This article is from the source 'bbc' and was first published or seen on . It will not be checked again for changes.
You can find the current article at its original source at http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/magazine/8237866.stm
The article has changed 3 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.
| Version 0 | Version 1 |
|---|---|
| What makes a truly great diary? | What makes a truly great diary? |
| (about 3 hours later) | |
| It's 10 years since the death of Alan Clark - a politician who found distinction in his diary style, if not his career. What makes a great diary and why is the journal such a compelling way of telling a story? | It's 10 years since the death of Alan Clark - a politician who found distinction in his diary style, if not his career. What makes a great diary and why is the journal such a compelling way of telling a story? |
| Ten years ago the former Conservative MP Alan Clark died of a brain tumour aged 71. Despite being a highly regarded defence minister, he never reached cabinet rank and was most famous for his determinedly reckless or independent streak. | Ten years ago the former Conservative MP Alan Clark died of a brain tumour aged 71. Despite being a highly regarded defence minister, he never reached cabinet rank and was most famous for his determinedly reckless or independent streak. |
| But it was not his political career that he will be remembered for, rather his three volumes of published diaries. Indiscreet, amusing, bitter and full of his eccentric private and home life, the diaries were compared by reviewers to those of Samuel Pepys. | But it was not his political career that he will be remembered for, rather his three volumes of published diaries. Indiscreet, amusing, bitter and full of his eccentric private and home life, the diaries were compared by reviewers to those of Samuel Pepys. |
| CLARK'S DIARY STYLE ANALYSED Ion Trewin notes five elements that distinguish Clark's style.Contains strong language [379 KB] Most computers will open this document automatically, but you may need Adobe Reader Download the reader here | CLARK'S DIARY STYLE ANALYSED Ion Trewin notes five elements that distinguish Clark's style.Contains strong language [379 KB] Most computers will open this document automatically, but you may need Adobe Reader Download the reader here |
| As the satirist Craig Brown put it in a review: "The skill in the diaries and memoirs of most politicians lies in the delicate airbrushing out of their faults and weaknesses. Alan Clark's self-portrait, on the other hand, is defiantly warts-and-all." | As the satirist Craig Brown put it in a review: "The skill in the diaries and memoirs of most politicians lies in the delicate airbrushing out of their faults and weaknesses. Alan Clark's self-portrait, on the other hand, is defiantly warts-and-all." |
| For the political obsessives, the diaries opened up with breathtaking frankness the status anxiety, vicious backbiting, and fleeting moments of triumph and despair amid the general tedium of being a minister. | For the political obsessives, the diaries opened up with breathtaking frankness the status anxiety, vicious backbiting, and fleeting moments of triumph and despair amid the general tedium of being a minister. |
| But in the end the politics was not the main selling point. | But in the end the politics was not the main selling point. |
| "There have been half a million copies sold and not all of those people would be interested in the politics," says Ion Trewin, who edited the diaries. "He becomes a friend and a real person." | "There have been half a million copies sold and not all of those people would be interested in the politics," says Ion Trewin, who edited the diaries. "He becomes a friend and a real person." |
| Mr Clark invites us into a richly described world that is far removed from that of his readers - his struggles to pay for his half a dozen houses, including Saltwood Castle where he lived most of the year; his loving but fraught marriage to Jane, his affair with the young woman referred to only as "X", his many animal friends, the lovingly maintained vintage cars, and his unembarrassed descriptions of bodily functions. | Mr Clark invites us into a richly described world that is far removed from that of his readers - his struggles to pay for his half a dozen houses, including Saltwood Castle where he lived most of the year; his loving but fraught marriage to Jane, his affair with the young woman referred to only as "X", his many animal friends, the lovingly maintained vintage cars, and his unembarrassed descriptions of bodily functions. |
| It was part Brideshead Revisited, part the Westminster Hour, part Adrian Mole. Mr Clark wrote in the preface to his first volume: "Diaries are intensely personal - to publish them is a baring, if not a flaunting, of the ego." | It was part Brideshead Revisited, part the Westminster Hour, part Adrian Mole. Mr Clark wrote in the preface to his first volume: "Diaries are intensely personal - to publish them is a baring, if not a flaunting, of the ego." |
| Mr Trewin, whose biography of Mr Clark is published this month, believes the diary form is compelling because it throws the reader into the moment. | Mr Trewin, whose biography of Mr Clark is published this month, believes the diary form is compelling because it throws the reader into the moment. |
| Knitting naratives | Knitting naratives |
