How often does one come across a diary unopened and unread for nearly 70 years? You've probably already heard about Lily Koppel's find? Back in 2003 the basement of the apartment building where Koppel was living was being cleared out. Some of the contents of the room dated back to the early twentieth century. Koppel was not alone in sifting through the refuse that was now being relegated to dumpsters, but I bet she came away with the best find. Trunks, hat boxes, vintage clothing and bathing costumes, old photos with scalloped edges...it must have been an antique lover or historian's dream.
Inside one of the steamer trunks a young woman's diary was found. It was in fragile condition, the red leather crumbling off in little pieces. August 11, 1929 marked the first entry and not a day was left blank for the following five years. The nearly two thousand entries inspired Koppel, then a columnist for the New York Times, to write a feature article on the diary and would eventually compel her to track down the diarist herself.
The diary belonged to a sophisticated young Manhattanite. In the 1930s Florence Wolfson was a precocious teenager both socially and sexually. From the age of fourteen she religiously made entries in her diary journaling her most intimate thoughts and feelings. The Red Leather Diary: Reclaiming a Life through the Pages of a Lost Journal is a cross between a biography and a memoir. Using the diary entries as a starting place, Koppel fills in the details of Florence's life.
Florence was an intelligent young woman who cared passionately about the arts. She wrote short stories, drew and painted, and loved the theater. It took me a while to warm up to Florence to be honest. Many young women are not so supremely self-confident, I know I wasn't at that age. But considering the affluent lifestyle Florence was born into and the intellectual prowess she showed from a very young age, I decided that it was perhaps not so surprising after all. I felt better when I read The New York Times reviewer's feelings, which mirrored mine.
"At times, Wolfson evinces the insufferable superiority often associated with well-off teenage girls. But she leavens this with the rarer quality of wide-ranging, bold curiosity. 'There’s so much to do — music, art, books, people,' Wolfson notes in one entry. 'Can one absorb it all?'"
Florence's father was a doctor and her mother owned a couture house. Although her parents were successful in business they didn't seem to be particularly warm and loving parents. They spent a lot of time arguing with each other and this made a deep impression on Florence, who vowed not to live like that. She wanted a life filled with art and beauty and love. She attended Wadleigh High School for the Performing and Visual arts and then went on to Hunter College where she was editor of the school's literary magazine. She was a graduate student at Columbia University and after she finished her studies she had a literary salon in her home where the likes of Delmore Schwartz (I read one of his short stories last year) and John Berryman attended.
I'm not sure how common was the life Florence lead by 1930s New York City standards, but it seemed very exotic to me. Riding in Central Park, summers in the Catskills, tea at Schraffts, dancing at El Morocco, love affairs with men and women. It's the details that Koppel uses to paint a picture of what life was like that made this such compelling reading for me. I've never been to New York City (unless you count the airport, and I don't!), but The Red Leather Diary was a wonderful glimpse into a now faded and long ago era.
After a summer abroad on the Continent Florence was faced with the decision of whether to lead the bohemian life she yearned for or give in to her parent's (and society's) desire for the lifestyle of a proper young lady of her station. I won't tell you how it ends--I don't want to ruin the story for you! Koppel was lucky enough to find Florence, now in her nineties, and they spent a lot of time together. I wouldn't have minded more excerpts from Florence's diary, but Koppel does a wonderful job of fleshing out the story with Florence's reminiscences of her youth. Ultimately the story isn't just about Florence, but about Lily, another young woman who dreams of a life lived fully. And it is especially a love letter to a city.
"A diary is about change, and Florence's New York and mine couldn't have been more night and day. Florence's metropolis was a vast theater, like one of the lost wonders of the world. It was alive with writers, painters, playwrights, and jazz. Ideas and art mattered. People rushed to the city because the mere thought of it burned a hole in their souls. My New York seemed out of tune, on its way to becoming a strip mall filled with Paris Hilton look-alikes."
I was really looking forward to this book when I heard of the story behind it, and it didn't disappoint! Koppel does a wonderful job of evoking NYC in the '30s and filled the story with marvelous little details. In the end I could certainly appreciate Florence's wish to not lead a sedate life, something many of us fall into whether we want it or not.