A newly restored edition of Judith Malina’s legendary diaries narrating a key moment of social, political, and cultural upheaval

Originally published by Judith Malina as The Enormous Despair, this slim, gripping collection of diaries from a pivotal period between 1968 and 1969 follows The Living Theatre’s return to the United States after their years of self-exile in Europe, their increasing notoriety and frequent arrests, and their cross-country touring. In these pages, Malina wrestles with the company’s artistic and political efforts during a moment of societal crisis and grapples with their future. Kate Bredeson’s introduction contextualizes Malina’s life and work in this period, while additional historical context and never-before-published photographs add new detail and depth to a stirring account of American social and political history. 

The Diaries of Judith Malina is a four-volume set that publishes for the first time together the edited diaries of radical theater director, actor, and activist Judith Malina from 1947 to 1971, the most influential period of her remarkable and storied career. A committed anarchist and pacifist, Malina made theater as a way to engage in revolutionary action. Her diaries showcase her political and social observations, her cultural commentary, her self-reflection, and her wit. This expertly prepared set invites us to recognize Malina for her accomplishments not only as an artist and an activist but as one of the great literary diarists.
 

JUDITH MALINA (1926–2015) was cofounder, with collaborator and husband Julian Beck, of The Living Theatre, a radically experimental company that rose to social and cultural prominence in New York City and internationally in the 1950s and ’60s and which she led until her death. She was a lifelong activist, artist, and diarist.

KATE BREDESON is a theater historian, translator, director, and dramaturg. She is a professor of theater at Reed College. She is the author of Occupying the Stage: The Theater of May ’68 and cotranslator with Thalia Wolff of The Inheritor, by Théâtre de l’Aquarium, both from Northwestern University Press. 
 

Introduction
Kate Bredeson
Chronology of Judith Malina and The Living Theatre, August 1968–April 1969
Kate Bredeson
 
The Diaries of Judith Malina, 1968–1969
1968
1969
Acknowledgments
Kate Bredeson
Index
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