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James Lees-Milne Complete Diaries
Deep Romantic Chasm: Diaries, 1979-1981
Shipped from UK, please allow 10 to 21 business days for arrival. Deep Romantic Chasm (v. 8 of Diaries). 6.0"x9.1"x0.7"; 0.8 lb; 224 pages. . . .
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First published October 26, 2000
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
July 17, 2023
I do believe this is the 8th volume of diaries I have read by James-Lees Milne (see here for bio of him: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_L... ). The read was quite satisfying. Once I am done with his diaries (I think I have 3 more to go) I will start all over again with Volume 1 and will constantly recycle until the day I die. They are for the most part interesting and I just feel comforted by reading them. He writes about the weather that day....what he ate....who he dined with....what that person looks like.....what that person said. This person put it quite well, ‘What matters the clash of titans, while a clear and fastidious intellect shares its preoccupation with the minutiae of a civilized gentleman’s day?”.
Random notes (I took about 10 pages of notes...):
• ‘Lady S. a great goose but a good-natured, well-meaning soul. Told me that when first married she was taken to stay at Belvoir. That amidst the great luxury of the household it was amazing that there was no toilet paper, as she called it. Instead a basketful of old letters torn in half. She amused herself piecing them together for hours while sitting on the seat.
• ‘Sussuration’ means ‘whispering’...’rustling’ (I did not know that...I had to look it up!)
• ‘Phyllis confirmed what my father always told me, that John, her great-grandfather, brother to mine, Joseph, was very eccentric. Had to arrive in the drawing room, say, his right foot. If he arrived on his left, would go upstairs and start all over again. The process was repeated if he did not succeed the second or third time.’
• Describes a professor as ‘a nice little midget with the face like a baboon’.
• ‘...An old friend of hers is staying, a Mr. Currie, Scotch, who has lived most of his life in France. Rather senile and totally blind. Told me he was about to leave for America to marry third wife, with whom he was in love with fifty-five years ago. Foolishly I asked if he had seen her since then. ‘No,’ he said sadly.’
Do you know what ‘dégringolade’ means? No? Well I will tell you. 😉Sometimes Milne used big words that stumped me. It means ‘a rapid decline or deterioration (as in strength, position, or condition)’, and a synonym and no doubt what you or I would use, ‘downfall’.
Random notes (I took about 10 pages of notes...):
• ‘Lady S. a great goose but a good-natured, well-meaning soul. Told me that when first married she was taken to stay at Belvoir. That amidst the great luxury of the household it was amazing that there was no toilet paper, as she called it. Instead a basketful of old letters torn in half. She amused herself piecing them together for hours while sitting on the seat.
• ‘Sussuration’ means ‘whispering’...’rustling’ (I did not know that...I had to look it up!)
• ‘Phyllis confirmed what my father always told me, that John, her great-grandfather, brother to mine, Joseph, was very eccentric. Had to arrive in the drawing room, say, his right foot. If he arrived on his left, would go upstairs and start all over again. The process was repeated if he did not succeed the second or third time.’
• Describes a professor as ‘a nice little midget with the face like a baboon’.
• ‘...An old friend of hers is staying, a Mr. Currie, Scotch, who has lived most of his life in France. Rather senile and totally blind. Told me he was about to leave for America to marry third wife, with whom he was in love with fifty-five years ago. Foolishly I asked if he had seen her since then. ‘No,’ he said sadly.’
Do you know what ‘dégringolade’ means? No? Well I will tell you. 😉Sometimes Milne used big words that stumped me. It means ‘a rapid decline or deterioration (as in strength, position, or condition)’, and a synonym and no doubt what you or I would use, ‘downfall’.
November 16, 2019
He is now 70 and his diary entries make him seem like a mean, grumpy old man. He fell in love with a young man and was annoyed that his wife reacted with hurt and jealousy. Code word 'bedint' used to describe those people not his social equal. Also not liking the self pity about being no longer attractive.
He kept busy socially, wrote books and traveled abroad and in Britain. It is interesting to read his accounts of a culture very different than mine.
He kept busy socially, wrote books and traveled abroad and in Britain. It is interesting to read his accounts of a culture very different than mine.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews