They are presented as lives of the saints, but the profusion of miraculous happenings and above all their uncritical context are characteristics of hagiography.
Some commentators regard the diary as a warning against uncritical acceptance of information from sources whose motives and reliability can not be checked.
Key polar concepts bandied in this context are superficial/authentic, imitative/creative, shallow/deep, critical/uncritical, elitist/parochial and so on.
