Letters and diaries: close friends, spaces to share the most personal of details and custodians of history. I have always been fascinated by these methods of writing, from analysing the lettering and handwriting to connecting with people from centuries ago through their content. I thought that this International Women's Day would be the perfect time to talk about my interest in these unique methods of writing. Women have been repeatedly prevented from telling their stories, their way: letters and diaries were often the only places they could do so. This post is a celebration of the personal writing they left behind, and of the legacies within them. It is worth noting that having a good level of literacy is a privilege, and so the lives and achievements of many women go untold; of those who have been able to share theirs, here are my favourites!
The Diary of Anne Lister ('Gentleman Jack')
Pen and ink on paper, 26 notebooks, over 4 million words
I have been fascinated by the life and musings of Anne Lister ever since learning about her existence from the BBC series 'Gentleman Jack'. Anne Lister (1794-1840) was a prolific diarist and activist, chronicling her struggles and successes as a businesswoman, owner of Shibden Hall and her identity as a lesbian.
There is so much that I find captivating about Anne Lister, but one of the most poignant things I have come to learn about her was her steadfast refusal to conform in an era when women were another commodity to be traded, wed and oppressed. Instead of hiding her differences, Lister became her own force of nature, displaying wit, intelligence and determination which won over even the most ardent sceptics of her capabilities as a businesswoman.
The diary has always been a place for intellectual and emotional freedom; this, for me, is epitomised by Lister's use of these spaces to express her feelings for other women. Lister's determination to be her own person echoes through the years to modern readers; she is a reminder that queer people have always existed throughout history, and that a powerful desire for authentic love and a fulfilling lifestyle cannot be quashed.
Lister is also a fantastic example of someone who used clothing to express herself: her ubiquitous black outfits subverted the standard of paler colour palettes which were fashionable for women at the time. Lister used these visual expressions to find freedom in a world which wanted to give none; I find it really moving to read about the metaphorical and physical spaces she created in order to be herself. I think modern society still holds many barriers and restrictions for so many people; it feels very reassuring to connect with other women who did not fit the mould, especially through words, a tool used by almost all to, even just momentarily, be truly themselves.
Lister's struggles to find these glimmers of liberty are not to be dismissed; the mockery, abuse and rejection she faced affected her deeply- only later in her life was she able to channel this into a determination to carve out her own space in the world.
As someone who is fascinated by language and the physical shapes of letters, the diaries themselves bring me so much joy! Anne Lister created her own code, which she called her 'crypthand', using her knowledge of ancient Greek and algebra. She became very adept at writing in this code, and didn't leave any spaces between words, making it almost impossible to decipher. In the 1890s, a relative (John Lister) managed to crack the code; scandalised by the sexually explicit content and homosexual references at a time when this was illegal, he had the diaries hidden and locked away. It wasn't until 1988 that extracts from her diaries became published- it amazes me that Lister wrote over four million words in her lifetime, as well as one thousand letters. I think she really was a writer- that almost compulsive urge to document her life, frustrations and desires paints a picture of an intense, deep thinker, with a mathematical brain and someone who refused to make herself smaller in order for other people to feel bigger.
The Diary of Frida Kahlo (kept from 1944-1954)
170 pages, ink, crayon and gouache on paper
I don't know much about Frida Kahlo's life or art, but I fell in love with the kaleidoscopic freedom of her diary.
Kahlo used a combination of rapid sketches and words to explore her beliefs, identity and the subliminal messaging which appeared in her art. The imagery in Kahlo's diaries is much more frantic and less detailed than her usual painting style; working at speed allowed Kahlo to better explore the depths of her consciousness. The thing I love most about her diary is her use of 'automatic writing', a technique of writing without thinking, which was said to show the workings of the unconscious mind. This allowed Kahlo to process her pain from childhood illness and multiple operations, as well as to understand herself.
I love the concept of automatic writing as a viscerally honest way of connecting with ourselves; writing has always felt like the most authentic way of expressing myself and my feelings, so seeing this on paper in Kahlo's diaries was something I really connected with.
Kahlo did not intend for her diaries to be made public; contrary to her wishes, they were published in 1955 to bestseller status.
Letter by Radclyffe Hall to Lytton Strachey
Typewritten and handwritten, dated December 18th 1928
The name 'Lytton Strachey' was what first caught my attention about this letter; I'd recently listened to the 100th episode of the 'You're dead to me' podcast, which discussed one of my favourite topics, the queer legacy of the Bloomsbury Group, of which the openly homosexual writer Lytton Strachey was a prominent member. When I read Radclyffe Hall's letter to him more closely, I became outraged and interested by the censorship trial discussed.
Radclyffe Hall's fifth novel, 'The Well of Loneliness', is said to be the first recognisably lesbian novel published in English, and was famously banned almost immediately after its publication; the jury who voted to have the book banned did not even read it before the trial.
This got me thinking about the wider topic of censorship, particularly in light of the recent book bannings in the US and across the globe. The quote I have headed this section with epitomises Hall's legacy: queerness is not inappropriate, and true inclusion is the only way forward.
The censorship of 'The Well of Loneliness' reminded me of just how often women (and LGBTQIA+ people) are erased from history, and of how anything perceived to be 'different' is oppressed and demonised to the point of the marginalised group feeling that they must be unnatural. This surviving letter is a message to the world that different is not bad or wrong, societal norms are; it feels really poignant to see people like Radclyffe Hall forging their own paths and finding chosen family despite the world's resistance.
Letter by Cleopatra to a wealthy Roman landlord
Papyrus, dated 33 BCE, subject of tax privileges
The fact that this letter has survived for thousands of years is amazing in itself! I was most interested in what it tells us about Cleopatra's legacy as a powerful woman in a time where women were barely recorded in history- take Cleopatra's parents, for example: we know the name of her father, but not of her mother, which sets the precedent for the objectification of Cleopatra.
Most of what I have seen about Cleopatra revolves around her beauty, messy love affairs and mysterious death; I haven't seen much about her role as a ruler. Her intelligence, vast knowledge of diplomacy and political skill have been steadfastly ignored in favour of painting an image of her as a Hollywood-style seducer of men. I think this letter is a reminder worth thinking about: women are more than just their bodies, and the male fear of losing power has meant only one side of history has ever been told.
The 'make it so!' at the end of this letter says just about all: don't erase women, and let everyone's story be told.
I was inspired by and have taken information from two books: Letters of Great Women: Extraordinary correspondence from history's remarkable women by Lucinda Hawksley and Great Diaries: The world's most remarkable diaries, journals, notebooks and letters by Dorling Kindersley, foreword by Kate Williams.
I hope that these letters and diaries inspire you to discover what writing can do for you, and spark a desire to learn more about female legacies and how we can honour them.
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