A Literary Alphabet: D is for Diaries

“I never travel without my diary. One should always have something sensational to read in the train.” - Oscar Wilde

If you saw a diary lying open what would you do? Those personal documents, often made impenetrable and more enticing by little gold padlocks, tantalize us because they offer a private glimpse into an inner world. The act of reading someone’s diary is the ultimate act of literary invasion. And yet, go into a bookshop and the shelves will be full of diaries. Diaries, though strangely performative, are meant to be for the writer’s eyes only so we get a sense of rawness, of intimacy and that makes it compelling.

With this in mind it’s not surprising that authors turn to the confessional form of the diary for their novels. Notes on a Scandal by Zoe Heller offers a gripping insight into the working of a character’s mind as obsession takes hold. Dodie Smith’s I Capture the Castle puts an adolescent girl at the centre of the action, negotiating the onset of adulthood and first love in the pages of her journal. Consider how much the nation took Bridget Jones to their hearts after getting to know her through her diary entries. It seems that diaries can hook a reader like nothing else.

How about the real thing? There are plenty of non-fiction diaries to dig into. There is something so powerful about someone writing their life and us getting to read it like it’s a letter to the future. Think of how many people have been able to understand the realities of the Holocaust from Anne Frank’s The Diary of a Young Girl, or the sociohistorical riches we’ve been able to garner from Samuel Pepys’ diary. What most fascinates me are the diaries of our greatest writers. Virginia Woolf’s diaries can be dipped in and out of for instant inspiration. I love the fact she saw her diary as a way of practising: ‘But what is more to the point is my belief that the habit of writing thus for my own eye only is good practice. It loosens the ligaments.’ The diaries offer an insight into the creative process that can help those of us writing today.

If you don’t keep a diary maybe it’s time to start. Read all about why here.

What are your favourite diaries, both fiction and non-fiction? Let me know in the comment section below…