| "It's the fact they are written as the events are taking place. It isn't the rose tinted reminiscing of a memoir. And diaries are a bit like soap operas. You've got different running stories and you cut in between them." | "It's the fact they are written as the events are taking place. It isn't the rose tinted reminiscing of a memoir. And diaries are a bit like soap operas. You've got different running stories and you cut in between them." |
| In a diary you can go from joy to hurt in a day or gallop through a week's worth of happenings in one entry Sue Townsend | In a diary you can go from joy to hurt in a day or gallop through a week's worth of happenings in one entry Sue Townsend |
| And one of the strengths of Mr Clark's diaries was his ability to knit these different narratives together without the need for reams of explanatory footnotes, Mr Trewin says. | |
| Sue Townsend, the creator of what her publisher Penguin calls "Britain's best loved diarist" - Adrian Mole - was an admirer of Mr Clark's diaries, if not his politics. | Sue Townsend, the creator of what her publisher Penguin calls "Britain's best loved diarist" - Adrian Mole - was an admirer of Mr Clark's diaries, if not his politics. |
| "They're great - you recognise that courageous honesty he always had," she says. | "They're great - you recognise that courageous honesty he always had," she says. |
| Ms Townsend was the best selling novelist of the 1980s thanks to Adrian Mole so understands better than anyone how the genre works. | Ms Townsend was the best selling novelist of the 1980s thanks to Adrian Mole so understands better than anyone how the genre works. |
| "A good diarist needs to be venal - they must have quite severe flaws and be wretchedly human like Alan Clark," she says. "You were horrified at his behaviour but you're laughing at the same time. You're thinking 'please don't make a speech when you're drunk " | "A good diarist needs to be venal - they must have quite severe flaws and be wretchedly human like Alan Clark," she says. "You were horrified at his behaviour but you're laughing at the same time. You're thinking 'please don't make a speech when you're drunk " |
| Adrian Mole shares some of that mix of flaws and endearing qualities. | Adrian Mole shares some of that mix of flaws and endearing qualities. |
| "Mole often unconsciously reveals himself to be not a very nice person and a liar. But he is also bullied and shows himself to have an incredibly kind heart." | "Mole often unconsciously reveals himself to be not a very nice person and a liar. But he is also bullied and shows himself to have an incredibly kind heart." |
| In her youth Ms Townsend had loved Diary of A Nobody with its "nit picking" fictional diarist, Pooter. And it was while working on youth projects with teenage boys in Leicester that the idea of Mole emerged. | In her youth Ms Townsend had loved Diary of A Nobody with its "nit picking" fictional diarist, Pooter. And it was while working on youth projects with teenage boys in Leicester that the idea of Mole emerged. |
| Prostate or prostrate? | Prostate or prostrate? |
| "There was a side to them that was very endearing. I knew they had this secret life that most adults and even their parents never saw. And while women have an outlet for their secret fears - their friends - men don't talk to each other. That's why it was the Secret Diary of Adrian Mole." | "There was a side to them that was very endearing. I knew they had this secret life that most adults and even their parents never saw. And while women have an outlet for their secret fears - their friends - men don't talk to each other. That's why it was the Secret Diary of Adrian Mole." |
| If blogging had been around during Pepys' time he wouldn't have used it - he is writing a diary for himself Phil Gyford | If blogging had been around during Pepys' time he wouldn't have used it - he is writing a diary for himself Phil Gyford |
| Ms Townsend has kept faith with the diary form and the latest Mole instalment, The Prostrate Years, is published in November. It details the financial crisis - "when Britain fell to its knees" as she puts it - and Mole's struggle against prostate cancer. | Ms Townsend has kept faith with the diary form and the latest Mole instalment, The Prostrate Years, is published in November. It details the financial crisis - "when Britain fell to its knees" as she puts it - and Mole's struggle against prostate cancer. |
| She is still in love not just with Mole but the diary format. Mole's life allows her to reflect the zeitgeist of modern Britain, from the Iraq war to the fact that at least half the population say prostrate when they mean prostate. | She is still in love not just with Mole but the diary format. Mole's life allows her to reflect the zeitgeist of modern Britain, from the Iraq war to the fact that at least half the population say prostrate when they mean prostate. |
| And she loves the regular peaks and troughs that a diary permits. | |
| "In normal fictional prose the author has to express a certain mood for a whole bloody chapter. But in a diary you can go from joy to hurt in a day or gallop through a week's worth of happenings in one entry. My favourite entry is 'Nothing happened today apart from a hailstorm at 3pm' - it conveys a certain mood." | "In normal fictional prose the author has to express a certain mood for a whole bloody chapter. But in a diary you can go from joy to hurt in a day or gallop through a week's worth of happenings in one entry. My favourite entry is 'Nothing happened today apart from a hailstorm at 3pm' - it conveys a certain mood." |
