Aug 16, 2024
What are your favourite published diaries or collections of letters?
amf1 year ago
Amiel's Journal. A million times forever.
anselmkiefer1 year ago
Of all the things you could've said. I picked up a beautiful old copy of Amiel's Journal at random in a used bookshop a few weeks ago. Was enchanted by what I read on every page I flipped to, but haven't yet started actually reading it in earnest. Truly looking forward to it. Anything I should know about him as context?
amf1 year ago
Honestly, I saw a reference to Amiel god knows where, and left it in my telephone book of a to-read list for years. When I finally picked it up? I went in completely blind, and I honestly think that's the best way to do it. And despite the numerous references to Schleiermacher and obscure questions of Protestant theology, you don't need a firm grounding there, you can just vibe. Go get 'em tiger.
I haven't read all of them, but Thomas Merton's journals are interesting. The whole collection is probably overlong, but I take a lot of comfort in his voice. One of the most interesting voices of Christian theology in the past hundred years (alongside Simone Weil), but he also writes about world religions, such as Taoism and Buddhism, with a genuine appreciation and admiration.
anselmkiefer1 year ago
I once spent a summer as a research assistant to a professor who adored Merton. Very grateful to him for introducing me to his work. Couldn't agree more. I've never read his journals though. Thank you for the recommendation.
melancholica1 year ago
Plath's journals (unabridged - no interest in Ted Hughes' censorship) - she writes very beautifully about the most mundane daily occurrences, and following the arc of her thoughts brings a deeper level of meaning to her work.
Pepys remains the GOAT for me. One of a handful of instantly recognizable voices in English literature. I'm basically perpetually reading Pepys. I'm currently reading (slowly, as intended) the most wonderful anthology of diaries. It's called The Assassin's Cloak, published by Canongate, and collects great diary entries for each day of the year. Obviously, not all are to my taste (Thoreau and Warhol, to pick two random wankers) but there's loads of high-quality stuff, from the bitchy to the history-making to the mundane. One collection of letters I adore is "Floating Worlds: the Letters of Edward Gorey and Peter F. Neumeyer". It's full of funny little observations and comic postcards they sent each other while documenting a lifelong friendship. Definitely a must-read if you love Gorey.
I've been meaning to check out anais nin's diaries. Heard great things about them, but I am unaware beyond that context. If anyone has good or bad words to say about them, would love to hear.
They're good, but I preferred her novels, esp. House of Incest.
pseudointellectual1 year ago
Hernan Cortez are pretty cool when you look at them from the perspective of he was full of shit and was a lawyer before becoming a conquistador. So all his letters to the crown are him laying out a bullshit legal framework for all the illegal shit he did in Mexico. Spanish colonization actually had a legal framework behind it so you can't just go out and kill and loot without a document saying you can.
pseudointellectual1 year ago
A document that Cortez did not have I should add.
Sontag's Reborn and As Consciousness Is Harnessed to Flesh. Her lists are delightful