Great Aunts Ain't What They Used To Be

[poliphilo]

My great aunt Enid left behind two suitcases full of papers. They were originally lodged- by her instruction- with my cousin Jane and have suddenly, unexpectedly- by a process of death and down-sizing- come to me.

I knew Aunt Enid. She was tall and dignified and wore a ridiculous wig. She was a conscientious Quaker, bred dogs and lived with a long-time female companion. She was always kind to me and once gifted me with a hand-written copy of her family tree. I assumed- as one does with Great Aunts- that she was rather straight-laced, a view I had confirmed when it was conveyed to me- through my parents-  that she rather disapproved of my divorce. She was born in 1888 and lived to be a hundred.

Last night I started reading one of her diaries...

The year is 1922 and Enid is living with one woman and carrying on an affair with another. Her live-in girlfriend is also having an affair (and to complicate matters it's with Enid's sister, my Great Aunt Elfrida)- and has given her lovers identical gold rings. Enid invites Nina to stay and Smithie invites Elf and there is a charged (but painfully civilized) debate about sleeping arrangements. Enid fills page after page with speculation about who Smithie loves best and whether Nina's affections have changed. She also expresses dismay over her partner's suicidal tendencies.

She must have hoped- or she'd have had a bonfire- that all this would be aired one day.

Comments

[rosamicula.livejournal.com]

How superbly fascinating!

I have a theory about Byron's diaries, and their ritual burning by his publisher John Murray and assortment of his chums. The legend has always been that they were just too scandalous to keep, but I have a sneaking suspicion, they weren't. They were probably full of hungover self-pity, misanthropy and protracted complaints about his bowel discomfort.

One of my lecturers at uni was great friends with a Wordsworth expert, who was obsessed with the idea that there was an incestuous relationship between William and his Dorothy. They were agog to see their theory proved right when the technology became available to examine the lengthy crossed out sections of her diaries, but in fact she seems to crossed out bits that even she thought were too dull to keep.

[heleninwales.livejournal.com]

You may have hit on the truth there regarding Byron, especially in the light of the William/Dorothy non-revelation.

[rosamicula.livejournal.com]

Those who read all the letters and diaries, at the burning, hinted darkly at sodomy and scandal, but I think I'd like him even more if it was all haemorrhoids and humphing.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I like your theory about Byron; in fact I find it comforting. I've often damned Murray for burning those journals.