The Hidden Writer

by Alexandra Johnson

"Whom do I tell when I tell a blank page?" Virginia Woolf's question is one that generations of readers and writers searching to map a creative life have asked of their own diaries. No other document quite compares with the intimacies and yearnings, the confessions and desires, revealed in the pages of a diary. Presenting seven portraits of literary and creative lives, Alexandra Johnson illuminates the secret world of writers and their diaries, and shows how over generations these writers have used the diary to solve a common set of creative and life questions.

In Sonya Tolstoy's diary, we witness the conflict between love and vocation; in Katherine Mansfield and Virginia Woolf's friendship, the nettle of rivalry among writing equals is revealed; and in
Alice James's diary, begun at age forty, the feelings of competition within a creative family are explored.

The Hidden Writer shows how the diaries of Marjory Fleming, Sonya Tolstoy, Alice James, Katherine Mansfield, Virginia Woolf, Anaïs Nin, and May Sarton negotiated the obstacle course of silence, ambition, envy, and fame. Destined to become a classic on writing and the diary as literary form, this is an essential book for anyone interested in the evolution of creative life.

Genres: Writing, Nonfiction, Diary, Biography, Essays, History, Journaling

290 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1997

Reviews

[J · Rating 5 out of 5]

"In violating the truth forum of the diary, Nin was guilty of a kind of psychic incest, violating the taboo of lying to oneself."

Johnson has a very specific expectation of the diary and it comes through the most in her sharply critical passages on Anaïs Nin. But the very thing about Nin that Johnson finds disgusting is what I find fascinating. Because, of course, we all lie to ourselves. If Nin was guilty of anything, it was of subverting the unrealistic expectation of truth.

Often, the lies aren't intentional but the result of warped memory -- even when we record something as it happens we're likely guilty of violating the "truth forum."

Whether writing about Sonya Tolstoy or Alice James, Johnson allows outsider status become a stand-in for authenticity. In reality, I have to imagine the psychic pain of these lives leads to warped accounts and misremembered slights. Katherine Mansfield's ailing body and Virginia Woolf's long walk toward the river are both tales told from one solitary perspective.

In my own poor attempts at journaling, I rarely arrive at anything that feels worthwhile. Maybe my most consistent effort was a journal of the pandemic, and reading back over it only allows me to trace my break and decline -- but gives me no insight.

I think journaling is too serious a craft to be left to casual scribblers like me. It's for the truly invested.

[Linda Layne · Rating 1 out of 5]

I do not know what I expected to find when I opened "The Hidden Writer." I typically prefer to read biographies and autobiographies, as well as journals and diaries. However, I do not believe I have ever read any collection of diaries as depressing and saddening as the collection within "The Hidden Writer." Perhaps it was the chosen collection of writers, I cannot put my finger on it.

I could not wait to finish "The Hidden Writer." I supposed I had hoped to discover some bit of advice or suggestion that I might find encouraging as I develop my own writing "path," I do not know. But if I was looking for encouragement, I had definitely chosen the WRONG source.

I am sure some enjoy "The Hidden Writer," and while I would not recommend it, many others may find what they are looking for. I found these women's lives sad, unappreciated, and at times, suffocating.

[Kathryn Bashaar · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book. As a writer and as a diarist since I was 11 years old, it was right up my alley. Johnson analyzes the diaries of Marjory Fleming, Sonya Tolstoy, Katherine Mansfield, Virginia Woolf and others, very insightfully. She deals with the question of dishonesty in a diary, and whether a writer's diary is used to perfect her life or her art. I especially loved the section on May Sarton, a poet and novelist who didn't turn to the diary form until she was 60, and who wrote eloquently and honestly about aging. It was interesting to me how, even late in life, Sarton addressed the same questions several times over the course of approximately two decades, and continued to gain new perspectives even well into old age.

[Carolyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am a reader of diaries not just famous people, but also the quiet unknowns whose family accidentally packed their late relatives diary in the Goodwill donations. The clerk didn't look close enough so the diary is on the Goodwill shelf. Which is also how I found this book on diaries, while looking for books of fiction. In this book keeping a diary is explained to the new diarist. Hope for those who almost want to give up on their diary and how keeping a diary keeps so many illnesses under management of the soul. For Authors and curious readers, this is an excellent book.

[Miss Lemon · Rating 4 out of 5]

More diaries. Journaling by women who were or weren't published in their day. Interesting to read about women who were related to famous famiily members and how they kept their lives recorded and whether intentially or not, recorded their public relative along the way.

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a wonderful read and afterwards I ended up buying Many of the autobiographies of the women she wrote about including Alice James, Sophia Tolstoy, Virginia Wolf...

[Katherine · Rating 5 out of 5]

An interesting peek into the diaries of celebrated authors and diarists that has spurred an interest in learning more about the authors highlighted in the book. Of particular interest, since I have also been keeping a diary, a journal, and every combination of notebooks for decades. Already cued up another of Alexandra Johnson's books, "Leaving a Trace" as my next read.

[Stephanie · Rating 3 out of 5]

quite repetitive, more enmeshed in its own ideas about the meanings of diaries and life-writing than the work & process of the women writers at hand. a really nice selection & good idea, i just wish the execution was a bit more...rigorous.

[Malika · Rating 3 out of 5]

Beautifully drawn portraits of famous diarists, but mostly tragic women so it was a bit of a downer.

This was the last of my writing/penmanship/letter-writing hyper fixation of the winter/spring of 2024.

[Martha · Rating 3 out of 5]

Like the other book by Alexandra Johnson that I read, "Leaving a Trace," this one was very repetitive and could have had more depth. (I would probably have rated both 2-1/2 stars if GoodReads allowed half-star ratings.)

I did learn about Marjory Fleming, an 18th-century child author I had never heard of before, and learned a little about Alice James, Katherine Mansfield, and Sonya Tolstoy. But I kept wishing there had been more quotes from the journals or factual biographical information and less musing on the importance of diaries. Most of the book seemed to be some variation on "she found her voice through her journals."

[Megan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really wanted to love this book. It’s so relevant to my interests: women writers, their journals and their creative processes? Yes please! But I had a hard time getting through the book; I’m not sure if it was too philosophical or too drawn out in places. The most fascinating section was the one about Anaïs Nin. And the one I connected with the most was May Sarton - and after that section I sighed and thought "that was lovely". I do feel like writing in my own journal now and making more effort to be consistent about it...

[Jean Grant · Rating 4 out of 5]

I didn't read all the portraits. Teh one I loved was on the diarist Alice james, the sister of that bigshot Henry James. Here is what Alexandra Johnson had to say about our Alice:

"Thumbing through stacks of foreign dictionaries, Alice and her brothers learned an invaluable lesson early in life: the verb "to be" is irregular in almost every language."

That's cool!

[Josephine Ensign · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well-researched and well-written accounts of seven women diary/journal-writers, including the now mostly infamous Anais Nin. I found the descriptions of both Sonya Tolstoy and May Sarton the most interesting. I could have done without the rather strange Epilogue, which seemed to just be Johnson's random 'leftover' notes and reflections that she stuffed in at the end.

[Hannah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Totally not what I expected (an anthology) but utterly fascinating anyway, and an inspiring read that is making me journal much more deliberately.

[Kelly Kegans · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've found a new favorite author. Sadly, I think she's written only two books.

[Patricia Stewart · Rating 5 out of 5]

I would highly recommend this book so full of the famous who kept a constant journal faithfully. It is ment to read and savor slowly and then possibly read again.