Our Private Lives: Jrnls, Notb

by Daniel Halpern

Journals and diaries are the most intimate form of writing. But by defintion, these wellsprings of self-reflection are meant for the writer's eye alone, depriving the reading public of insight into a crucial step in the creative process. This invaluable anthology, re-issued by Ecco, gathers the private thoughts of many of the most praised novelists, essayists, and poets (and one American president) of our time and exposes the writerly sensibilty at...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0679725326
• ISBN13: 9780679725329
• Release Date: January 1990
• Publisher: Vintage Books USA
• Length: 439 Pages
• Weight: 0.85 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 5.3" x 7.9"

Customer Reviews

journals of modern writers

This book is actually a republication of the sell-out Autumn 1988 issue of the literary Antaeus review, and collects three dozen journal segments from mostly living people, most of them writers (though Bill Clinton, then governor, is included, by coincidence). The journal segments were contributed by people still alive, which means they are self-edited. And ``journal'' is broadly interpreted to range from writer's notebook of ideas to clips from speeches by Clinton. (Among other contributors are Lawrence Durrell, Mavis Gallant, Robert Frost, Thomas Merton, Czeslaw Milosz, Mordecai Richler, and Stephen Spender.) It's a pleasing glimpse into the many different ways people keep journals, and I've enjoyed it.