The Diaries of Kenneth Tynan

Tynan is an excellent observer and a thoughtful guy. In this book he writes generally short, sharp bits about whatever is on his mind at the time. Interests include the theater, spanking, his relationships, a movie he is trying to make, writing, fine dining, socialism and his personal financial concerns. His writing is clear, unsentimental and extremely readable. Most interesting book I've read in some time.

I suggest reading this as a cautionary tale: how a man with so much promise, talent and intelligence, saddled with insecurities and a taste for hedonism, left him broke and feeling like a failure at the end of his life. How terribly tragic. But this book is definitely not a downer. However, knowing that Kenneth Tynan was a British literary critic, I had reservations about delving into this. I thought it could be a very dry read. Instead, it turned out to be laugh out loud funny, with some serious dish about famous people (the man knew EVERYBODY) and at the same time introspective and melancholic. This book is not for everybody, but for those with a love of brilliant prose and serious wit, the rewards are rich. - Susan Sayles

From THE DIARIES OF KENNETH TYNAN: "Whenever we solve the problem of dreams, we shall not be far from solving the root problems of human identity and creativity. Has anyone noticed the really inexplicable thing about our nightly narrative tapes? They have suspense. This occurred to me last night, when I was involved in a Hitchcock-type chase dream---in which, I suddenly realised, I did not know what was going to happen next. I did not know who would be lurking behind the next door; and I wanted desperately to know. What part of one's mind is it that harbours secrets unknown even to the unconscious? (For in dreams we are surely privy to the unconscious in full flood.) The theory that in dreams we tap a source of energy outside the individual psyche is powerfully reinforced by the presence of suspense." After Tynan left his job as dramaturg at the National Theatre, he pretty much floundered around for the rest of his life. I wish he had gone back to doing theater reviews. But I guess he was burned out on theater. Maybe he grew bored with the very medium of theater. He said he was profoundly bored with everything ("I shall die writhing in apathy"), but I'm not too convinced of that claim. I wish he had felt an artistic duty to his audience and had then carried out that duty. While reading this thing, I had an overwhelming urge to slap that cigarette out of his mouth and that hairbrush out of his hand and to sternly command him to "do do that voodoo that you do so well".

I remember Kenneth Tynan from an appearance on The Dick Cavett Show shortly before his 1980 death. Until this book, I was unfamiliar with his work. Now I see what I was missing. Not only was Tynan a highly skilled writer of prose, but as a critic he saw things for what they were, even if the majority disagreed. He gives Warren Beatty's pretentious and mystifyingly overrated film Shampoo the swift kick to the rear that it deserves, and even finds a fault with Paddy Cheyefsky's Network that I had not detected prior to reading his assessment of the film in his diaries. Tynan also has his say on economics ("Inflation rides high and I believe intentionally" he writes in 1973) and a myriad of other subjects including his preoccupation with spanking. Overall, these diaries reveal a melancholy soul who found some solace in writing about his life and its disappointments in his journal. Most published diaries promise more than they deliver. Not Tynan's. His diaries are a compelling read.

To paraphrase another wit: This is some of the best fun you can have with your clothes still on. Was Kenneth Tynan the most sophisticated and intelligent critic of his generation? It's hard to think that he wasn't, especially after reading these diaries. Not only does he give you a grand notion of what theater can be, but he also gives you a guided tour of the international theater scene in the late twentieth century. What a grand tonic his intellectually sharp viper tongue is in these days of spineless critics. Bravo!