A mind-bloggling idea...

[alexpgp]

I am probably the last person on the face of the Internet to have found the diary of Samuel Pepys online, in the form of a blog that is updated daily, albeit a mere 343 years after the fact. I suspect this kind of serialization will make reading Pepys' diary more attractive, especially to many who would otherwise not even consider the idea.

My own knowledge of Pepys is sketchy. According to Robert Latham:

Pepys's skill lay in his close observation and total recall of detail. It is the small touches that achieve the effect. Another is the freshness and flexibility of the language. Pepys writes quickly in shorthand and for himself alone. The words, often piled on top of each other without much respect for formal grammar, exactly reflect the impressions of the moment. Yet the most important explanation is, perhaps, that throughout the diary Pepys writes mainly as an observer of people. It is this that makes him the most human and accessible of diarists, and that gives the diary its special quality as a historical record.

The reference to "shorthand" belies the fact that the diary was kept in secret, according to David Kahn in The Code Breakers, who mentions that Pepys "once remarked to a friend about how undersirable it would be to have it generally known that he kept a diary." Kahn recounts an abbreviated version of how the diary came to be deciphered; I recall reading a more detailed version, but forget where.

If the Pepys blog marches along at the same pace as the original, we all have a bit more than 8 years of good reading ahead of us, even if The Powers In Charge don't (or can't) publish the racy bits.

Cheers...

Comments

[pixelpusher.livejournal.com]

What a completely fascinating adaptation of blogging. I have cracked open the Pepys diaries many a time online but have always found it daunting to read more than a few entries in one sitting. Once a day seems to make the task much more manageable and enjoyable!! Thanks for the link!

Nope ...

[taiyosan.livejournal.com]

you were/are not the last ... i've never heard of him but, thanks to you, i am enjoying reading his diary and shall bookmark it, and make it part of my daily net-reading ...

Thanks Alex, and a good day to you!