Proving McLuhan's dictum that in the media-dominated world,
everybody will be famous for 15 minutes, this is the diary of an
unknown man, Arthur Inman, the sick, reclusive son of a wealthy
Atlanta family. Unfortunately, 15 minutes is about all the time his
diary can sustain interest. Inman, who spent the last 40 of his 68
years in the same Boston apartment, deeply believed that his raison
d'etre was to chronicle the 20th century for posterity. Samuel
Pepys Inman definitely was not. This is unfortunate, for despite
Inman's reclusiveness, his daily doings had the makings of some
interesting chronicling. While living in a dark room, Inman
advertised for readers and talkers whom he paid to tell him their
life stories. Apparently, he was invested with enough personal
charisma that many of these folks became hangers-on at his
apartment, allowing him to keep long-term tabs on them. Their
stories, in effect, became Inman's vicarious life and, through his
diary pages, his story of our century. But as W.B. Yeats said,
"Events are in the saddle and ride mankind." As the century
progressed, events gradually took over from personalities in
Inman's daily jottings. But here, he comes off even worse, for in
being sort of a curmudgeon-at-large, he managed to support just
about every unpopular cause possible - including fascism and
Hitlerism. Inman occasionally sprouts a nice turn of phrase.
However, posterity can only view his magnum opus as did reviewers
who tackled several books of poetry which he paid to have published
in his day. To a one, they ascribed his poems to mediocrity. So too
his diary. (Kirkus Reviews)
THE INMAN DIARIES a chamber opera by Thomas Oboe Lee based on the
life and writings of Arthur Crew Inman and on the play
"Visitations" by Lorenzo DeStefano INTERMEZZO NEW ENGLAND CHAMBER
OPERA SERIES September 14-16, 2007 Tower Auditorium Theatre
Massachusetts College of Art621 Huntington Avenue Boston, MA
617-899-4261 for further information produced with the cooperation
of Harvard University Press
Between 1919 and his death by suicide in 1963, Arthur Crew Inman
wrote what is surely one of the fullest diaries ever kept by any
American. Convinced that his bid for immortality required complete
candor, he held nothing back. This abridgment of the original 155
volumes is at once autobiography, social chronicle, and an apologia
addressed to unborn readers.
Into this fascinating record Inman poured memories of a
privileged Atlanta childhood, disastrous prep-school years, a
nervous collapse in college followed by a bizarre life of
self-diagnosed invalidism. Confined to a darkened room in his
Boston apartment, he lived vicariously: through newspaper
advertisements he hired "talkers" to tell him the stories of their
lives, and he wove their strange histories into the diary. Young
women in particular fascinated him. He studied their moods, bought
them clothes, fondled them, and counseled them on their love
affairs. His marriage in 1923 to Evelyn Yates, the heroine of the
diary, survived a series of melodramatic episodes. While reflecting
on national politics, waifs and revolutions, Inman speaks directly
about his fears, compulsions, fantasies, and nightmares, coaxing
the reader into intimacy with him. Despite his shocking
self-disclosures he emerges as an oddly impressive figure.
This compelling work is many things: a case history of a deeply
troubled man; the story of a transplanted and self-conscious
southerner; a historical overview of Boston illuminated with
striking cityscapes; an odd sort of American social history. But
chiefly it is, as Inman himself came to see, a gigantic nonfiction
novel, a new literary form. As it moves inexorably toward a
powerful denouement, "The Inman Diary" is an addictive
narrative.
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