Daphne du Maurier - Literature's Romantic and Dystopian Voice

Daphne du Maurier (1907-1989) is renowned for her psychologically charged thrillers and gothic sensibility. Alfred Hitchcock's films Rebecca and The Birds are based on her works.

The lecture series consists of three evenings at Opistotalo, the venue of the Helsinki Workers' Institute:

Wed 2.9.2026 at 18:00 - Daphne du Maurier's life story, short stories, and the novel Rebecca. Lecturers: Dr. Esko Suoranta and Veera Mäkelä

Wed 9.9.2026 at 18:00 - Rule Britannia - a satirical dystopia about Britain that diverges from the European commonwealth and aligns with the United States. Lecturer: Dr. Esko Suoranta

Wed 23.9.2026 at 18:00 - The novel Mary Anne, a fictionalized biography of Daphne du Maurier's great-great-grandmother. Lecturer: Veera Mäkelä

Veera Mäkelä specializes in English philology and literature, particularly 19th and 20th-century English romanticism. Dr. Esko Suoranta specializes in English-language literature, especially speculative fiction, science fiction, and popular culture.

Admission is free. If you wish to read the work in advance for each session, books can be found in the Helmet.fi library database or through Finna.fi library search, which includes all libraries in Finland.