Literature

What’s in a Diary?

Richard Hopton, Sherborne Literary Society

‘A nd what is more dull than a discreet diary? One might as well have a discreet soul.’ So wrote Henry ‘Chips’ Channon in July 1935. Channon (1897-1958) was a wealthy American who, from the end of the First World War lived in England and, untroubled by the need to earn a living, became a fixture in the upper reaches of society. His diaries are a unique record of the period; observant, acute, waspish, and often wickedly funny. Simon Heffer will be talking about the diaries to the Sherborne Literary Society on Wednesday 20th October.

Indeed, the diaries are so indiscreet that when they were first published in 1967, it was only considered possible to produce a highly abridged and expurgated version. Dr Heffer’s new edition, of which the second of three monumental volumes has just been published, reveals Channon’s diaries in all their scandalous glory.

Diaries are a genre of almost infinite variety, one of the delights of English literature, opening the door to so many aspects of our history; Francis Kilvert’s diaries record the gentle rural existence of a clergyman in the Welsh Marches in the 1870s; Field Marshal Alanbrooke’s diaries, written 70 years later, record the high strategy and deep stress of command during the Second World War.

There could be no greater contrast. Likewise, Tony Benn’s diaries record the ebb and flow of late 20th Century British politics with a high-minded seriousness, whereas Kenneth Williams’s diaries are a mordantly witty commentary on a parallel, theatrical, thespian world. Benjamin Haydon’s diaries record the struggles of an insecure and unsuccessful painter in the early 19th Century,

Arnold Bennett’s the life and work of a confident and acclaimed novelist a century later.

Over the centuries, diarists have come from many walks of life and a wide variety of occupations. Monarchs, politicians, aristocrats, and generals have all left their diaries for posterity, but so too have writers, artists, actors, poets, clergymen, journalists, composers, lawyers, businessmen, prisoners, and children as well as a host of otherwise unremarkable people, men and women, who put pen to paper, day after day, year after year.

The question which hangs over all diaries, from Pepys and John Evelyn in the 17th Century to the present day, is why? Why do people keep diaries? What motivates them to keep going? Mae

West famously remarked, ‘I always say, keep a diary and some day it’ll keep you,’ but the prospect of publication for financial gain does not drive most diarists. Creating a record of one’s life and times, however humdrum, is an obvious motive; so too is the need to express oneself, to let off steam, and to order one’s thoughts. For others, it becomes a habit, part of their persona. One expert in the genre suggested that, ‘Maybe, at its simplest, diary-writing is a personal way of imposing some kind of order on the chaos of the world around us.’

sherborneliterarysociety.com

______________________________________________________ Wednesday 20th October 7pm An Evening with Historian Simon Heffer on his Diaries of Chips Channon, Volumes One and Two The Digby Hall, Hound Street, Sherborne. Members £9, non-members £10 (+ booking fee). Tickets available from sherborneliterarysociety.com/events