The diary can be viewed as a mirror. It reflects, or distorts, the diarist's emotional and intellectual disposition. The diary is a document of borderline experiences. It portrays degrees of intimacy and, in the case of many a writer, toys with the idea of going public with innermost feelings. The diarist takes minutes of his meetings with himself and his encounters with 'the world'. This event, organised by Professor Rüdiger Görner, will discuss the attraction of the diary in literary modernism with special reference to Kafka and Musil, Virginia Woolf and André Gide.