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Overview
“The Birds” by Daphne du Maurier was published in 1952 in her short story collection The Apple Tree
. Many of the stories in this collection pit man against nature, and “The Birds” is a particularly terrifying iteration on that theme. It tells the story of the suddenly unnatural and violent behavior of birds in a small coastal town in England. Du Maurier’s bleak winter setting and the frequent mentions of time build a sense of dread and suspense. The setting and tone of the story attracted the attention of director Alfred Hitchcock, whose 1963 movie The Birds was inspired by du Maurier’s story.Read a full story summary, an in-depth character analysis of Nat Hocken, and descriptions of the main ideas in "The Birds."
