Read Online The Richard Burton Diaries by Richard Burton, Chris Williams - Free Book Online
Authors: Richard Burton, Chris Williams
Tags: Biography, Non-Fiction
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Elizabeth, or Susan, or Sally, might read his entries may have encouraged a certain degree of self-censorship. That should not surprise: all diarists, even those who keep diaries written in code and in locked vaults, must edit themselves and their testimonies to some degree.
The fact that Richard did not write about something in the diary does not mean it did not happen. There were days, weeks, sometimes months, even during the ‘diary years’, when he did not write. From July 1965 to March 1966, from November 1967 to July 1968, and from September 1970 to June 1971, he appears to have kept no record. 15 And, of course, he decided how much towrite, which could vary enormously. Variations in the length of the diaries means that the nature of the record kept is quite different. Although he kept a diary in 1975, ostensibly over a period of eight months, this amounted to only a little over 8,000 words. Most of the entries are quite short.
Furthermore, at times Richard did not, or could not, remember what had happened even though he was keeping a diary. There are days in some years when the only entry is the word ‘booze’. That might cover a multitude of sins! One must ask whether Richard was always fully honest with himself in entering his record of the previous day's proceedings. He sometimes records that he and Elizabeth rowed, or that he behaved badly in a public or social context, but rarely does he go into any great detail. He chose not to relive those episodes beyond a brief mention. Equally there were other events and episodes which do not reflect badly on Richard but which also fail to appear in the diaries.
Melvyn Bragg's view was that the diaries were the place where Burton could detach himself from the celebrity whirlwind, the gossip columns and mischievously playful interviews, and be serious, honest with himself. They were his record of truth – ‘He swore on the Bible of these Notebooks’. 16 One certainly senses in the diaries a level of disengagement, a distancing from his public persona. Burton would have been aware that there was someone called ‘Richard Burton’ who existed in the press, on the television screen, in the cinema, who millions of people thought they knew (and still do). It was not always someone he recognized. In his diary, he could construct his own sense of himself, of who he was, what he valued, and where he was going.
In pursuing the question of the diaries’ ‘truth’ one example may be considered. Much speculation at the time and since has surrounded his relationship with the French-Canadian actor Geneviève Bujold, with whom he appeared in Anne of the Thousand Days . Taylor evidently suspected Burton of having had some kind of fling with Bujold, and this was a matter of contention between them. Yet Burton offers no support whatsoever for such suspicion in his diaries; quite the opposite. 17 Richard's own testimony in one of his last entries in the ‘diary years’ sequence, on 15 March 1972, was that he and Elizabeth had been faithful to each other throughout their marriage, and there is nothing in the diaries to contradict this. Sceptics will point out, particularly as Taylor had access to the diaries, that that is exactly what one would suspect, and of course one cannot prove a negative. But the available evidence for any relationship with Bujold is exceedingly slender – despite the generalized claim, for example, that Burton slept with ‘all his leading ladies’ (with exceptions made, presumably, for Sue Lyon, Ava Gardner and Deborah Kerr at the time of The Night of the Iguana ; Claire Bloom at the time of The Spy Who Came in from the Cold ; and Rex Harrison at the time of Staircase !), or the suggestion that Burton gave nicknames to all his conquests, so that the fact that he called Bujold ‘Gin’ was proof of sexual congress.
Part of the difficulty here is that Burton's reputation both preceded him and has survived him; that there is a public appetite for
The fact that Richard did not write about something in the diary does not mean it did not happen. There were days, weeks, sometimes months, even during the ‘diary years’, when he did not write. From July 1965 to March 1966, from November 1967 to July 1968, and from September 1970 to June 1971, he appears to have kept no record. 15 And, of course, he decided how much towrite, which could vary enormously. Variations in the length of the diaries means that the nature of the record kept is quite different. Although he kept a diary in 1975, ostensibly over a period of eight months, this amounted to only a little over 8,000 words. Most of the entries are quite short.
Furthermore, at times Richard did not, or could not, remember what had happened even though he was keeping a diary. There are days in some years when the only entry is the word ‘booze’. That might cover a multitude of sins! One must ask whether Richard was always fully honest with himself in entering his record of the previous day's proceedings. He sometimes records that he and Elizabeth rowed, or that he behaved badly in a public or social context, but rarely does he go into any great detail. He chose not to relive those episodes beyond a brief mention. Equally there were other events and episodes which do not reflect badly on Richard but which also fail to appear in the diaries.
Melvyn Bragg's view was that the diaries were the place where Burton could detach himself from the celebrity whirlwind, the gossip columns and mischievously playful interviews, and be serious, honest with himself. They were his record of truth – ‘He swore on the Bible of these Notebooks’. 16 One certainly senses in the diaries a level of disengagement, a distancing from his public persona. Burton would have been aware that there was someone called ‘Richard Burton’ who existed in the press, on the television screen, in the cinema, who millions of people thought they knew (and still do). It was not always someone he recognized. In his diary, he could construct his own sense of himself, of who he was, what he valued, and where he was going.
In pursuing the question of the diaries’ ‘truth’ one example may be considered. Much speculation at the time and since has surrounded his relationship with the French-Canadian actor Geneviève Bujold, with whom he appeared in Anne of the Thousand Days . Taylor evidently suspected Burton of having had some kind of fling with Bujold, and this was a matter of contention between them. Yet Burton offers no support whatsoever for such suspicion in his diaries; quite the opposite. 17 Richard's own testimony in one of his last entries in the ‘diary years’ sequence, on 15 March 1972, was that he and Elizabeth had been faithful to each other throughout their marriage, and there is nothing in the diaries to contradict this. Sceptics will point out, particularly as Taylor had access to the diaries, that that is exactly what one would suspect, and of course one cannot prove a negative. But the available evidence for any relationship with Bujold is exceedingly slender – despite the generalized claim, for example, that Burton slept with ‘all his leading ladies’ (with exceptions made, presumably, for Sue Lyon, Ava Gardner and Deborah Kerr at the time of The Night of the Iguana ; Claire Bloom at the time of The Spy Who Came in from the Cold ; and Rex Harrison at the time of Staircase !), or the suggestion that Burton gave nicknames to all his conquests, so that the fact that he called Bujold ‘Gin’ was proof of sexual congress.
Part of the difficulty here is that Burton's reputation both preceded him and has survived him; that there is a public appetite for
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