{"value"=>"<p>The Diaries are the bulk of the collection with sixty-three years of autobiographical writings by Plante. From his late teens to the first part of the twenty-first century, Plante's diaries have daily entries that spans about 131 volumes. As an avid diarist, Plante wrote nearly every day; these dairies usually represent a month of writing. However, diaries would overlap in dates, indicating that Plante may have written two diaries simultaneously. Plante's early diaries include references to college, friends, relationships, travels throughout Europe, and the beginning of his career as a writer. For example, <span class=\"title\">The Atlantic Month Press</span> rejected his articles \"The Event\" and \"The Sleep\" described in a letter dated November 5, 1965 (Diary 1965 November 1-1966 January 29). This early setback would be followed by success with a contract for Plante's first book <span class=\"title\">The Ghost of Henry James</span> (Diary 1967-1971 October 25).</p> <p>These diaries demonstrate Plante's family, personal relationships, and friends were an important part of his life. Interfiled between the pages are letters from his mother and siblings whom he kept in contact while living abroad. An important subject of these diaries is Plante's partner of forty years, Nikos Stragos, who died in 2004. Stangos' letters to Plante are also interleaved; Stangos was often the subject of many of the undated and untitled typed poems inserted throughout the volumes. A dust jacket of Plante's book <span class=\"title\">The Pure Lover, A Memoir of Grief</span> is interleaved (Diary 2009 July 6-25). The diaries, through the decades, continue to chronicle the everyday happenstances of Plante's life in London, England, and later Lucca, Italy, with a particular focus on his relationships, as well as his observations about major social and politic events. Plante recounted the friends who visited, wrote, or called; the plays, operas, art gallery openings, and shows he attended; meals he cooked or restaurants he visited; the daily weather; the deaths of friends and family members; his dreams; and his health. He also wrote about the 2016 American presidential election; Brexit, the emergence of COVID-19, and the George Floyd protests in early 2020; and the 2021 insurrection at the United States Capitol.</p> <p>As noted, the volumes have many items interleaved. These inserts act as supplemental material and are often the subject of the entries themselves. Plante frequently notated where a certain insert was most relevant within the entry via a special notation, with a four or five-star symbol, or a simple 'See insert here' note.</p> <p>Email correspondence with friends and family comprise the bulk of the inserts. Other formats include poetry in Italian, French, Greek, and English; news clippings; sheet music; manuscript drafts; event tickets; museum brochures; concert programs; playbills; sketches; reviews of Plante's books; postcards; typed diary entries; menus; photographs; collected quotes from published books; and a booklet in braille. All inserts are referenced in the entries in which they were interleaved.</p> <p>Plante's diary became more inwardly focused during the COVID lockdowns in 2020 and 2021. Instead of writing about the friends who visited, he spent the pages detailing old memories and writing poetry, which he would send to friends. He would then print their responses and tuck it into the entry date during which he received these replies. Correspondents include Matthew Meselson; Jeanne Guillemin; Mary Gordon; Edwin Frank; Edmund White; Blake Bailey; Wilson Saba; Annie Proulx; Clare Mahon; Hilton Als; Miranda Seymour; Scott Spencer; Philip Roth; Judith Ginsberg; Melvyn Bragg; and Vivian Gornick.</p>"}