| While Ms Townsend is uninterested in blogging, there's a clear argument that blogs are simply the diaries de nos jours. In an uncanny echo of Mole the prominent technology writer Jeff Jarvis recently revealed on his blog, buzzmachine.com, that he had prostate cancer. | While Ms Townsend is uninterested in blogging, there's a clear argument that blogs are simply the diaries de nos jours. In an uncanny echo of Mole the prominent technology writer Jeff Jarvis recently revealed on his blog, buzzmachine.com, that he had prostate cancer. |
| "Why am I even telling you about this?" he asked. "As I wrote in [my book], I gained tremendous benefit sharing another ailment - heart arrhythmia - here on my blog. And so I have no doubt that by sharing this, I will get useful advice and warm support (and maybe a few weeks' respite from trolls). I argue for the benefits of the public life. So I'd better live it." | "Why am I even telling you about this?" he asked. "As I wrote in [my book], I gained tremendous benefit sharing another ailment - heart arrhythmia - here on my blog. And so I have no doubt that by sharing this, I will get useful advice and warm support (and maybe a few weeks' respite from trolls). I argue for the benefits of the public life. So I'd better live it." |
| So is the blog, the new diary? | So is the blog, the new diary? |
| Getting intimate | Getting intimate |
| Phil Gyford, a web designer by trade, decided in 2002 to post an entry from Samuel Pepys' diary, online, every day. He was curious to read this canonical text but intimidated by its sheer size - it covers a period from 1660 to 1669 - so resolved to break it down into daily bite sized chunks. | Phil Gyford, a web designer by trade, decided in 2002 to post an entry from Samuel Pepys' diary, online, every day. He was curious to read this canonical text but intimidated by its sheer size - it covers a period from 1660 to 1669 - so resolved to break it down into daily bite sized chunks. |
| Confessing on a page - diarist Samuel Pepys and Jeff Jarvis | Confessing on a page - diarist Samuel Pepys and Jeff Jarvis |
| Six-and-a-half years on the project continues. "The site's probably not as popular as it was at the start because we got a lot of publicity at the beginning. But we still get about 30,000 people a month and 20 or 30 comments a day about what he's up to." | Six-and-a-half years on the project continues. "The site's probably not as popular as it was at the start because we got a lot of publicity at the beginning. But we still get about 30,000 people a month and 20 or 30 comments a day about what he's up to." |
| There is another three years to go and Mr Gyford is committed to accompanying Pepys to the end. He's even taken to putting a few snippets from Pepys on Twitter, giving updates about the great man would have been doing at that time. | There is another three years to go and Mr Gyford is committed to accompanying Pepys to the end. He's even taken to putting a few snippets from Pepys on Twitter, giving updates about the great man would have been doing at that time. |
| So does Mr Gyford think that technology has replaced or improved on the old fashioned diary? | So does Mr Gyford think that technology has replaced or improved on the old fashioned diary? |
| "Even if blogging had been around during Pepys' time he wouldn't have used it. He is writing a diary for himself. But if you write a blog you want people to read it at that time. And Twitter is more like having a conversation with people." | "Even if blogging had been around during Pepys' time he wouldn't have used it. He is writing a diary for himself. But if you write a blog you want people to read it at that time. And Twitter is more like having a conversation with people." |
| But technology is a red herring. We may progress from quill to Biro to laptop or mobile phone, but people will always be compelled to put down their most intimate thoughts in a secret diary, Mr Gyford believes. | But technology is a red herring. We may progress from quill to Biro to laptop or mobile phone, but people will always be compelled to put down their most intimate thoughts in a secret diary, Mr Gyford believes. |
| And when that individual - be it Samuel Pepys, Anne Frank, Alan Clark, or for that matter an Adrian Mole or Bridget Jones - can capture the pain and joy of being alive within a daily journal, others are always going to be fascinated. In essence it's the chance to see inside the head of a fellow human being. And for Ion Trewin it's why Alan Clark's diaries will go on speaking to future generations: | And when that individual - be it Samuel Pepys, Anne Frank, Alan Clark, or for that matter an Adrian Mole or Bridget Jones - can capture the pain and joy of being alive within a daily journal, others are always going to be fascinated. In essence it's the chance to see inside the head of a fellow human being. And for Ion Trewin it's why Alan Clark's diaries will go on speaking to future generations: |
| "It's not so much to do with political history. It's one man's life and it comes back to the old idea of a rattling good yarn. He was a diary writer without parallel in modern times." | "It's not so much to do with political history. It's one man's life and it comes back to the old idea of a rattling good yarn. He was a diary writer without parallel in modern times." |
| Add your comments on this story, using the form below. | Add your comments on this story, using the form below. |
| The BBC may edit your comments and not all emails will be published. Your comments may be published on any BBC media worldwide. Terms & Conditions | The BBC may edit your comments and not all emails will be published. Your comments may be published on any BBC media worldwide. Terms & Conditions |