Yesterday I went to the library to meet a friend of mine. He was running late (or as it turns out, at a different branch than me) so to pass the time I browsed around. I found a giant volume entitled "From Tennessee Williams' Notebooks" [ed. Margaret Bradam Thorton]. I found a corner with a chair, sat down and began to peruse. I didn't get too far - the fact that my friend and I were at two different libraries became apparent and quickly ended my stay - but I did stumble upon this entry and thought I'd share some:
Saturday, 14 January 1939
P.S. When I read through this book I'm appalled at myself - what a fool I am! - Quelle sottises! - Comment je suis bête! Parbleu!!! - It is valuable as a record of one man's icredible idiocy! - who is reputed to be at least partially sane - or is he? - probably not! - Once in a while - rarely - I show a glimmer of intelligence - most of the time an abominable dullness - what is there in me that remains above and beyond all this - level-eyed, serious, tender, brave, immaculately clean? Yes, there is something in me like that - something that remains apart & keeps the record - "engraves the reckoning" - when that dies then I will be finally and completely dead. Or is that an illusion? Am I all animal, all willfull, blind, stupid beast? Is there another part that is not an accomplice in this mad pilgrimage of the flesh-?
Ah, well, you're getting rhetorical, old boy - good night.
I enjoyed this entry - or rather this post script - because it reminded me of several entries that can be found among my own journals. It's oddly comforting to know that even Tennessee Williams (arguably one of America's finest authors) wrote less than thrilling journal entries, was self-critical and self-deprecating, and rambled on in a slightly non-sensical/pseudo-theoretical manner much like I do in my journal, and well, on this blog.
I like the idea of reading other people's journals... maybe I'll make these journal tidbits a regualr thing..
(And as my own Post Script, I have no idea how to underline on this thing. All of the bold words were underlined in the text I found... I just couldn't figure out how to make that happen)
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