“ … in Harriet´s journal about me – that curt, unfair, uncharitable assessment of me which concludes by her saying that she really doesn´t like me but my passion for her is acceptable and opportune. God knows it hurts, and I feel indignant and humiliated. We rarely do know what people think of us (or, rather, think they think of us) … Do I feel guilty about reading what was not intended for my eyes? No. One of the main (social) functions of a journal or diary is precisely to be read furtively by other people, the people (like parents + lovers) about whom one has been cruelly honest only in the journal. Will Harriet ever read this?”
1/12/58
“ … Harriet is beautiful, relaxed, affectionate. I – dizzy with passion and need for her, and happy … good god, I am happy! I suppose, with my sore heart + unused body it doesn´t take much to make me happy. Yet that´s not all, and I do both her and myself an injustice to say that. It´s she, it´s she, it´s she.”
Susan Sontag, Reborn. Early Diaries 1947-1963
