This list of works of diary fiction is meant as a starting point. It is by no means comprehensive. Have suggestions for stories I should add? Let me know!
Go directly to the list. What is diary fiction?
How to search this list. Sources
Generally diary fiction refers to works of literature in diary form but may also include “stories in which a diary serves as an important plot point, even though the story never takes diary form … This can include stories in which characters read, discuss, contemplate, search for, find, hide or destroy diaries.”
Source: Desirée Henderson, How to Read a Diary: Critical Contexts and Interpretive Strategies for 21st-Century Readers (Routledge, 2019), p.96.
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- the author’s nation of origin or nationality (ex: America, France, the Netherlands)
- the century in which the story was originally published (C18, C19, C20, C21)
- works of young adult fiction are identified by YA
- works of graphic fiction or memoir are identified by the word Graphic
These labels are meant to assist those who are interested in a particular national literary tradition, in a particular time period, or in YA texts or graphic narrative. They are not precise and, in some cases, may be debatable. Please be understanding about the basic nature of these search tools.
Abbott, H. Porter. Diary Fiction: Writing As Action. Cornell UP, 1984.
Martens, Lorna. The Diary Novel. Cambridge UP, 1985.
I am grateful to Sarah Clayburn for her assistance in producing this bibliography.
Addison, Joseph. “Journal of a Sober Citizen,” The Spectator, 1712. England, C18
Alexie, Sherman. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian. Little, Brown, and Co., 2007. America, C21, YA
Alvarez, Julia. Before We Were Free. Knopf, 2002. Dominican Republic, America, C21, YA
Barroux. Line of Fire: Diary of an Unknown Soldier, translated by Sarah Ardizzone. Phoenix Yard Books, 2014. France, C21, Graphic
de Beauvoir, Simone. The Woman Destroyed. 1967. Translated by Patrick O’Brian. G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1969. France, C20
Bechdel, Alison. Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic. Houghton Mifflin Co., 2006. America, C21, Graphic
Beckett, Samuel. Malone Dies. Translated by the author. 1951. Ireland, C20
Bell, Gabrielle. Truth is Fragmentary: Travelogues & Diaries. Uncivilized Books, 2014. England, America, C21, Graphic
Bellow, Saul. Dangling Man. Vanguard Press, 1944. Canada, America, C20
Benedetti, Mario. The Truce: The Diary of Martín Santomé. 1960. Translated by Harry Morales. Penguin Books, 2015. Uruguay, C21
Bennett, Marek. The Civil War Diary of Freeman Colby. 2 vols. 2106, 2019 America, C21, Graphic
Beti, Mongo. Poor Christ of Bombo. 1956. Translated by Gerald Moore. Waveland Press,2005. Cameroon, C21
Blake, Dorothy. The Diary of a Suburban Housewife. 1936. America, C20
Bowles, Paul. “If I Should Open My Mouth.” Collected Stories, 1939-1976, Black Sparrow, 1967. America, C20
Boyle, Kay. Primer for Combat. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1942. America, C20
Brecht, Bertolt. The Business Affairs of Mr. Julius Caesar [Die Geschäfte des Herrn Julius Caesar]. 1957. Germany, C20
Brontë, Anne. The Tenant of Wildfell Hall. 1848. Penguin Classics, 1996. England, C19
Brontë, Emily. Wuthering Heights. Thomas Cautley Newby, 1847. England, C19
Bryant, Dorothy. Ella Price’s Journal. Lippincott, 1972. America, C20
Byatt, A. S. Possession. Vintage, 1990. England, C20
Cabot, Meg. The Princess Diaries. HarperTeen, 2000. America, C21, YA
Cate, Eliza Jane. “Susy L—’s Diary,” Holden’s Dollar Magazine, October 1849-March 1850. America, C19
Charbonneau, Louis. Mambu et son amour. 1924. France, C20
Chardonne, Jacques. Eva, ou le journal interrompu. Paris: Grasset, 1930. France, C20
Charles, Elizabeth. Diary of Mrs. Kitty Trevylyn. 1864. England, C19
Chbosky, Stephen. The Perks of Being a Wallflower. Gallery Books, 1999. America, C20, YA
Cheever, John. “The Ocean.” 1964. America, C20
Coetzee, J. M. Diary of a Bad Year. Viking, 2007. South Africa, C21
Collins, T. Such is Life; being certain extracts from the diary of Tim Collins. 1903. England, C20.
