Her diary note is in bad German

[breathedout]

In December of 1944, writing hard for the comics and grumbling about it, working on the novel she'd been thinking about for two years, The Click of the Shutting, making notes for short stories at night, entertaining more love possibilities than she could possibly handle (a Virginia or two, the socialite Natica Waterbury, an Anne and an Ann, the model Chloe, et al.) and feeling abysmally poor, Pat still kept her eyes on the prize. She framed her desire for the "best" in life in metaphors saturated by the war and couched in the language of the enemy. (Her diary note is in bad German.)

—Joan Schenkar, Joan Schenkar, The Talented Miss Highsmith: The Secret Life and Serious Art of Patricia Highsmith

As I remarked to Gins earlier: sometimes I read biographies where the subject is like: working a full-time job! going out to parties at night! conducting more love affairs than I, a third party, can keep track of! writing multiple novels! reading a ton and journaling thoughtful responses to their reading! having dinner with their parents! submitting to literary reviews! maintaining a voluminous correspondence with a wide social circle! I MEAN. DID THESE PEOPLE EVER SLEEP?

Though then I remember that there was no internet back then, and it all seems marginally more understandable.

Comments

[jesse_the_k]

LACK OF INTERNET!

Explains much.

[breathedout]

LOL right?? What a world.