Favorite Colors
It’s kind of funny to discover that even in one of the most famous diaries ever published, a work that overflows with references to the famous and infamous, discussions about favorite colors pops. Of course, with this crowd, even that discussion has to take on some artistically unusual bent:
“Henry’s [Miller] favorite color is yellow, and that is the color of philosophy.”
Travels
Nin traveled extensively and found herself among the best that history has to offer. She writes of how just being in such close proximity to things and places that are endowed with age and experience can begin to affect one’s psyche:
“historic pageantry affects one like a masquerade, one is entered into by a figure from the past, one lies down on the elbow of another personage, one is haunted, possessed begins to act like a ventriloquist…too much history affects you like a costume.”
What a Diary Is for
While mundane stuff like favorite colors occasionally show up and a narrative of events and conversations are pervasive, there are also those entries that one expects from a diary. Introspection and honesty about fears and wonder, expressed through the metaphorical language of the professional writer:
“I feel that from the very beginning life played a terrible conjurer’s trick on me. I lost faith in it.”
The Weaver
Nin sets forth for herself a rather monumental goal for her creativity. She defines the totality of her artistic endeavors not just in metaphorical terms, but grandiose metaphorical terms:
“All of my creation is an effort to weave a web of connection with the world: I am always weaving it because it was once broken.”
Psychological Self-Analysis
At one point, Nin engages the power of metaphor to expand and broaden meaning by comparing the psyche to the weather. In a singular moment of self-analysis, she asserts a claim to the kind of weather patterns that follow her without cease:
“My familiar climate is anxiety.”
