One of the good reasons to read the Boston Globe
is the appearance of Katherine Powers’ column, A Reading
Life. Always, or almost always on the money, this weeks entry
focuses on diaries—something I am acutely interested in—as
I try for the umpteenth time in my life to keep track of well...That’s
the nub of it for me, What am I trying to keep track of? Powers
offers some reasons to plod on:
“The real essence of a diary, its quintessence,
in fact, is the working of time, the accretion, augmentation, suppression,
rejection and mutation of the writer’s impressions of the world
and himself. It is a gradual accumulation, a product of circumstance
and will. No plot can be imposed on a diary; attempts at it break
down and can be seen through…the tale meanders on entry after
entry, heading who knows where. It is uncontrollable, a force of
nature…”