Collins, Wilkie. The Moonstone. 1868. England, C19
—. The Woman in White. 1859. England, C19
Connell, Evan. S. The Diary of a Rapist. 1966. America, C20
Cortázar. Julio. “The Distances: The Diary of Alina Reyes.” 1951. Blow-Up and Other Stories, translated by Paul Blackburn. Pantheon Books, 1963, pp. 17-27. Argentina, C20
Couto, Mia. Sleepwalking Land. 1992. Translated by David Brookshaw. Serpant’s Tale, 2006. Mozambique, C21
Dashwood, R.M. Provincial Daughter. 1961. England, C20
Davies, William Robertson. The Diary of Samuel Marchbanks. 1947. Canada, C20
Defoe, Daniel. Robinson Crusoe. 1712. England, C18
Delafield, E. M. Diary of a Provincial Lady. Macmillan and Co, 1930. England, C20
Ding, Ling. “Miss Sophie’s Diary.” 1927. I Myself and a Woman: Selected Writings of Ding Ling, edited and translated by Tani E. Barlow. Beacon Press, 1989, pp. 49-81. China, C20
Dostoevsky, Fyodor. The Gambler [Igrok]. 1866. Russia, C19
—. Notes from the Underground. 1864. Russia, C19
—. “White Nights” [“Bely nochi”]. 1848. Russia, C19.
Duhamel, Georges. Journal de Salavin. 1927. France, C20
Erdrich, Louise. Future Home of the Living God. HarperCollins, 2017. America, C21
Everett, Percival. Erasure. Hyperion, 2001. America, C21
Fauconnier, Geneviève. Claude. 1933. France, C20
Feris, Emil. My Favorite Thing is Monsters. 2016. America, C21, Graphic
Fielding, Helen. Bridget Jones’s Diary. Viking, 1996. England, C20
Flaubert, Gustave. “Memoirs of a Madman” [“Mémoirs d’un fou”]. 1838. France, C19
Flynn, Gillian. Gone Girl. Broadway Books, 2012. America, C21
Fowles, John. The Collector, 1963. England, C20.
France, Anatole. The Crime of Sylvester Bonnard [Le crime de Sylvestre Bonnard]. 1881. France, C19
Frisch, Max. Stiller. 1954. Germany, C20.
Gide, André. The Counterfeiters, With “Journal of the Counterfeiters.” [Les faux-monnayeurs]. 1951. Translated by Dorothy Bussy and Justin O’Brien. Vintage, 1973. France, C20
—. The Notebooks of André Walter. 1891. Philosophical Library, 2007. France, C19
—. The School for Wives [L’Ecole des femmes]. 1929. France, C20
Gilman, Charlotte Perkins. “The Yellow Wallpaper.” The New England Magazine, 1892. America, C19
Gloeckner, Phoebe. The Diary of a Teenage Girl. North Atlantic Books, 2002. America, C20, Graphic
Gogol, Nikolay. “Diary of a Madman.” 1835. Russia, C19
Grass, Günther. From the Diary of a Snail [Aus dem Tagebuch einer Schnecke]. 1972. Germany, C20
Graves, Wallace. Trixie. Knopf, 1969. America, C20
Grossmith, George and Weedon Grossmith. The Diary of a Nobody. 1892. England, C19
Guerra, Wendy. Everyone Leaves, translated by Achy Obejas. AmazonCrossing, 2006. Cuba, C21
Guibert, Hervé. To the Friend Who Did Not Save My Life. 1990. Translated by Linda Cloverdale. Serpent’s Tale, 1993. France, C29
Guo, Xiaolu. A Concise Chinese-English Dictionary for Lovers. Anchor Books, 2007. China, C21
Hardy, Thomas. “Alicia’s Diary.” 1887. England, C19
Hertmans, Stefan. War & Turpentine, translated by David McKay. Pantheon, 2016. The Netherlands, Holland, C21
Highsmith, Patricia. Edith’s Diary. Simon and Schuster, 1977. America, C20
Hiranandani, Veera. The Night Diary. Dial Books, 2018. America, C21, YA
Hugo, Victor. Last Day of a Condemned Man [Le Dernier jour d’un condamneé]. 1828. France, C19
Hustvedt, Siri. The Blazing World. Simon and Schuster, 2014. America, C21
Hutchins, Scott. A Working Theory of Love. Penguin, 2012. America, C21
Huxley, Elspeth. The Red Rock Wilderness. 1957. England, C20
James, Henry. “The Diary of a Man of Fifty.” Harper’s New Monthly Magazine, 1879. America, C19
—. “The Impression of a Cousin.” The Century Magazine, 1883. America, C19
Jameson, Anna Brownell. The Diary of an Ennuyée. Colburn, 1826. Ireland, C19
Jones, Stephen Lloyd. The String Diaries. Little, Brown, & Co., 2013.
Kaufman, Sue. Diary of a Mad Housewife. Random House, 1967. America, C20.
