Rebecca
1938 (novel)
Daphne du Maurier
1940 (film)
Alfred Hitchcock
After its birth in The Castle of Otranto, there were no flies on Gothic as it lurched steadily along from decade to decade, long past its original form’s death, oozing into other genres, forms, and media. The Gothic Romance appeared early on and became a popular subgenre, focusing on the point of view of an innocent young woman in an evil old mansion that holds a dark secret threatening to destroy her, or at least her chance for True Love. The nasty old horndog of Otranto mutated into a gruff mysterious older noble gent, often lusted after (discreetly and virginally) by the young governess/companion. One of my personal favies is Victoria Holt’s Menfreya in the Morning (1966), with its superficially-unlovable heroine Harriet (many Gothic Romance heroines are not conventional beauties, think Jane Eyre), its nasty old dad, its drop-dead gorgeous but possibly unfaithful young nobleman, its trademark haunted manse with a secret wing and mysterious portrait, and its death by sin/childbirth, poisoning, and cellar drowning. Really terrific!
But for this literary dinner, we will go back three or so decades before Menfreya to Daphne du Maurier’s Rebecca, so very Gothic in disquieting mood and suspense. It is set in that quintessential Gothic locale, Cornwall, which hangs off the southwestern coast of England like a claw, windblown and rocky, ancient and myth-haunted. Our poor heroine rattles around in an ancient keep called Manderly like a young tender pea in a big scary haunted can, with a dead woman for ever-present company. And lord love a duck, is there any more unsettling character than Mrs. Danvers? She’s played to creepalicious perfection by Judith Anderson in the 1940 film.
There are a number of meals in Rebecca, and they are often a metaphor for the larger life in the Gothic mansion in that they are delicious and luxurious, served to perfection, and choked down in a ghastly atmosphere of unspoken fear and dread. The plain bread-and-butter pensione breakfast that bookmarks our heroine’s pre-and-post-Manderly existence reminds us that while we may dream of living in a place like Manderly after we win the lottery, the price tag’s high in more than one way.
Though technically this isn’t a dinner, I think that starting the day with a weird disturbing breakfast is very Gothic, and just the thing for a rainy Saturday with house guests, particularly hung-over ones. Their vulnerability is so tempting. I’ve eliminated some items from the breakfast in the book because you, Dear Reader, probably don’t have a cook to whom you can hand the list, as Mrs. Danvers did.
Brunch at Manderly
Menu
Boiled Eggs
Bacon
Kippers
Porridge
Scones
Toast
Fresh whole fruit
Libations: tea, coffee
Ambience
Use the best silver, preferably a set left to you by a relative who died, preferably under mysterious circumstances; egg cups, linens, and fresh flowers.
Goth It Up
Two members of the party should sit down to this repast and enjoy it, then get up and leave while the rest of the group falls to.
Adjourn to the drawing room afterward for more coffee or tea, and a showing of The Man with Two Brains, in which Steve Martin and Carl Reiner send up the mad scientist sci fi trope in excellent fashion, with a nice little dollop of Rebecca.
Recipes
I’m just going to assume that you know how to boil eggs and fry bacon, or can blackmail someone who does.
Kippers
If you’re in the UK, you’re in luck. If you’re in the USA, get a can or three of King Oscar or Bar Harbor kippers. Or just fry up some tilapia in olive oil and butter, with a sprinkling of turmeric and fresh parsley, and tell your guests they are obviously too hungover to recognize kippers when they see them.
Porridge
Bring a quart of water to a boil; slowly stir in 1 ¼ cup oats, continue stirring clockwise until boiling resumes. Cover and reduce heat, stirring frequently, for 15 minutes. Add ¼ teaspoon of salt and simmer 15 more minutes. Eat standing up if you are of the male persuasion.
Scones
Ingredients
2 cups flour
1/3 cup sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
½ stick of butter, cut up into little pieces
1 cup whipping cream
Stir the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt together. Mix butter into flour mixture with a pastry blender until crumbly. Put in the freezer for five minutes. Then add ¾ cup plus 2 tablespoons cream and stir until the flour mixture is all moistened.
Put dough onto wax paper and press into a 7-inch round; cut round into 8 wedges. Place 2 inches apart on a lightly greased baking sheet. Brush tops of scones with remaining 2 tablespoons of cream. Bake at 450 for 13 – 15 minutes. Be careful not to burn them.
