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diaries

  1. Last Words: The Final Journals of William S. Burroughs

William S. Burroughs

Meth in the morning, back to bed, then for breakfast, “a salted soft-boiled egg with toast, or perhaps fresh-squeezed lemonade, and two cups of very sweet tea.”

William S. Burroughs’s defiant daily routine in the last year of his life.

    Last Words: The Final Journals of William S. Burroughs

    William S. Burroughs

    Meth in the morning, back to bed, then for breakfast, “a salted soft-boiled egg with toast, or perhaps fresh-squeezed lemonade, and two cups of very sweet tea.”

    William S. Burroughs’s defiant daily routine in the last year of his life.

  2. The Diary of Frida Kahlo: An Intimate Self-Portrait
Frida Kahlo
“Only one mountain can know the core of another mountain.”
Frida Kahlo’s passionate handwritten love letters to Diego Rivera:

    The Diary of Frida Kahlo: An Intimate Self-Portrait

    Frida Kahlo

    “Only one mountain can know the core of another mountain.”

    Frida Kahlo’s passionate handwritten love letters to Diego Rivera:

  3. Journals

Kurt Cobain

“No amount of effort can save you from oblivion.”

A rare glimpse inside Kurt Cobain’s handwritten letters and journals:

    Journals

    Kurt Cobain

    “No amount of effort can save you from oblivion.”

    A rare glimpse inside Kurt Cobain’s handwritten letters and journals:

  4. A Writer’s Diary
Virginia Woolf
“The habit of writing thus for my own eye only is good practice. It loosens the ligaments. … What sort of diary should I like mine to be? Something loose knit and yet not slovenly, so elastic that it will embrace anything, solemn, slight or beautiful that comes into my mind. I should like it to resemble some deep old desk, or capacious hold-all, in which one flings a mass of odds and ends without looking them through. I should like to come back, after a year or two, and find that the collection had sorted itself and refined itself and coalesced, as such deposits so mysteriously do, into a mould, transparent enough to reflect the light of our life, and yet steady, tranquil compounds with the aloofness of a work of art. ”
Virginia Woolf on the creative benefits of keeping a diary:

    A Writer’s Diary

    Virginia Woolf

    “The habit of writing thus for my own eye only is good practice. It loosens the ligaments. … What sort of diary should I like mine to be? Something loose knit and yet not slovenly, so elastic that it will embrace anything, solemn, slight or beautiful that comes into my mind. I should like it to resemble some deep old desk, or capacious hold-all, in which one flings a mass of odds and ends without looking them through. I should like to come back, after a year or two, and find that the collection had sorted itself and refined itself and coalesced, as such deposits so mysteriously do, into a mould, transparent enough to reflect the light of our life, and yet steady, tranquil compounds with the aloofness of a work of art. ”

    Virginia Woolf on the creative benefits of keeping a diary:

  5. Passionate Apprentice: The Early Journals, 1897-1909
Virginia Woolf
“All the Arts … imitate as far as they can the one great truth that all can see.”
Virginia Woolf’s early journals and letters:

    Passionate Apprentice: The Early Journals, 1897-1909

    Virginia Woolf

    “All the Arts … imitate as far as they can the one great truth that all can see.”

    Virginia Woolf’s early journals and letters:

  6. The Diary of Anais Nin, Vol. 5: 1947-1955
Anaïs Nin
“You exist by your smile and your presence… Quests, pursuits of concrete securities of one kind or another lose all their importance.” Anaïs Nin offers an antidote to city life.

    The Diary of Anais Nin, Vol. 5: 1947-1955

    Anaïs Nin

    “You exist by your smile and your presence… Quests, pursuits of concrete securities of one kind or another lose all their importance.” Anaïs Nin offers an antidote to city life.

  7. The Diary of Anais Nin, Vol. 4: 1944-1947
Anaïs Nin
“Something is always born of excess: great art was born of great terrors, great loneliness, great inhibitions, instabilities, and it always balances them.”

    The Diary of Anais Nin, Vol. 4: 1944-1947

    Anaïs Nin

    “Something is always born of excess: great art was born of great terrors, great loneliness, great inhibitions, instabilities, and it always balances them.”

  8. Where’s the Truth?: Letters and Journals, 1948-1957
Wilhelm Reich
“To stay sane in an insane world as a creative man or woman he or she must…” 6 rules for creative sanity from iconic psychoanalyst Wilhelm Reich at the link.

    Where’s the Truth?: Letters and Journals, 1948-1957

    Wilhelm Reich

    “To stay sane in an insane world as a creative man or woman he or she must…” 6 rules for creative sanity from iconic psychoanalyst Wilhelm Reich at the link.

  9. The Diary of Anais Nin, Vol. 3: 1939-1944
Anaïs Nin
“The ivory tower of the artist may be the only stronghold left for human values, cultural treasures, man’s cult of beauty.”

    The Diary of Anais Nin, Vol. 3: 1939-1944

    Anaïs Nin

    “The ivory tower of the artist may be the only stronghold left for human values, cultural treasures, man’s cult of beauty.”