Kashyap, Keshni. Tina’s Mouth: An Existential Comic Diary. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2012. Singapore, America, C21, Graphic
Keyes, Daniel. Flowers for Algernon. Harcourt, Brace & World, 1966. America, C20
Khong, Rachel. Goodbye, Vitamin. Henry Holt & Co., 2017. America, C20
Kierkegaard, Søren. Either/Or. 1843. Denmark, C19
—. “Guilty?/Not Guilty?” [“Skydig-Ikke Skylding”]. 1845. Denmark, C19
Kinney, Jeff. Diary of Wimpy Kid: A Novel in Cartoons. Amulet Books, 2007. America, C21, YA
Kochalka, James. American Elf. Vol 1: The Collected Sketchbook Diaries Of James Kochalka. Top Shelf Productions, 2004. America, C21, Graphic
Kourouma, Ahmadou. Allah Is Not Obliged [Allah n’est pas obligé]. 2000. Translated by Frank Wynne. First Anchor Books, 2007. Ivory Coast, Côte d’Ivoire C21
Laub, Michel. Diary of the Fall. 2011. Translated by Margaret Jull Costa. Other Press,2014. Brazil, C21
La Vrille. Le Journal d’une masseuse. 1906. France, C20
Lermontov, Mikhail. A Hero of Our Time [Geroi nashego vremeni]. 1840. Russia, C19
Lessing, Doris. The Diary of a Good Neighbor. 1983. Reprinted in Diaries of Jane Somers. Vintage, 1984. England, C20
—. The Golden Notebook. 1962. Harper Perennial, 2007. England, C20
Loos, Anita. Gentlemen Prefer Blondes: The Illuminating Diary of a Professional Lady.Grosset & Dunlap, 1925. America, C20
Lowry, Malcolm. “Through the Panama.” 1961. England, C20
Lu Xun. “Diary of a Madman.” 1918. China, C20
Lurie, Alison. Real People. Random House, 1969. America, C20
Maroh, Julie. Blue is the Warmest Color. 2010. Translated by Ivanka Hahnenberger. Arsenal Pulp Press, 2013. France, C21, Graphic
Marshall, Emma. Mrs. Mainwaring’s Journal. 1874. England, C19
Maupassant, Guy de. “Le horla.” 1886. France, C20
—. “A Madman” [“Un fou”]. 1885. France, C19
—. “My twenty-five days” [“Mes vingt-cinq jours”]. 1885. France, C20
Merrill, James. The (Diblos) Notebook. Atheneum, 1965. America, C20
Mills, Claudia. The Totally Made-up Civil War Diary of Amanda MacLeish. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2008. America, C21, YA
Mirbeau, Octave. The Diary of a chamber maid [Le journal d’une femme de chamber]. 1900. France, C19, C20.
Mitchell, David. Cloud Atlas. Random House, 2004. England, C21
Murdoch, Iris. The Sea, The Sea. 1978. England, C20
Nabokov, Vladimir. Lolita. 1955. Russia, America, C20
Nemerov, Howard. Journal of the Fictive Life. 1965. America, C20
Nolen, Jerdine. Eliza’s Freedom Road: An Underground Railroad Diary. Simon and Schuster, 2017. America, C21, YA
Noguchi, Yone. The American Diary of a Japanese Girl. 1901. Edited by Edward Marx and Laura E. Franey. Temple UP, 2007. America, Japan, C19, C20
O’Connor, George and Harmen Van den Bogaert. Journey into Mohawk Country, translated by William Starna and Charles Gehring. First Second, 2006. America, The Netherlands, Holland, C21, Graphic, YA
Orwell, George. Nineteen Eighty-Four.1949. England, C20
Ozeki, Ruth. A Tale for the Time Being. Canongate, 2013. America, Japan, C21
Oyeyemi, Helen. “if a book is locked there’s probably a good reason for that don’t you think?” what is not yours is not yours: Stories. Riverhead Books, 2016, pp. 307-325. England, C21
Oyono, Ferdinand. Houseboy. 1960. Translated by John Reed. Heinemann Educational Books, 1966. Cameroon, C20
Palahniuk, Chuck. Diary. Anchor Books, 2003. America, C21
Parks, Tim. Sex is Forbidden. Arcade, 2012. England, C21
Parra, Teresa de la. Iphigenia (The diary of a young lady who wrote because she was bored), 1924. Venezuela, C20
Patchen, Kenneth. The Journal of Albion Moonlight. Padell, 1941. America, C20
Phelps, Elizabeth Stuart. The Gates Ajar. 1868. America, C19
Poe, Edgar Allen. “The Journal of Julius Rodman.” 1840. America, C19
—. “MS Found in a Bottle.” 1833. America, C19
Prentiss, Elizabeth. Stepping Heavenward. Collins’ Clear-Type Press, 1869. America, C19
Quintero, Isabel. Gabi: A Girl in Pieces. Cinqo Punto Press, 2014. Mexico, America, C21, YA
Qiu Miaojin. Notes of a Crocodile. 1994. Translated by Bonnie Huie. NYRB, 2017. Taiwan, C21
Richardson, Samuel. Pamela; or Virtue Rewarded. 1740. England, C18
Rilke, Rainer Maria. The Notebooks of Malte Laurids Brigge [Die Aufzeichnungen des Malte Laurids Brigge]. 1910. Austria, C20.
