📗
truly felt like reading my own journals from when I was 18, 19, but infinitely more discerning and eloquent!
“O my self, I will be sincere, sincere to you, completely sincere.”
“I will suffer; that is all. I will be strong enough.”
“I take back everything; I give up all faithfulness … I would like to live! I am going to live ... I am giving myself up; I am letting everything collapse, and I will start over again with something else. I am no longer paying attention to moral values; I am no longer seeking to do something. I want to be, to be. My beloved self, on an evening of exaltation, I promised you I would love you well.”
Jan 26, 2024
Related Recs
🚤
Great musings on embracing the beautiful fabric of life. Only halfway done but its beautiful and better than most books I've read recently.
May 22, 2025
I’ve had this infamous volume Incest: From a Journal of Love: The Unexpurgated Diary of Anaïs Nin, for years; I honestly just bought it because of the provocative title and because I had heard of her but was unfamiliar with her or her work (sub-rec: finally reading the books you actually own that have been sitting on the shelf).
The concept of the narratives we create about our own lives has been on my mind lately as I write a narrative of my own; I was reminded of Nin when thinking about what Gore Vidal wrote (and didn’t write!) about her in his memoir, Palimpsest.
After reading interviews with her + and articles about her life and her approach to publishing her journals (linked)—and seeing myself in her ways of coping, processing, and engaging with the world—I’m very excited to interrupt my own languorous navel-gazing reflection during my protracted period of post-holiday down-time and delve into hers/become too intimately acquainted with her delusional girl persona. The title pretty much exactly shows what to expect here, so it’s probably going to be an uncomfortable, gut-wrenching and painful read, to say the least, but it should be illuminating… pray for my stomach and my heart but it’s a great place to start
Jan 9, 2025
This might be one of the best books I've ever read. Like any great piece of art, every concept and theme is interwoven and unfolds endlessly.
Is it a feminist text about what it means to be a woman who gives so much of herself to others who won't get well?
Is it a book about an artist's relationship to reality?
Is living in "the dream" an immaterial, irresponsible vice, or a profound act of courage and life in the modern world?
Is it beautiful look into the culture of the inter-war period?
Is Anais Nin just the most compelling character in her own life(and perhaps yours)?
You'll have to read it to find out!
Thanks @TATERHOLE for getting me into it!
1d ago
Top Recs from @e333mily
😗
love you . mwah
Feb 16, 2024
❌
hellscape site .. need i say more
Feb 10, 2024
Jan 31, 2024