In 1962 Doris Lessing published The Golden Notebook. In 2005 Time magazine listed the book as one of the best 100 English novels of, or rather, since 1923.
It explored mental and societal breakdowns. What fascinated me about it was its use of four journals to tell the story.
Black – of the years leading up to and through WW11;
Red – experiences as a Communist party member;
Yellow – of her painful ending of her love affair(s?) ;
Blue – a personal journal journal memories, dreams …
I was enthralled with the book when I first read it in the 1970s. A recent re-reading did not go well. I grew
sick of, it quickly.
However, the idea of keeping different journals for different parts of life stayed with me. I now have several journals. Rather than having them set apart by colors, I have them marked by gaffer tape. Gaffer tape, a far superior thing to duct tape. It comes in a wide variety of colors. I have black, yellow, and orange. I use them to mark my books in a different manner. My Morning Pages have a two inch stripe along the top of the book. My sketch journal has a vertical stripe along the left side. A book on cooking has a horizontal stripe two inches down from the top. My newest journal is Languages. I keep notes on the ones I am studying (Spanish, Latin, French, and Norwegian) with, perhaps, some bits about English.
In the dark I can identify which book I have in hand. This is handy, as I keep the current ones stacked by my chair. All of this thanks to Doris Lessing. There was a movie, with Jason Robards and Jane Fonda and Vanessa Redgrave called Julia. Oh, wait, that was based on Pentimento. From Lillian Hellman. Ooops. Well, that was a fine movie. HooRay for One Typed Page – bringing back memories and having me look things up.
More later, wear your mask, get into the world.
— MichaelRpdx :: osm5