![]() ![]() It’s all very thrilling in its strange newness.’ Jean wants to be a romantic heroine rather than a bespectacled schoolgirl, and diary-writing gives her the leading role. ‘Reader please be kind to me!’ she writes winningly: ‘I am only 16 at present, and just realising life and beginning to think for myself. Pratt began a journal in 1925 and carried on writing until her death in 1986. Romance offers girls the opportunity to gain the upper hand, but a diary, to adapt a Wildean aphorism, gives a more lasting pleasure, the chance for a lifelong romance with oneself. It’s a cover for her unladylike ambitions – to be an author and to be in charge of her life. ![]() When it appears in volume form I hope you will order a copy.’ Cecily’s diary is a ruse just like her modesty. You see, it is simply a very young girl’s record of her own thoughts and impressions, and consequently meant for publication. ![]() Long before she knows Algernon, Cecily has charted the progress of their romance in her diary, but when they meet, and Algernon falls instantly in love as planned, Cecily won’t let him read it: ‘Oh no. T he early entries in Jean Lucey Pratt’s journals brought to mind Cecily’s diary in The Importance of Being Earnest, where Wilde sends up, among other things, the predictable script of boy meets girl. ![]()
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