Arthur Crew Inman

'''Arthur Crew Inman''' (May 11, 1895 – December 5, 1963) was a reclusive and unsuccessful American poet whose 17-million-word diary, extending from 1919 to 1963, is one of the longest English-language diaries on record.<ref>Longer American diaries include those of Robert W. Shields and Edward Robb Ellis. ''New York Times'' [https://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/29/us/29shields.html Douglas Martin, "Robert Shields, Wordy Diarist, Dies at 89," October 29, 2007], accessed December 21, 2010</ref>

==Biography== Inman was born May 11, 1895, in Atlanta to one of the city's wealthiest families. His grandfather Samuel Martin Inman owned part of the ''Atlanta Constitution'' but derived his wealth from cotton trade and manufacturing.<ref name=GAenc>Ruppersburg, "Inman", ''Georgia Encyclopedia''</ref><ref>Tammy Harden Galloway, ''The Inman Family: An Atlanta Family from Reconstruction to World War I'' (Macon, GA: Mercer University Press, 2002)</ref>

He left Atlanta to attend the Haverford School and then Haverford College. He left college after two years because of a nervous breakdown, and he never returned to the South after 1915.<ref name=GAenc/>

He married Evelyn Yates in 1923.<ref name=GAenc/>

Inman published several volumes of undistinguished poetry.<ref>''One who Dreamed: Songs and Lyrics'' (1917); ''Red Autumn'' (1920); ''Of Castle Terror'' (1923); ''American Silhouettes'' (1925); ''Shadows of Men'' (1925); ''Frost Fire'' (1926); ''Silhouettes against the Sun'' (1926); ''The Night Express'' (1927) ''None Now are Quietly Wise'' (1939); ''Where to Find Sanctuary'' (1940); ''The Moon Drifter'' (1940); ''Three Moods: This I know, Hokusai saw, The maples are red'' (1941); ''American Portrait: A Poem Series'' (1955)</ref> A critic has described Inman as "a mediocre talent, wholly lacking in the sophisticated literary and philosophical education of the Ransom generation."<ref>Simpson, 157. The reference is to John Crowe Ransom.</ref>

In 1928 he edited and published ''Soldier of the South: General Pickett's War Letters to his Wife''.<ref>Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1928</ref>

He moved to Boston, where he became increasingly obsessed with his health. He lived for much of his life in dark, soundproofed apartments. He owned several apartments in order to surround himself with noiseless spaces.<ref name=time>''Time'': [https://web.archive.org/web/20080222040034/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1074772,00.html Gregory Jaynes, "In Boston: Inside a Tortured Mind," June 21, 2005], accessed December 21, 2010</ref> Having inherited wealth, he was able to cater to his hypochondria and other eccentric ways and afford servants and others hired to come and talk with him. His wife, Evelyn, appears to have accepted that he would have sex with some of these so-called "talkers." He attempted suicide on several occasions. On December 5, 1963, when he found the noise from the construction of the Prudential Tower near his apartment in Brookline, Massachusetts, as well as his series of migraines to be unbearable, he committed suicide with a revolver in his bathroom.

He left 155 handwritten volumes of the diary when he died, entirely unpublished. Inman's diary is not only considered unique by some but historian David Herbert Donald called it "the most remarkable diary ever published by an American."<ref name=time/> Through its many volumes, Inman provides a panoramic record of people, events, and observations from more than four decades of the twentieth century. The extent of his writing suggests he suffered from hypergraphia.

His wife Evelyn died in 1985.{{citation needed|date=August 2020}}

==The Inman Diaries== Harvard professor of English and American literature Daniel Aaron published a two-volume edition of selections in 1985.<ref>{{cite book | last1 = Inman | first1 = Arthur Crew | last2 = Aaron | first2 = Daniel | authorlink2 = Daniel Aaron | title = The Inman Diary: A Public and Private Confession | url = https://archive.org/details/inmandiarypublic0002inma | url-access = registration | publisher = Harvard University Press | year = 1985 | location = Cambridge, MA | isbn = 9780674454453}}</ref> A one-volume version appeared in 1996.<ref>Daniel Aaron, ed., ''From a Darkened Room: The Inman Diary'' (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1996)</ref> Reviewing the two-volume edition, ''Time'' described Inman as a "megalomaniacal bigot misogynist Peeping Tom hypochondriac," who "hated Jews, Italians and Roosevelt while admiring Hitler."<ref name=time/> The reviewer for the ''New York Times'' enjoyed Inman's many portraits of working class and middle class visitors with interesting stories, but thought less of his self-revelations, "that mostly meant giving vent to bristling prejudices about lesser breeds (lesser than Nordic, that is to say)."<ref>''New York Times'': [https://www.nytimes.com/1985/10/01/books/books-of-the-times-043692.html John Goss, Review of ''The Inman Diary'', October 1, 1985], accessed December 21, 2010</ref>

