Mathews used diagrams as part of his process of literary composition to represent the structure of his narrative, structures that occur within the story, and structures that his characters are imposing upon themselves. This diagram represents an extreme scheme concocted by his protagonist in The Journalist for organizing different types of writing.
The narrator keeps detailed notes about his life, devising ever more elaborate ways to organize what he writes. The first scheme is devised as an alternative to the usual chronological organization: “distinguishing between ‘fact’ and speculation, between what is external and verifiable and what is subjective ... could supply the rudiments of an antichronological mechanism.” (p. 20) This idea leads to more detailed schemes, one of which is described by this diagram. Finally, the narrator/journalist realizes that his attempts to organize his experience and thoughts, and his recording of it in his journal, have overwhelmed his ability to make sense of the world. Abandoning the intricate method he had been attempting to use, he writes to himself: “Keep things chronological, or you will deform them.” (p. 186)
