Today’s newsletter is dedicated to those among us who are filling with dread as lockdown slowly lifts, armpits already damp at the thought of a fidgety mass of humans getting their mingle on after months of forced isolation. It’s an epistolary fist-bump to all the loners
, introverts, and reclusive souls who would much rather relax in their own company than mentally exhaust themselves in an effort to enjoy the company of others. You are not alone.(See also: The art of saying no.)
After being so social... I don’t feel like myself at all. I’m exhausted all over but particularly the face, which I suppose comes from wearing a horrible fixed grin for so long.
Elizabeth Bishop to Carley Dawson, 10 Nov 1948 | One Art: Letters
Tomorrow I shall go back to London, and there already awaits me a string of inevitable experiences—what is called “seeing people.” You don’t know what that means—it means one can’t get out of it.
Virginia Woolf to Gerald Brenan, 4 Oct 1929 | The Complete Collection
I am one of these strange fuckers who finds great pleasure in being alone.
Charles Bukowski to Gerald Locklin, 8 Aug 1981 | Reach for the Sun: Vol.3
Being under my own roof, and my personality not invaded by others makes a lot of difference in my outlook on life and everything. Oh, to be once more alone in a house!
Zora Neale Hurston to Jean Waterbury, 6 Mar 1951 | A Life in Letters
I by no means need or want daily contact; perhaps it takes as much out of me as it gives, perhaps takes more. And when writing then I have nearly nothing to give.
Martha Gellhorn to Betsy Drake, 8 May 1974 | Selected Letters of Martha Gellhorn
I go scarcely anywhere. Everything seems tiresome.
Fyodor Dostoevsky to Maria Issayev, 4 Jun 1855 | The Complete Works
I have reverted to solitude. I live in a house too large for me, with three cats; and when the telephone rings and it is a wrong number I feel a rush of thankfulness.
Sylvia Townsend Warner to David Garnett, 2 Sep 1970 | Letters of Sylvia Townsend Warner
I don’t like being surrounded by bastards, and am not in fact surrounded by them... I do like being alone a lot just now, and taking care of myself.
Kurt Vonnegut to Jane Vonnegut, 7 Mar 1971 | Kurt Vonnegut: Letters
My real problem is a more personal one—the need of being alone. I am not anti-social; I have a deep affection for my friends and family, feel deeply for suffering humanity (also for suffering animals!) but at times I have a desperate need to be absolutely alone.
Edward Weston to Ansel Adams, 3 Dec 1934 | Ansel Adams: Letters
Solitude is Heaven.
May Sarton to Bryher, 31 Jul 1942 | May Sarton: Selected Letters
I don’t mean this disparagingly. Absolutely nothing wrong with being a loner.
This is actually quite funny but to be perfectly honest it was an accident and I need to come clean.
Yes. Yes. Yes.
I am quite happy with my own company, but I'm not a loner. I'm kind of halfway perhaps. I haven't been bothered about not socialising during the lockdown. Now it appears to be drawing to a close, I am looking forward to going out to eat and drink and to be able to sit inside to do so - April in the UK wasn't mostly conducive to outdoor drinking and dining. I'm not one for crowds though, and I don't really miss anyone in particular.