June 21 1918. ”What is the matter with to-day? It is thin, white, as lace curtains are white, full of ugly noises (e.g. people opening the drawers of a cheap chest and trying to shut them again). All food seems stodgy and indigestible – no drink is hot enough. One looks hideous, hideous in the glass – bald as an egg – one feels swollen- and all one’s clothes are tight. And everything is dusty, gritty – the cigarette ash crumbles and falls – marigolds spill their petals over the dressing table. In a house nearby someone is trying to tune a cheap cheap piano.
Hotels. I seem to spend half of my life arriving at strange hotels. And asking if I may go to bed immediately. ‘And would you mind filling my hot water bottle?… Thank you; that is delicious. No I shan’t require anything more.’
‘The strange door shuts upon the stranger, and then I slip down in the sheets. Waiting for the shadows to come out of the corners and spin their slow, slow web over the ugliest Wallpaper of All.” Katherine Mansfield
‘’The mind I love must have wild places, a tangled orchard where dark damsons drop in the heavy grass, an overgrown little wood … a pool that nobody’s fathomed the depth of, and paths threaded with flowers planted by the mind. ‘’ Katherine Mansfield
The Journal: A Few Thoughts.
1) Who is speaking and where are they speaking from? And to whom? Think about the VOICE of the writer/speaker. Are you reading something that feels intensely private, as if a mind is talking to itself, or does it feel more public? As if a ‘reader’ is being invited into a dialogue or for posterity? (Like an explorer’s journal).
2) If the writing seems private and confidential, how does this affect the choice of language? Is the language very sensory? Emotionally disclosing? If more public, then again consider the choice of language or lexis? Does the Journal in this case give lots of information as well as committing thoughts/reflections?
3) Are the dates in the journal important? Does the chronology suggest a ‘journey’ or change in the life of the writer? Metamorphosis even?
4) Are we eavesdropping in a sense? Overhearing the private thoughts of an individual? Or is there a more public aspect as if the writer wants to record their experiences for a specific purpose?
5) Consider the examples. Are they intensely private and revealing or do they tell a story too? Or if a fictional device, are the entries convincing? Why?