarism Accusations

Shortly after Rebecca was published in Brazil, critic Álvaro Lins and other readers pointed out many resemblances between du Maurier's book and the work of Brazilian writer Carolina Nabuco. Nabuco's 1934 A Sucessora (The Successor) has a main plot similar to Rebecca, including a young woman marrying a widower and the strange presence of the first wife—plot features also shared with the far older Jane Eyre. Nina Auerbach claimed in her book Daphne du Maurier, Haunted Heiress that du Maurier had read the Brazilian book when the first drafts were sent to be published in Britain and based her famous bestseller on it. "Ms. Nabuco had translated her novel into French and sent it to a publisher in Paris, who she learned was also Ms. du Maurier's."

The controversy reached The New York Times Book Review, which exhaustively compared excerpts from both books. According to Nabuco's memoirs, when Hitchcock's film Rebecca was first shown in Brazil, United Artists wanted her to sign a document saying that all the similarities were merely a coincidence. The Brazilian writer refused to sign it.

According to The New York Times Book Review, in an article published on 5 November 2002, these were the words on Nabuco's memoirs, on this episode: "When the film version of 'Rebecca' came to Brazil, the producers' lawyer sought out my lawyer to ask him that I sign a document admitting the possibility of there having been a mere coincidence. I would be compensated with a quantity described as 'of considerable value.' I did not consent, naturally."

Du Maurier denied having copied Nabuco's book, as did her publisher, claiming that the plot used in Rebecca was quite common. According to Nabuco and her editor, not only the main plot, but also situations and entire dialogues had been copied.

The author Frank Baker also believed that du Maurier had plagiarised his novel The Birds (1936) in her short story "The Birds" (1952). Du Maurier had been working as a reader for Baker's publisher Peter Davies at the time he submitted the book. When Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds was released in 1963, based on du Maurier's story, Baker considered, but was advised against, pursuing costly litigation against Universal Studios.

Also note the similarities between her 1959 short story Ganymede and the theme of Thomas Mann's semi-autobiographical 1912 novella Death in Venice.