The Female Diaries

After deciding to have an almost semi stream of consciousness in my blog I have began reading the diaries of two very diverse women who have contributed to the arts in some way. I have chosen to begin alphabetically as I knew this would ensure that I had to delve more deeply into my research.

I wanted also to have a thread, a subject that ties them all together, a common bond, whatever era they lived in, whatever their education, class or circumstance.

Louisa M Alcott wrote "Little Women" in 1868. Set after the Civil War the story examines the lives of four sisters. Louisa kept a diaries/journals from childhood until her death. They were not intended for publication. Her father was a New England Transcendentalist, a movement of philosphers and writers who adhered to an idealistic system of thought. Louise believed in the abolition of slavery, female emancipation and social reform.

  The "Lady Cynthia Asquith" diaries were written between 1915 - 1918. She was married to the son of the Prime Minister and kept a diary as a bet. Considered to be one of the most beautiful women in England she allegedly persuaded  J M Barrie (Peter Pan)  to change his will on his death bed and won the equivalent of "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire" in her lifetime.

On tomorrows blog I am going to reflect on some of their diary entries and use them as a stimulus.

Finally, what do you think the question that forward-thinking Louisa M Alcott was repeatedly asked was?

"Girls like to ask, who the little women marry, as if it was the only aim in a woman's life".

I think I know the answer to that one already. Any thoughts? ...