Did you know that Kafka instructed his friend Max Brod to destroy all of his diaries and unpublished works after he died. Brod denied Kafka's wishes and published The Trial, Amerika and The Castle. . Brod also published Kafka's diaries after he died. Kafka burned over 90% of his work when he was alive because he hated it. I've always felt it was so sad that his wishes weren't respected.
I do remember reading that somewhere! Yes it’s not very cool to go against someone’s dying wishes like that - even if it has turned out for the greater good artistically! Some ethical dilemmas there.
This is so timely Lo! I had just made a decision to burn my latest crop of journals (I've written in one every day since I first did The Artist Way morning pages in the early 90s) Sometimes I keep a handful but it feels like every time a big move is coming, I just dump a bunch or fire up the grill and watch them burn. I think part of the reason I don't want them read is my daughter. (Sorry Stevie!) I so enjoyed reading this and it actually strengthens my resolve to let them go (well maybe I'll keep a few random ones of this batch)
Even though I have no diaries to worry about anymore, after writing this and communicating with a few people about it, I'm actually very inspired to go through my boxes of old letters and papers and burn stuff too... onwards and upwards always!! And burning them seems like such a freeing statement kind of thing to do. Go Amy!
When I was much younger .. I always wrote, stuck pictures, drew, glued event tickets that I went to, & wrote whom I crossed paths with & met ! These days & years, it’s only the ‘things to do list & shopping to purchase .. written so fast & untidy in my own short hand way .. that by the time I get around to doing the ‘things to do’ or ‘things to purchase’ lists, on bits of scrap cardboard ( from crackers boxes ) I find it quite often difficult to read or even work out what I myself has actually written 😂 x
I feel the same Ally! Endless unreadable lists that trail off scraps of paper. I keep downloading apps to use instead thinking I'll be more efficient but end up returning to my trusty scraps of paper....
Diary Thieves would kinda be a cool name for a band. I didn’t keep diaries but I’ve always had poems and lyrics piped into my mind from beyond the stars. One time, five or six years ago, in a panic because I thought that I was dying, I threw away at least a few thousand of them. The idea of someone reading them was horrifying.
Wow that is a lot of inspiration piped your way! I hope that it was cathartic and that you write many many more! And yes Diary Thieves would indeed be a good band name.
I LOVE this! Did you know that when Christine died, Stevie hand-wrote the lyrics of a Haim song and posted it to her Insta in Christine's honour?
Taylor Swift's diary entry was disappointingly dull. I shredded my own diaries from my teens and twenties in my dad's desk shredder because I was so disturbed by them. A couple remain and I reread one when I was about 45 and was so distressed by my own thought processes and behaviour that I had to book an emergency appointment with my shrink. Fun times.
How horrific that the thieves stole your diaries. That would really do my head in! I bet they regretted doing so at some point in life.
I hope they never slept again until they finally burnt them! I was pretty disturbed by mine too, twelve wasn’t quite like I remembered it. It’s probably a blessing in disguise the others are gone! And I did not know that about Stevie & Haim, how very beautiful.
Did you know that Kafka instructed his friend Max Brod to destroy all of his diaries and unpublished works after he died. Brod denied Kafka's wishes and published The Trial, Amerika and The Castle. . Brod also published Kafka's diaries after he died. Kafka burned over 90% of his work when he was alive because he hated it. I've always felt it was so sad that his wishes weren't respected.
I do remember reading that somewhere! Yes it’s not very cool to go against someone’s dying wishes like that - even if it has turned out for the greater good artistically! Some ethical dilemmas there.
This is so timely Lo! I had just made a decision to burn my latest crop of journals (I've written in one every day since I first did The Artist Way morning pages in the early 90s) Sometimes I keep a handful but it feels like every time a big move is coming, I just dump a bunch or fire up the grill and watch them burn. I think part of the reason I don't want them read is my daughter. (Sorry Stevie!) I so enjoyed reading this and it actually strengthens my resolve to let them go (well maybe I'll keep a few random ones of this batch)
Even though I have no diaries to worry about anymore, after writing this and communicating with a few people about it, I'm actually very inspired to go through my boxes of old letters and papers and burn stuff too... onwards and upwards always!! And burning them seems like such a freeing statement kind of thing to do. Go Amy!
When I was much younger .. I always wrote, stuck pictures, drew, glued event tickets that I went to, & wrote whom I crossed paths with & met ! These days & years, it’s only the ‘things to do list & shopping to purchase .. written so fast & untidy in my own short hand way .. that by the time I get around to doing the ‘things to do’ or ‘things to purchase’ lists, on bits of scrap cardboard ( from crackers boxes ) I find it quite often difficult to read or even work out what I myself has actually written 😂 x
I feel the same Ally! Endless unreadable lists that trail off scraps of paper. I keep downloading apps to use instead thinking I'll be more efficient but end up returning to my trusty scraps of paper....
Diary Thieves would kinda be a cool name for a band. I didn’t keep diaries but I’ve always had poems and lyrics piped into my mind from beyond the stars. One time, five or six years ago, in a panic because I thought that I was dying, I threw away at least a few thousand of them. The idea of someone reading them was horrifying.
Wow that is a lot of inspiration piped your way! I hope that it was cathartic and that you write many many more! And yes Diary Thieves would indeed be a good band name.
I LOVE this! Did you know that when Christine died, Stevie hand-wrote the lyrics of a Haim song and posted it to her Insta in Christine's honour?
Taylor Swift's diary entry was disappointingly dull. I shredded my own diaries from my teens and twenties in my dad's desk shredder because I was so disturbed by them. A couple remain and I reread one when I was about 45 and was so distressed by my own thought processes and behaviour that I had to book an emergency appointment with my shrink. Fun times.
How horrific that the thieves stole your diaries. That would really do my head in! I bet they regretted doing so at some point in life.
I hope they never slept again until they finally burnt them! I was pretty disturbed by mine too, twelve wasn’t quite like I remembered it. It’s probably a blessing in disguise the others are gone! And I did not know that about Stevie & Haim, how very beautiful.
Another beautiful story Loene. I hope you make them into a book. They’re wonderful. 😍