Rowson, Susanna. Sincerity. 1803-04. Edited by Duncan Faherty and Ed White. Just Teach One, http://jto.common-place.org/just-teach-one-homepage/rowsons-sincerity-1803-04/ America, C18, C19
Russell, Rachel Renée. Dork Diaries: Tales From a Not-So-Fabulous Life. Aladdin,2009. America, C21, YA
Sackville-West, Victoria. No Signposts in the Sea. 1961. England, C20
Sand, George. La Daniella. 1856. France, C19
—. Isidora. 1846. France, C19
Sansal, Boualem. The German Mujahid, translated by Frank Wynne. Europa Editions, 2008. Algeria, France, C21
Sarton, May. As We Are Now. W.W. Norton & Co., 1973. America, C20
Sartre, John-Paul. Nausea. 1938. France, C20
Saunders, George. “The Simplica Girl Diaries.” Tenth of December. Random House,2013, pp. 109-167. America, C21
Selinko, Annemarie. Désirée. 1951. Austria, France, C20.
Sewell, Elizabeth Missing. Journal of a Home Life. 1867. England, C19.
Shute, Henry A. The Real Diary of a Real Boy. 1902. America, C20.
Sinclair, Upton. The Journal of Arthur Stirling. 1903. America, C20.
Smith, Dodie. I Capture the Castle. 1948. England, C20, YA
Smith, L. J. The Vampire Diaries. Vol. 1: The Awakening. Hodder Children’s Division, 2010. America, C20, YA
Smith, Stevie. Novel on Yellow Paper. 1936. England, C20
Smy, Pam. Thornhill. Roaring Brook P, 2017. England, C21, Graphic
Söderberg, Hjalmar. Doktor Glas. 1905. Sweden, C20
Sontag, Susan. “The Way We Live Now.” 1986. America, C20
Stegner, Wallace. The Spectator Bird. 1976. America, C20
Stevenson, Dorothy Emily. Mrs. Tim Carries On. 1941. England, C20
Stoker, Bram. Dracula. 1897. England, C19
Tamaki, Mariko. Skim. Groundwood Books, 2010. Canada, Japan, C21, Graphic
Tanizaki, Junichiro. The Key and Diary of a Mad Old Man. 1961, 1962. Japan, C20
Thackeray, William Makepeace. The Diary of C. Jeames de la Pluche, Esq. 1845-46. England, C19
—. “Passages from the Diary of the Late Dolly Duster…” in Fraser’s Magazine, 1838. England, C19.
—. “Skimmings from ‘The Diary of George IV,’” The Yellowplush Corrospondence, 1838. England, C19.
Townsend, Sue. The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole, Aged 13 ¾. 1982. England, C20, YA
Turgenev, Ivan. Diary of a Superfluous Man. 1850. Russia, C19
Twain, Mark. Excerpts from Adam’s Diary. 1893. America, C19
—. Eve’s Diary. 1905. America, C20
Updike, John. A Month of Sundays. Knopf, 1975. America, C20
—. “From the Journal of a Leper.” The New Yorker, 1976. America, C20
Vandermeer, Jeff. Annihilation. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2014. America, C21
Vidal, Gore. Myra Breckenridge. 1968. America, C20
—. Myron. 1974. America, C20
—. “Pages from an Abandoned Journal.” 1956. America, C20
Vonnegut, Kurt. Mother Night. 1966. America, C20
Walker, Alice. The Color Purple. 1982. Mariner Books, 2003. America, C20
Warner-Vieyra, Myriam. Juletane. 1982. Translated by Betty Wilson. Waveland Press, Inc., 2014. Guadeloupe, Caribbean, C20
Weston, Carol. Ava and Pip. 2015. America, C21, YA
Wiggins, Kate Douglass Smith. The Diary of a Goose Girl. 1902. America, C20
Woolf, Virginia. “The Journal of Mistress Joan Martyn.” 1979. England, C20
Zhang, Jie. “Love Must Not Be Forgotten.” 1979. Love Must Not Be Forgotten, translated by Gladys Young. Panda Books, 1987, pp. 1-15. China, C20
Zola, Emile. Claude’s Confession [La Confession de Claude]. 1865. France, C19
Last updated: July 9, 2019
The Diary Index 