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DANIEL'S NOTEBOOKS
DANIEL JOHNSTON's
spiral-bound notebook collection - "Portrait of the artist as a young man"
It is our hope to regularly update this section with excerpts from the large
number of notebooks that Daniel Johnston kept as a medium for his compulsive
creative expression. The notebooks provide chronological record
of his art and song writing, and even his state of mind.
Family members note that the
spiral-bound lined-paper notebooks were such a regular part of Daniel, that
they were not really "noticed". From his earliest years, Daniel
was given writing material and encouraged to draw, and seeing Daniel with a
notebook was just "seeing Daniel".
The most amazing thing is that
so many of the notebooks have been preserved. Daniel hung on to them,
valuing them as his life - as an extension of himself. When he was
apprehended during manic excursion and delusions, he is reported found
carrying a pile of notebooks around as his only possessions.
Only in recent years have some been lost. There may be as many
as a dozen notebooks that are unaccounted for - normally sold by Daniel for
quick cash at vulnerable moments.
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