The Richard Burton Diaries by Richard Burton, Chris Williams Page B

evidence contained within the diaries themselves, about any autobiographical project, uncertain whether there was really an audience for his life, and suspicious of the genre of actors’ autobiographies. Of course, had he lived longer, he might well have come to feel that such a project was worthwhile: that he had some flair for autobiographical writing is evident from his published output, particularly his pieces A Christmas Story, Meeting Mrs Jenkins , and his writings on rugby union.
    Burton's sudden, unanticipated death at the age of fifty-eight meant that his intentions for his diaries were not made clear. At the time of the publication of Melvyn Bragg's biography in 1988 various claims were made to the effect that Burton had intended them to be destroyed, or that they should have been closed for at least twenty years after his death. 11 Burton himself may have had what was then the ‘thirty-year rule’ for the closure of official records in mind. In his papers there is an undated telegram sent to his solicitor Aaron Frosch, explaining in response to an apparent enquiry concerning an autobiography that:
    My diary is my own personal possession and is read by nobody else except Elizabeth. It is for obvious reasons not publishable except in an emasculated form for a hundred years after we are all dead. I don't even reread it myself. It is merely a daily exercise in the obviation of frustration. 12
    Reading the diaries today, one is struck by the incongruity of the sentiments expressed in this telegram. There is relatively little that was libellous, even at the time of writing (when most of the subjects being written about were still alive). Burton does not provide the reader with a list of his female conquests or shed light on the hitherto concealed sexual preferences of some of his fellow actors. There are no great revelations of corruption or of criminality. Insteadthe diaries tell us about the life and thoughts of Richard Burton. But do they tell the truth?
    Diaries, Biography and ‘Truth’
    Here he speaks as truthfully as he can. (Melvyn Bragg) 13
    I never lie when I write. Honest. Though I'm not sure of that!
    (Diary, 25 May 1969)
    At one level, the appeal of the diary as a ‘truthful’ source is straightforward. It is a record kept by an individual of their activities, feelings and opinions. If the author is the only reader, then no legitimate purpose, one might argue, would be served by the compiling of an inaccurate, insincere or otherwise false account. Diaries may be presented as unmediated, unreflective and natural commentaries, offering a direct route to consciousness and events not enjoyed by most rival source materials.
    Yet it is clear that such a depiction of diary-writing as a genre is one-dimensional and misleading. The very process of remembering, most certainly of writing, is itself an editorial process, offering many opportunities for self-censorship. Diarists, it can be argued, always have one eye on a readership, even if that readership is to be found after their own death, or even if it is only themselves. There is no sense in which diaries (written at the time) are any more ‘natural’ than autobiographical memoirs written years after the events being described, although obviously they offer different kinds of information and are subject to their own genre conventions.
    Not everything in the diaries, it has to be acknowledged, would pass muster in a court of law. Yet it is possible to agree with Robert Fothergill that these diaries, like other diaries, are ‘true to life’ if not necessarily ‘truthful’. As Fothergill writes, ‘[e]ven in their disguises, evasions, and lies diarists are responding to the pressure of first-hand experience; they are being, for better or worse, themselves.‘ 14
    The extent to which Burton's diaries were accessible to his wives, and more generally known to exist by his family, friends and entourage, has already been discussed. That Burton knew that