Daphne du Maurier’s remythification of landscape in ‘The Old Man’ and ‘The Lordly Ones’

Daphne du Maurier’s ‘The Old Man’ (1952) and ‘The Lordly Ones’ (1959) share thematic and structural similarities, particularly in their exploration of evocative landscapes imbued with mythic significance. Both stories also depict parental neglect and cruelty, as well as animal–human hybridity, reinforcing Cornwall’s literary tradition as a liminal space where myth and psychological tension coexist. Du Maurier’s landscapes function as chronotopes, collapsing past and present into mythic time, and as palimpsests, layering folklore, memory and personal experience. Drawing from psychogeographic traditions, the stories map emotional and historical anxieties onto physical settings, transforming the West Country into a site of literary remythification. Ultimately, these stories reveal the cyclical nature of human brutality, blending Gothic and mythological elements to resist nostalgia and instead present a dynamic, psychologically rich vision of place.