{"id":164827,"date":"2023-06-29T10:32:34","date_gmt":"2023-06-29T14:32:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/?p=164827"},"modified":"2023-06-29T10:58:56","modified_gmt":"2023-06-29T14:58:56","slug":"diary-2021","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2023\/06\/29\/diary-2021\/","title":{"rendered":"Diary, 2021"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-164828\" src=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/img-8865-1024x768.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1024\" height=\"768\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/img-8865-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/img-8865-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/img-8865-768x576.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/img-8865-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/img-8865.jpg 2016w\" sizes=\"auto, (min-width: 62.5em) 67vw, 100vw\" \/><\/p>\n<p>In these pages, written in 2021, I seem to have been looking back at earlier notes and journals. The story of Pierre\u2014a French shepherd\u2014is a project imagined decades ago that I still have not given up on. My \u201ctheories\u201d are also still interesting to me: for instance, that maybe certain people are more inclined to violence when there is less sensuality of other kinds in their lives.<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><em>Lydia Davis&#8217;s story collection <\/em>Our Strangers <em>will be published in fall 2023 by Bookshop Editions. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/letters-essays\/7992\/selections-from-journal-1996-lydia-davis\">Selections from her 1996 journals<\/a>\u00a0appear in the <\/em>Review<em>&#8216;s new Summer issue, no. 244.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u201cMaybe certain people are more inclined to violence when there is less sensuality of other kinds in their lives.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":55,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[68416],"tags":[7682,67827,576],"class_list":["post-164827","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-diaries","tag-diaries","tag-featured","tag-lydia-davis"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v25.4 (Yoast SEO v25.4) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Diary, 2021 by Lydia Davis<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"June 29, 2023 \u2013 \u201cMaybe certain people are more inclined to violence when there is less sensuality of other kinds in their lives.\u201d\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2023\/06\/29\/diary-2021\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Diary, 2021 by Lydia Davis\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"June 29, 2023 \u2013 \u201cMaybe certain people are more inclined to violence when there is less sensuality of other kinds in their lives.\u201d\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2023\/06\/29\/diary-2021\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Paris Review\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/parisreview\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-06-29T14:32:34+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-06-29T14:58:56+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/img-8865.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2016\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1512\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Lydia Davis\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@parisreview\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@parisreview\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Lydia Davis\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2023\/06\/29\/diary-2021\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2023\/06\/29\/diary-2021\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Lydia Davis\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/57c9be8c753dc75d3cc73b86f46bb689\"},\"headline\":\"Diary, 2021\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-06-29T14:32:34+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-06-29T14:58:56+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2023\/06\/29\/diary-2021\/\"},\"wordCount\":96,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2023\/06\/29\/diary-2021\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/img-8865-1024x768.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"diaries\",\"Featured\",\"Lydia Davis\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Diaries\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2023\/06\/29\/diary-2021\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2023\/06\/29\/diary-2021\/\",\"name\":\"Diary, 2021 by Lydia Davis\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2023\/06\/29\/diary-2021\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2023\/06\/29\/diary-2021\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/img-8865-1024x768.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-06-29T14:32:34+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-06-29T14:58:56+00:00\",\"description\":\"June 29, 2023 \u2013 \u201cMaybe certain people are more inclined to violence when there is less sensuality of other kinds in their lives.\u201d\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2023\/06\/29\/diary-2021\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2023\/06\/29\/diary-2021\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2023\/06\/29\/diary-2021\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/img-8865.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/img-8865.jpg\",\"width\":2016,\"height\":1512},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2023\/06\/29\/diary-2021\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Diary, 2021\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"The Paris Review\",\"description\":\"The best prose, interviews, poetry, and art. Since 1953.\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization\",\"name\":\"The Paris Review\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/tpr-hadada-roundell-logo-square.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/tpr-hadada-roundell-logo-square.png\",\"width\":696,\"height\":696,\"caption\":\"The Paris Review\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/parisreview\/\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/parisreview\",\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/parisreview\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/57c9be8c753dc75d3cc73b86f46bb689\",\"name\":\"Lydia Davis\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/77cb8d98f333f80645dca499907fd9449619781e96123a3ba7265f6d2a42b95b?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/77cb8d98f333f80645dca499907fd9449619781e96123a3ba7265f6d2a42b95b?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Lydia Davis\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/author\/ldavis\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Diary, 2021 by Lydia Davis","description":"June 29, 2023 \u2013 \u201cMaybe certain people are more inclined to violence when there is less sensuality of other kinds in their lives.\u201d","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2023\/06\/29\/diary-2021\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Diary, 2021 by Lydia Davis","og_description":"June 29, 2023 \u2013 \u201cMaybe certain people are more inclined to violence when there is less sensuality of other kinds in their lives.\u201d","og_url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2023\/06\/29\/diary-2021\/","og_site_name":"The Paris Review","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/parisreview\/","article_published_time":"2023-06-29T14:32:34+00:00","article_modified_time":"2023-06-29T14:58:56+00:00","og_image":[{"width":2016,"height":1512,"url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/img-8865.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Lydia Davis","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@parisreview","twitter_site":"@parisreview","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Lydia Davis"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2023\/06\/29\/diary-2021\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2023\/06\/29\/diary-2021\/"},"author":{"name":"Lydia Davis","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/57c9be8c753dc75d3cc73b86f46bb689"},"headline":"Diary, 2021","datePublished":"2023-06-29T14:32:34+00:00","dateModified":"2023-06-29T14:58:56+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2023\/06\/29\/diary-2021\/"},"wordCount":96,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2023\/06\/29\/diary-2021\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/img-8865-1024x768.jpg","keywords":["diaries","Featured","Lydia Davis"],"articleSection":["Diaries"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2023\/06\/29\/diary-2021\/","url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2023\/06\/29\/diary-2021\/","name":"Diary, 2021 by Lydia Davis","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2023\/06\/29\/diary-2021\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2023\/06\/29\/diary-2021\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/img-8865-1024x768.jpg","datePublished":"2023-06-29T14:32:34+00:00","dateModified":"2023-06-29T14:58:56+00:00","description":"June 29, 2023 \u2013 \u201cMaybe certain people are more inclined to violence when there is less sensuality of other kinds in their lives.\u201d","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2023\/06\/29\/diary-2021\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2023\/06\/29\/diary-2021\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2023\/06\/29\/diary-2021\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/img-8865.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/img-8865.jpg","width":2016,"height":1512},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2023\/06\/29\/diary-2021\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Diary, 2021"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/","name":"The Paris Review","description":"The best prose, interviews, poetry, and art. Since 1953.","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization","name":"The Paris Review","url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/tpr-hadada-roundell-logo-square.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/tpr-hadada-roundell-logo-square.png","width":696,"height":696,"caption":"The Paris Review"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/parisreview\/","https:\/\/x.com\/parisreview","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/parisreview"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/57c9be8c753dc75d3cc73b86f46bb689","name":"Lydia Davis","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/77cb8d98f333f80645dca499907fd9449619781e96123a3ba7265f6d2a42b95b?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/77cb8d98f333f80645dca499907fd9449619781e96123a3ba7265f6d2a42b95b?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Lydia Davis"},"url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/author\/ldavis\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/164827","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/55"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=164827"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/164827\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":164834,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/164827\/revisions\/164834"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=164827"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=164827"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=164827"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}