I loved this: the introspection, the analysis, the self-sabotage, and the destructive relationships.

Nin is so honest a chronicler in her feelings that you go beyond the discomfort of being in someone's most intimate thoughts and just accept them as a late-night daily recap conversation with a very very close self-analytical friend (which explains why I underlined and commented in the margins so much). To be fair though, this diary seems to be more "cleaned up" as there's a distinct lack of her home life as well as the more intimate aspects of her relationships. Just an immediate jump from her interior to her analysis sessions or her writing or her friendships.

I have a copy of Henry and June which promises to be the unexpurgated account of the same period and knowing Nin's usual reputation for erotica, perhaps I'll have to work my way up to it. ( )

Her erotic appetite compares to no other... for such a dainty bird. ( )

Hija de padres cubanos, el padre de origen español y la madre de origen danés, vivió en Cuba, París, Nueva York y Los Ángeles. Comenzó su diario a los once años, que escribiría durante toda su vida y que la hizo famosa. A los diecinueve años, trabajó como modelo y después como bailarina de flamenco. En París, en 1930 conoció a Henry Miller, estableciendo una relación amorosa que se extendió a la mujer de este, en un típico “menage a trois”, y también tuvo relaciones incestuosas con su padre. Aunque ya había escrito antes, publicó en 1939 en Estados Unidos, ya con éxito, y en 1966 se comenzó a publicar su diario. Fue nombrada Doctor Honorario en la Escuela Superior de Arte de Filadelfia en 1973, y un año después, elegida miembro del Instituto Nacional de las Artes y las Letras.

Sus obras son novelas de carácter erótico y estilo surrealista, si bien es conocida por su diario, que registró una edición censurada y posteriormente una completa.

I bought these diaries at the Village Book Store in the Emory Village in 1977. I am glad I did, because they would probably have burned with the store burned. As a diarist myself there is so much here.It is so beautifully written.
A few quotes I underlined
"Ordinary life does not interest me. I seek only the hihgh moments I am in accord with the surrealists, searching for the marvelous" p; 5
and
Dear diary, you have hampered me as an artist. But at the same time you have kept me alive as a human being. I created you because I needed a friend. And talking to this friend I have perhaps wasted my life." p. 260
No, you have not dear author. You have written essays, not common diary entries of comings and goings, meals, travels.

An unbelievable life. Truth is indeed stranger than fiction. ( )