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jducoeurI'm currently boxing up the books I didn't sell, and still making finds.
Today I'm boxing the remaining children's books -- mostly the ones I remember fondly from my childhood, or which were clearly favorites of Jane's. And I came across the two slim blank books. I had clearly glanced at them at the time of the book sale, and put them back because they had Jane's handwriting in them. This time, I actually took a better look.
They're Jane's high school diaries, circa 1977.
I confess, I find myself weirdly torn. On the one hand, there's a lot of cultural baggage that you never read someone's diary. OTOH, I know my wife: she would have wanted to be remembered, as completely as possible, rather than simply put on an over-simplified pedestal. I'm pretty sure that, this many years on, she'd rather they be fondly read, to flesh out memories of her and better understand who she was and where she came from.
Not today, though. They'll get brought home and put on the shelves, not boxed up, but I suspect that this is going to be a slow process of discovery...
Today I'm boxing the remaining children's books -- mostly the ones I remember fondly from my childhood, or which were clearly favorites of Jane's. And I came across the two slim blank books. I had clearly glanced at them at the time of the book sale, and put them back because they had Jane's handwriting in them. This time, I actually took a better look.
They're Jane's high school diaries, circa 1977.
I confess, I find myself weirdly torn. On the one hand, there's a lot of cultural baggage that you never read someone's diary. OTOH, I know my wife: she would have wanted to be remembered, as completely as possible, rather than simply put on an over-simplified pedestal. I'm pretty sure that, this many years on, she'd rather they be fondly read, to flesh out memories of her and better understand who she was and where she came from.
Not today, though. They'll get brought home and put on the shelves, not boxed up, but I suspect that this is going to be a slow process of discovery...
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(no subject)
Date: 2013-02-13 05:50 pm (UTC)My town has a mailing list, and a member of the town historical society has been posting daily entries from a diary from a local resident, written just after the turn of the 20th century. (This has been ongoing for years, from a small selection of diaries.)
People avidly follow the entries, and discuss the food, clothing, books, plays and "characters" of the diary. Even the notations on the weather. Long discussions of public transit in the area circa 1904 versus now, and so forth.
Who knows what Jane's diaries might mean, 70 years from now?
(no subject)
Date: 2013-02-13 07:37 pm (UTC)