The Carnets of 1944
|
|
Despite the fact that so much of his writing is based on his own experience, Serge never kept a diary. The nearest we have are the Carnets which he maintained during two short periods of his life. A small number (the Vieux Carnets) were written in the years between 1936 and 1940, after he left the Soviet Union, but the bulk of the Carnets were written in 1944, when Serge was living in Mexico with Laurette Sejourné and his daughter Jeannine.
The writing is very personal and covers a diverse range of topics. Some are descriptive - a reaction to particular events for example - while others are much more philosophical and political. They reflect the claustrophobic world of the political exiles in Mexico, Serge’s fascination with the country and its geology (a long standing interest acquired from his father), and his growing interest in Freudian psychoanalysis. This is the first publication of 1944 Carnets in English, in a translation by John Manson. |
|||||||||||||||||||||||
