A Book of One's Own

A literary tour through the notable diaries of history, giving us a window into the private lives of the famous and infamous, with a new introduction by the author

Before the age of social media, chronicling one’s life was a private matter. In this witty and wide-ranging exploration of the art and history of diary writing, Thomas Mallon allows us to take a rare peek at the personal journals of storied individuals.

The diaries bring to life the neuroses, artistic practices, and preoccupations of their keepers. Virginia Woolf casts her sharp eye on friends and acquaintances. Samuel Pepys chronicles political life in Restoration England. Sylvia Plath’s notebooks are filled with images she will turn into poems. F. Scott Fitzgerald records overheard conversation while Leonardo da Vinci scribbles down his dreams. Anaïs Nin treats her diary as a tell-all, reflecting on love, sex, and death across several volumes and decades.

In A Book of One’s Own, Mallon is a sympathetic, entertaining, and insightful guide, transporting us across eras and continents with infectious joie de vivre. Here is a profound and compelling case for the diary as the quintessential literary art form as an act of defiance against being forgotten, and a stab at immortality.THOMAS MALLON is the author of eleven novels, including Henry and Clara, Dewey Defeats Truman, Fellow Travelers, Watergate, Landfall, and Up With the Sun. He is a frequent contributor to The New Yorker, The New York Times Book Review, and other publications. In  2011 he received the American Academy of Arts and Letters' Harold D. Vursell Memorial Award for prose style. He has been the literary editor of GQ and the deputy chairman of the National Endowment for the Humanities. He lives in Washington, D.C.