She Left Nothing in Particular: The Autobiographical Legacy of Nineteenth-Century Women's Diaries by Amy L. Wink (review)

Amy L. Wink. She LeftNothing in Particular: TheAutobiographical Legacy ofNineteenth-Century Women's Diaries. Knoxville: The University ofTennessee Press, 2001. l62p. Stephen J. Rippon U.S. Air Force Academy, Colorado The book's title comes from Virginia Woolf's short story "The Legacy," in which a man appraises his inheritance from his late wife: "To him, ofcourse, she had left nothing in particular, unless it were her diary." Over against those who would marginalize the importance ofprivate writing, AmyWink offers the diaries ofsix women: two who went on Westwardjourneys to Oregon and Utah, two who were married sequentially to the same abusive man, and two whosehusbands were away fighting for the Confederacy—a chapter for each pair. For all of them, "writing did provide a substantive conduit for self-assertion as they faced whatwere sometimes seemingly insurmountable situations, and it is dirough their continued use ofwriting that they retained some form of psychological control of their existence " (124). While many scholars see the diary as a particularly feminine form ofautobiography , Winkquestions thatview. She acknowledges diat "dirough writing, women have been able to express and understand themselves within a patriarchal system which inhibits and discourages their self-actualization" (xiv), but she also identifies the danger in making an essential claim about diaries as "the feminine form of autobiography" (129). Wink points out that arguments privileging a woman's private voice play into the hands ofthose who would diminish the importance of a woman's public voice (xiii). Suzanne Bunkers, an expert inwomen's diaries whose endorsement appears on thejacket ofWink's book, argues the diarycan be read as "the most audientic form ofautobiography because it is least subject to outside editing and censorship and because it most fully represents life as a process" (xii). Ironically, Bunkers' quotation in the Introduction draws attention to the fact that Wink herself does not use die original manuscripts for the diaries she discusses, but instead relies on transcribed and/or edited versions—typescript and published—of those diaries. In doing so, Wink cuts herselfofffrom some ofthe elements diat make a diary authentic and revealing: the nature ofthe handwriting, later insertions or deletions, and the materiality of the book itself. Wink's use of transcripts is most problematic in the chapter "Narratives of Resistance: NegotiatingAbuse and die Endangered Self," where she bases her discussion on a typescript of Henrietta Embree's diary. Wink admits only in the endnotes diat the text "seems to have been edited during the transcription pro98 * ROCKY MOUNTAIN REVIEW * FALL 2002 Reviews cess" (138). In a later endnote concerning Tennessee Embree, who became Dr. Embrees wife after Henrietta died, Wink writes, "Unlike Henrietta, who did not seem to record any specific incident ofphysical violence, Tennessee writes clearly ofEmbrees physical abuse [of their daughter]" (141). While a careful reader of Wink's endnotes might speculate that Henrietta's original diary was edited to exclude physical abuse, such significant matters should notbe relegated to endnotes. IfWink intends to examine diese diaries as genuine expressions ofwomen's negotiating through difficulties, she should use the original manuscripts, or, if the manuscripts are no longer available, frankly discuss in her Introduction the possible level ofdistortion introduced by using typescripts and edited versions. Admittedly , even the original manuscripts are constructed texts, as Wink notes (xvxvi ); but with typescripts and edited versions, the typist's or editor's construction makes the original construction harder to discern. Despite textual problems, the overall force ofWink's selections leaves the reader with little doubt as to the validity of her project. Wink's emphasis on "the stylistics—particularly the textual tools such as thematic repetition—thatwomen have used within their diaries to confront and resist environmental and social constraint " (xvi) helps her overcome the limitations of using typescript and edited versions. The transcriber/editorofHenrietta Embrees diary, while possibly straining out depictions ofphysical abuse, allowed repeated instances ofemotional abuse to remain; these Wink unpacks for us. Wink's choice ofthe six diaries is extraordinary; the quoted passages resonate in such a way that Wink is able to bring them into a conversation with one another , indicating a great deal ofcareful selection. The first chapter, "Written into the Landscape: Negotiating Place and Identity," establishes...