Playwright Lorenzo DeStefano authored a play based on the diaries, ''Camera Obscura'', which has been performed at the Seattle Repertory Theatre (2001) and at London's Almeida Theatre (2002). English director Jonathan Miller directed both of those productions.<ref>''The Guardian/Observer'' (London) : [https://www.theguardian.com/theobserver/2002/may/26/features.review57 Kate Kellaway, "The turtle, the librarian and the Barbie dolls," May 25, 2002]</ref>

Lorenzo DeStefano's feature film adaptation, ''The Diarist'' is in active development.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.diaristmovie.com/ |title=Home |website=diaristmovie.com}}</ref>

''The Inman Diaries'', an opera by Thomas Oboe Lee, based on the diary and DeStefano's play, was commissioned and produced by Intermezzo Opera of Boston. The world premiere took place there in September 2007.<ref>''Boston Globe'': [http://archive.boston.com/ae/music/articles/2007/09/17/diaries_has_some_very_fine_passages/ Matthew Guerrieri, "'Diaries' has some very fine passages," September 17, 2007], accessed December 21, 2010</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.cameraobscuraplay.com/ |title=Home |website=cameraobscuraplay.com}}</ref>

==In popular culture== According to Harley Peyton, producer of the television series ''Twin Peaks'', the character and behavior of the recluse Harold Smith were based on Inman.<ref>{{Cite book|title=The Essential Wrapped in Plastic: Pathways to Twin Peaks|date=2016|publisher=Self-published|isbn=978-0-9971081-0-1|pages=110–111|author=Thorne, John}}</ref>

==Notes== {{Reflist|30em}}

==Sources== *Georgia Encyclopedia: [http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/nge/Article.jsp?id=h-474 Hugh Ruppersburg, "Arthur Crew Inman (1895-1963)"], accessed December 21, 2010 *Lewis P. Simpson, "The Last Casualty of the Civil War: Arthur Crew Inman," ''The Fable of the Southern Writer'' (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1994), 155–82 *Bob Summer, "An Inman's Private Life Becomes Public," ''Atlanta Journal-Constitution'', October 13, 1985 *Philip Zaleski, "The Inman Diary," ''Atlanta Journal-Constitution'', October 27, 1985

==External links== * [http://www.diaristmovie.com ''The Diarist''] * [http://www.darkenedroomfilm.com/Synopsis%20and%20Photos.htm Documentary film: ''From a Darkened Room''] * [http://www.cameraobscuraplay.com ''Camera Obscura''] * [https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2002/may/08/artsfeatures.society Lorenzo DeStefano, "Diary of a nobody"] * [https://web.archive.org/web/20110811000529/http://www.wgbh.org/programs/-855/episodes/-26879 Interview with Lorenzo DeStefano about production of ''Hypergraphia''] * [http://www.hypergraphiafilm.com/PDFs/diary-from-a-darkened-room.pdf Harvard Gazette article by Corydon Ireland, March 10, 2011] * [http://www.hypergraphiafilm.com/PDFs/BOSTON_HERALD_10.31.10.pdf Boston Herald article by Donna Goodison October 31, 2010] * [http://www.hypergraphiafilm.com/PDFs/Imagine-Mag-Hypergraphia.pdf Imagine Magazine article on ''Hypergraphia'' by Carol Patton, December 2010/January 2011]

{{DEFAULTSORT:Inman, Arthur Crew}} Category:1895 births Category:1963 suicides Category:1963 deaths Category:Writers from Brookline, Massachusetts Category:American male poets Category:Suicides by firearm in Massachusetts Category:People with hypochondriasis Category:Haverford School alumni Category:20th-century American poets Category:20th-century American male writers Category:20th-century American non-fiction writers Category:American male non-fiction writers Category:20th-century American diarists