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queenbeemimi's review
4.0
Sometimes you read the diary of the first modern lesbian* or the prison letters of the most famous gay man of all time and all you can do is say “dang, you should break up with loser, all they do is torture you emotionally.” Stars: they’re just like us!
Eight years of diaries have been edited very slyly by Helen Whitbread, with the coded passages thankfully translated so we can understand all the parts about affairs of the heart, venereal disease, and clothing (idk, Anne was very private about her clothes I guess). The whole thing is worth a read but if you, as I confess I sometimes did, get bored by the minutiae of how many walnuts one ate after dinner, the italicized parts are what was originally written in code and generally the juicier parts, easily visually distinguishable so you can skip to them if you please. There’s even a kind of plot structure to the book, even though it’s true to life— Anne goes from heartbroken about her lover’s recent marriage and debating changing her style of dress in 1816 to self-assuredly limiting her romantic involvement with said lover and embracing her masculine appearance by 1824.
The book ends years before she sets her eye on Ann Walker, so heads-up if you’re looking for a feel-good lesbian love story: you will not find it in these years. These years are all about Mariana, who kind of sucks, although that’s fitting because Anne also kind of sucks; at one point, Anne expresses of another woman that she’s too educated to make a good companion because Anne liked her girlfriends feminine and silly, which is reductive and kind of mean, especially considering Anne valued her own education highly. Anne also constantly calls people vulgar in a way that invites the reader to consider that Anne is as judgmental of others as they are of her!
It’s really fun, though. I’ve had a good time walking through this history, and am grateful to the journal-keepers of the world, of which I am not one, that things like this can exist.
*I’m not the queer historian who made this claim about what lesbianism is and who was and wasn’t one and I’m not going to argue with anyone about it
Eight years of diaries have been edited very slyly by Helen Whitbread, with the coded passages thankfully translated so we can understand all the parts about affairs of the heart, venereal disease, and clothing (idk, Anne was very private about her clothes I guess). The whole thing is worth a read but if you, as I confess I sometimes did, get bored by the minutiae of how many walnuts one ate after dinner, the italicized parts are what was originally written in code and generally the juicier parts, easily visually distinguishable so you can skip to them if you please. There’s even a kind of plot structure to the book, even though it’s true to life— Anne goes from heartbroken about her lover’s recent marriage and debating changing her style of dress in 1816 to self-assuredly limiting her romantic involvement with said lover and embracing her masculine appearance by 1824.
The book ends years before she sets her eye on Ann Walker, so heads-up if you’re looking for a feel-good lesbian love story: you will not find it in these years. These years are all about Mariana, who kind of sucks, although that’s fitting because Anne also kind of sucks; at one point, Anne expresses of another woman that she’s too educated to make a good companion because Anne liked her girlfriends feminine and silly, which is reductive and kind of mean, especially considering Anne valued her own education highly. Anne also constantly calls people vulgar in a way that invites the reader to consider that Anne is as judgmental of others as they are of her!
It’s really fun, though. I’ve had a good time walking through this history, and am grateful to the journal-keepers of the world, of which I am not one, that things like this can exist.
*I’m not the queer historian who made this claim about what lesbianism is and who was and wasn’t one and I’m not going to argue with anyone about it
lacvbana's review
4.0
Really great compilation of some of Anne Lister’s early diary entries. I really appreciated the notes from the editor and actually would’ve liked more of them for more context!
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