Skip to content
Diary Observatory

Writers

Writers

Nine lives, nine structures of an ordinary day.

ここでいう Writer は職業としての作家だけを意味しない。日記や自己記録を書き残した人を含む。

9 conditions

  • Environment · Kafū
  • Media · Nishimura
  • Labor · Bukowski
  • Maintenance · Hayashi
  • Performance · Roppa
  • Household Economy · Ichiyō
  • Time · Kafka
  • Publishing · Woolf
  • Administration · Pepys

Kenji Nishimura

1967–2022

Media

Tokyo / Private Fiction / Publishing / Television / Used Bookstores

When television still visited writers at home.

Research · Active

Open writer →

Kafū Nagai

1879–1959

Environment

Tokyo / Diary / Weather / Walking / Garden

Forty-two years recording modern Tokyo as it vanished.

Research · Active

Open writer →

Charles Bukowski

1920–1994

Labor

Los Angeles / Labor / Alcohol / Horse Racing / Small Press

He worked, drank, lost, aged, and turned the residue into literature.

Research · Active

Open writer →

Fumiko Hayashi

1903–1951

Maintenance

Tokyo / Movement / Labor / Women’s Work / Housing

She carried work, hunger, rooms, and roads into literature.

Research · Active

Open writer →

Roppa Furukawa

1903–1961

Performance

Tokyo / Stage / Food / Body / War

He recorded not only the stage, but everything required to reach it.

Research · Active

Open writer →

Ichiyō Higuchi

1872–1896

Household Economy

Tokyo / Meiji Tokyo / Household Economy / Family Maintenance / Writing

Writing and keeping a household alive occupied the same day.

Research · Researching

Open writer →

Franz Kafka

1883–1924

Time

Prague / Time / Salaried Work / Institutional Time / Night Writing

Between the working day and the writing night.

Research · Researching

Open writer →

Virginia Woolf

1882–1941

Publishing (Publishing / Network)

London / Publishing / Network / Writing / Reading

Between writing a book and making a book circulate

Research · Researching

Open writer →

Samuel Pepys

1633–1703

Administration (Administration / Public Life)

London / Administration / Public Life / Documents / Money

When public administration enters a private diary

Research · Researching

Open writer →

Nine Primary Conditions

  • Environment

  • Media

  • Labor

  • Maintenance

  • Performance

  • Household Economy

  • Time

  • Publishing

    Publishing / Network

  • Administration

    Administration / Public Life

Future subjects / research candidates

武田百合子 · 正岡子規 · 山田風太郎 · 清沢洌 · 高見順 · Henry David Thoreau · Sylvia Plath · Anaïs Nin · Cesare Pavese · Susan Sontag

Research queue only — no public Writer cards until a distinct observation axis and bibliographic baseline are ready.