Monday, January 8, 2018

A Literary Princess: The Lessons from Carrie Fisher's "The Princess Diarist"

In the past I have feared that this blog has been a a bit of an exercise in ego stroking and that no one would appreciate or care about what has been written on this blog.  Heck, I'm not even sure if my thoughts in the past have been coherent enough to be understood by others.

Thus, reading The Princess Diarist, Carrie Fisher's reflections on her time filming the first Star Wars has actually been a little reassuring to me.  As Jaime Herndon best put it in her recent blog on Bookriot reflecting on Ms. Fisher one year after her death, "She was outspoken, brash, and to be blunt, didn’t give a shit what you thought of her."  Her diaries and her recollections from that time are incredibly open, honest, and vulnerable.  

This is especially true of Carrie Fisher's recollections about her short affair with Harrison Ford during filming.  In her recollections, she was open and honest about what their relationship was and what it wasn't.  And her diary excerpts reveals a young woman filled with self-doubt, enamored by her co-star, but very unsure whether or not she should be pursuing this relationship at all.  She never gives any salacious or humiliating details, but she provides a window into her own heart.


When writing our personal reflections whether on film, literature, or other topics, we should all aim for such openness and honesty.  It is sad that I am only now getting to know this side of Carrie Fisher, the actress who brought one of the first strong female characters I knew in media, over a year after her death.  I can't say whether or not I will be reading any more of her works.  But her literary example of self-reflection and honesty should be one that all bloggers and memoirists should aim for. 


I know I haven't been updating this blog for a while and I apologize to everyone who has been interested in provincial scribblings.  One of my New Year's Resolutions is to write more blogs in the future.  Next week, I hope to be writing about The "S" Word: A Short History of an American Tradition... Socialism by John Nichols.  Thanks for being patient and happy New Year to all of you!

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