Intimate Journals

Collection of the notorious poet's essays transcends the squalor of his financial ruin and the torture of physical decline to offer compelling thoughts on his world, society, and philosophy.

The Intimate Journals of Paul Gaugui, depicts the experiences of the French artist while living on a Polynesian island and discusses the culture of the natives of the island.

"These journals are an illuminating self-portrait of a unique personality....They bring sharply into focus for me his goodness, his humor, his insurgent spirit, his clarity of vision, his inordinate hatred of hypocrisy and sham."--Emil Gauguin, the artist's son, in the Preface. One of the great innovative figures in modern art, Gauguin was a complex, driven individual who, in 1883, gave up his job as a stockbroker in order to be free to paint every day. As time passed, he determined to sacrifice everything for his artistic vocation. Finally, in pursuit of a place to paint "natural men and women living lives unstained by the sham and hypocrisy of civilization, he took up residence in the South Seas, first in Tahiti and, later, in the Marquesas Islands. Completed during the artist's final sojourn in the Marquesas, these revealing journals -- reprinted from rare limited edition -- throw much light on the painter's inner life and his thoughts about a great many topics. We learn of Gauguin's first stay in Paris in 1876, and his initial encounter with Impressionism, his tumultuous relationship with van Gogh when they lived and painted together in Arles, his pithy evaluations of Degas, Cezanne, Manet, and other artists; his opinion of art dealers and critics (poor), and much more. Also here are illuminating glimpses of Gauguin's life in the islands: his delight in the simple, carefree lives of the natives and the physical charms of Polynesian women, counterbalanced by his struggles with poverty, hatred of the missionaries, and despair over the failures of French colonial justice. Witty, wide-ranging, and aphoristic, these writings are not only entertaining in themselves, they are crucial for anyone seeking to understand Gauguin and his work. The text is enhanced with 27 full-page illustrations by Gauguin. Dover (1997) unabridged republication of "Paul Gauguin's Intimate Journals, " Boni and Liveright, New York, 1921.

These selections from George Sand's journals form an integrated whole and show Sand as a woman, lover, mother, artist, politician, chatelaine, and friend. Sand's journal writing is thought by many to be her most expressive and natural; here the artist's most complex and interesting character is revealed: George Sand herself.

William Clayton is best remembered today for his hymns, especially "Come, Come Ye Saints." But as one of the earliest Latter-day Saint scribes, he made intellectual as well as artistic contributions to his church, and his records have been silently incorporated into official Mormon scripture and history. Of equal significance are his personal impressions of day-to-day activities, which describe a social and religious world largely unfamiliar to modern readers. In ministering to the sick, for instance, Clayton anointed with perfumed oil and rum. He performed baptisms to heal the sick. Church services, held irregularly, were referred to as "going to meeting" and seemed to be elective. He testifies of people speaking in tongues and of others "almost speaking in tongues." When introduced to plural marriage, he was reluctant but eventually became one of its most enthusiastic proponents, marrying ten women and fathering forty-two children. Since polygamy was initially secret, Clayton spent much of his time putting out the fires of innuendo and discontent. He caught his first plural wife rendezvousing with her former fianc�; later, when she became pregnant, her mother-his unaware mother-in-law-was so overwrought that she attempted suicide. Joseph Smith reassured him: "Just keep her at home and brook it and if they raise trouble about it and bring you before me I will give you an awful scourging and probably cut you off from the church and then I will set you ahead as good as ever." Clayton was also the object of Emma Smith's attentions, allegedly part of a jealous wife's plan to make a cuckold of her errant husband.

In this diary-like memoir, composed of his most poignant and insightful journal entries, The Intimate Merton lays bare the steep ways of Thomas Merton's spiritual path. Culled from the seven volumes of his personal journals, this twenty nine year chronicle deepens and extends the story Thomas Merton recounted and made famous in The Seven Storey Mountain. This book is the spiritual autobiography of our century's most celebrated monk -- the wisdom gained from the personal experience of an enduring spiritual teacher. Here is Merton's account of his life's major challenges, his confrontations with monastic and church hierarchies, his interaction with religious traditions east and west, and his antiwar and civil-rights activities. In The Intimate Merton we engage a writer's art of "confession and witness" as he searches for a contemporary, authentic, and global spirituality. Recounting Merton's earliest days in the monastery to his journey east to meet the Dalai Lama, The Intimate Merton captures the essence of what makes Thomas Merton's life journey so perennially relevant.