Burn Your Diaries, Kids

[poliphilo]

I begin to understand why executors burn diaries. Enid's diaries are shocking. My image of her as a wise and dignified elder is being replaced by one of her as a complete and utter twerp. Mind you, I love this "new" Enid much more than I did the old.

Comments

[steepholm.livejournal.com]

Wise and dignified Enid must also have loved twerp Enid enough not to dispose of her. Even if it wasn't a conscious decision, omission is a kind of imprimatur.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Actually she was very clear she wanted these papers preserved. They were willed to my cousin Jane with the proviso that anything Jane didn't want should go to The Society of Friends.

[artkouros.livejournal.com]

Publish! Publish! You must!

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

It's a daunting prospect. It'd be a huge book.

[artkouros.livejournal.com]

Maybe you could find a journalist or author to do it.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Yes, but...

1. Enid wasn't famous and nobody she knew is famous.

2. She wasn't a particularly good writer.

3. we'd have to pay someone to do it and Idon't think we'd get our money back

[cmcmck.livejournal.com]

My written diaries will go to my niece because she asked! :o)

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

You sure that's a good idea?

[cmcmck.livejournal.com]

Think about my 'interesting' background................

[idahoswede.livejournal.com]

"Wicked" people are always so much more interesting than "good" people.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

That's because "good" people are rarely good in any real sense, just well-behaved.

[pondhopper.livejournal.com]

They may be shocking but she WANTED her history preserved for whatever reason and you're honouring that wish. Only those who don't want their lives made public should burn their diaries or not write any in the first place.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Put it this way, don't keep a diary if you want to be preserve your dignity in death.

[ooxc.livejournal.com]

I'm not convinced, even when people say that they want their papers burned, that it's really what they want. I was greatly relieved, some years ago, when someone else took that decision out of my hands; they removed the papers, and the executor, who was present did nothing to stop them doing so.

[sorenr.livejournal.com]

It makes me wonder what will happen to my LiveJournal over time... It has public posts and friends-only posts, and then there is the barrage of either custom-filtered posts or completely private posts that tells the stories I'm not comfortable sharing with the world at large.

But then, to quote Michael Frayn: "The more I've explained, the deeper the uncertainty has become. Well, I shall be happy to make one more attempt. Now we're all dead and gone. Now no one can be hurt, now no one can be betrayed." (from "Copenhagen") Perhaps things make more sense when there is no longer a subject, when it's all abstract history.