Inevitably, the Diaries are also an account of Germany and its art scene under the Nazi regime. More than once, Beckett’s attempts to see artworks that had been classed as “degenerate”, or buy a banned book, were frustrated. Although he at times recorded his disdain for Nazi policies and slogans, his political commentary is overall restrained: possibly a symptom of the evident anxiety around regime-critical statements felt by many of his new German acquaintances, like the art collector and painter Margaritha Durrieu.
Beckett’s writing in the Diaries is frequently cynical, entertaining, and relatable, but this often stems from the fact that he was, at many points during his journey, miserable. He was plagued by money troubles, ill health, and writer’s block. While in Hamburg he went to Ohlsdorf cemetery “because I thought a poem would be there,” but words eluded him, as did progress on a text titled Journal of a Melancholic, which at times “preoccupied” him, but would never be completed.
The German Diaries are a window into Beckett’s mind and his experience of a historical moment, on both large and small scales. Their focus, however, are the visual arts and architecture, and a reader “could be forgiven for thinking that they were written by an art critic, and not a creative writer” (Nixon).