The Diary of Others: The Unexpurgated Diary of Anaïs Nin, 1955-1966

by Anaïs Nin, Paul Herron (Editor), Benjamin Franklin V (Introduction)

The Diary of Others is the penultimate volume of a series of Anaïs Nin’s unexpurgated diaries, which began with Henry and June (1986).

When The Diary of Others opens, Nin, at age fifty-two, has recently entered into a bigamous marriage with the handsome forest ranger Rupert Pole in California, while her legal husband of thirty years, the faithful banker Hugh (Hugo) Guiler is unaware in New York. The first part of the diary, which is called “The Trapeze Life,” details Nin’s complicated efforts to keep each husband unaware of the other as she jetted between them, a process she likened to a bicoastal “trapeze.” At the same time, few publishers were interested in her feminine and introspective fiction, and she considered herself a failed writer. However, she was keeping a diary she had begun at age eleven, and she began to realize that the diary itself was her most important work—but she wondered how she could publish it when it included numerous lovers, incest, and abortion without harming those she loved, which is the subject of the second portion of this volume, called “Others.” The Diary of Others ends with the publication of the first volume of The Diary of Anaïs Nin , which propelled Nin to critical and cultural fame at the age of sixty-three.

Genres: Nonfiction

387 pages, Paperback

First published October 14, 2021

About the author

Writer and diarist, born in Paris to a Catalan father and a Danish mother, Anaïs Nin spent many of her early years with Cuban relatives. Later a naturalized American citizen, she lived and worked in Paris, New York and Los Angeles. Author of avant-garde novels in the French surrealistic style and collections of erotica, she is best known for her life and times in The Diary of Anaïs Nin, Volumes I-VII (1966-1980).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ana%C3%...

Reviews

[Jeff Bursey · Rating 3 out of 5]

The usual level of writing from Nin in these diaries, though the intensity of earlier volumes is missing, as well as her list of grievances and the duplicity in the way she treats her two simultaneous husbands. Many mentions of Marguerite Young, and, of course, Henry Miller and (less so) Lawrence Durrell, Gore Vidal, and a host of lesser lights. At times mean, as well as self-righteous, poetic, caring, and stereotyping.

[Dan · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was a big disappointment to learn that Nin all but quit writing in her journal around 1958 or so. The remainder of the book is a collection of letters written or received by her. Her journal entries are longer and more-essay like then her previous entries. Now in her '50s, she sees that there's no easy way out of the mess she's made with her East Coast and West Coast husbands. It's also heartening to see that she's engaging in current events. Cuba! Kennedy! She's even a poll-worker for LBJ in '64. This is in stark contrast to her past obliviousness to minor events such as World Wars I and II. I wonder if her abandonment of the diary signals that finally, in her '50s, she's growing up.

Readers who have a vested interest in the literary publishing world, particularly that of small presses, might enjoy Nin's navigation of that space in the 50's and 60's. Her prior description of the Paris and New York literary scene in the '30s and '40s seemed like something out of a movie. Her description of readings at colleges and their small journals is readily recognizable. It was rather jarring to see a reference to Prairie Schooner magazine.

This book ends with the publication of the first volume of her diaries. Writers might be interested in how she interacts with friends and relatives who are leery of having their dirty laundry published. Henry Miller often comes off as the grown-up in the room, which is rather surprising, considering how Nin portrays him in earlier diaries, even though he's still kind of a jerk.