Friends with notable French literati including Emile Zola, Gustave Flaubert, Balzac and Marcel Proust, Heidi Julavits describes them as 'two brothers who aspired to be famous writers but instead only hung out with famous writers.'Īlthough Julavits admits to struggling to read the Goncourt Journals, she knows that this is not a universally shared view. Born in 1820s France, Edmond and Jules Goncourt co-authored many novels and histories but they are best remembered for the journal they began together in 1851. The Goncourt Brothers' journals are also noteworthy because of the circles in which these two literary brothers moved. Incidentally, Vassiltchikov was close to a number of the conspirators who attempted to assassinate Hitler in the July 20 plot of 1944. Although the diary has attracted some criticism – there are entries where Vassiltchikov is felt to be too frivolous and self-absorbed given the situation in Europe – her description of the bombing of Berlin has been compared to Samuel Pepys' record of the Great Fire of London. Her Berlin Diaries, 1940-1945, chronicle Vassiltchikov's daily life and experiences during the war. During World War II, Vassiltchikov, who was proficient in English, managed to find employment in the Information Department of the German Foreign Ministry. Marie Vassiltchikov was a Russian princess who emigrated with her parents to Germany as a young child. These are two giants of twentieth-century literature and thought, but Julavits also references other less well-known practitioners of the craft, including Marie Vassiltchikov ( Berlin Diaries) and the Goncourt brothers.

In The Folded Clock, which is a curated selection of Julavits' journal entries over two years, she writes about reading diaries by Franz Kafka and Virginia Woolf. The Diaries of Marie Vassiltchikov and the Goncourt Brothers

Marie vassiltchikov berlin diaries