Summary

“Moving Day” is the first essay in this compilation of essays by Jenny Diski. In it, she talks about the day her live-in lover moves out. She refers to him as her L-I-L. She is excited because once his belongings are all moved out, she will have some time to reclaim her home as her own since her daughter is visiting Ireland. Diski and her L-I-L are friendly towards one another as they move the man out and then get a drink together afterwards.

On Monday, a man comes to interview Diski about depression. The man sees a connection between depression and melancholia. He also sees a “connection between melancholia and writing” (12). She agrees on both counts, but she is reticent because she does not want to glamorize depression, a condition she describes as being “as painful as cancer” (12). The...