What do I need to say about Joan Didion?! She’s bloody fantastic.

Slouching Towards Bethlehem, probably Didion’s most favourably-received essay collection, takes us to the heart of 1960s California - the hippy movement, the judicial system, the modernisation of Sacramento (her hometown), and even Hollywood.

The best essay, in my opinion, is the book’s namesake, which includes the now iconic passage about a five year old on acid. (Yup, you read that correctly.)

Didion has such a clear voice, and she’s so damn smart. If you’ve not read any of works yet, this is a good place to start.

As you might have guess if your reading my reviews chronological I'm working my way through a 'modern classics' box-set which I got very cheap. Didion's collection of essays from the 1960s were a bestselling phenomenon on publication and heralded as taking journalism to a level of quality written prose. This however, did not resonate with me at all, as back in 2005, when I read this I gave it 3 out of 12.

4,5
Eseje Didion są doskonałe - nieprzewidywalne, uwierające, brutalnie szczere. Obierana przez autorkę perspektywa nigdy nie jest szablonowa, każda jej puenta to niewymuszona maestria.
Nie daję 5 wyłącznie dlatego, że Didion zazwyczaj opisuje świat, który jest mi bardzo daleki i na którym zależy mi w niewielkim stopniu. To świat, którego już nie ma, ale którego nie żałuję. Może to też ciekawy efekt.
Urzekł mnie szczególnie tekst "O szacunku dla siebie samej"
Tłumaczenie i przypisy 10/10, wydanie bardzo zgrabne.
Na pewno nie zapomnę o Joan Didion i będę szukać dalej.

I decided to get my Joan Didion on this summer in preparation for the biography that comes out next month, and Slouching Towards Bethlehem, her first essay collection, seemed like a good place to start. It's true that some of these essays are hopelessly dated, kind of like those true-crime articles that appear in Vanity Fair that no one's going to care about in five months, let alone fifty years (although the majority of these particular essays were published in The Saturday Evening Post). But overall, these essays give a vivid sense of the California vibe in the 1960s, and some of them hold up very well. "Goodbye to All That" could have been written yesterday, and the title essay was particularly striking--when Didion talks about the young people of the counterculture and how many of them seem to just be repeating phrases they heard other people say, it seemed like it could apply to any generation. But mostly I liked the little tidbits about Joan herself that I got along the way: She's the kind of person who can't wait to flee Honolulu and Newport, RI, but when she tours the nearly deserted island on which the abandoned Alcatraz is slowly deteriorating, she longs to stay. Joan in her early 30s seems precocious compared to people of a similar age these days. It's going to be interesting to see how her voice changes as she gets older.

These essays- written in the 1960s for slick magazines -are in turns part memoir, part journalism, part social philosophy. Her essays on California are legendary-travel writing that doesn't just show you the geography, it tells you how California feels.I don't think I will forget the Santa Ana wind or the chill I felt when she visited Alcatraz. Within many of these in-depth pieces are glimpses of her life-but in a glimpse, so much is revealed. I don't need her to have said anything more. She gives the right amount of herself - and then moves on. This understatement has much more of an impact for me.

The essay on Joan Baez is simple-yet ambivalent. She allows you to ponder while she is simply giving you the facts,the bare reportage. But is this so simple? No matter what she writes about it is always so fluid. I feel engaged, swept away. The title piece "Slouching Towards Bethlehem" is such a fine piece of reporting. She is there on the streets of Haight-Ashbury, interviewing so-called hippies. By merely reporting, it is a devastating piece. "On Respect" (my favorite) is an essay that she was seemingly randomly assigned to do-and she pulls it from thin air. It's brilliant. I was floored.

n  

"To have that sense of one's intrinsic worth which constitutes self-respect is potentially to have everything: the ability to discriminate, to love and to remain indifferent. To lack it is to be locked within oneself, paradoxically incapable of either love or indifference."

n
Somehow, I usually read Didion on a blue night, when it's so bright outside that I open my curtains to search for the moon; instead, what greets me is a pale hue of blue sky. When I read Blue Nights, I had a similar experience. These are the kind of nights that reminds a reader of what she is, of what she is not: "We flatter ourselves by thinking this compulsion to please others an attractive trait: a gist for imaginative empathy, evidence of our willingness to give." Oh how I would love to teach Didion's "On Self-Respect," if only to garner the provocative perspective of a generation not yet born when she experienced and wrote this collection.

People debate the essay form often; some think it is simply nonfiction, some are not even sure about the distinction between nonfiction, narrative nonfiction, memoir, and the personal essay. The art of nonfiction is intrinsically disconcerting and perhaps intentional in its derived eclecticism. Still, it is beautiful. Thank goodness we have modern essayists like Leslie Jamison to remind us of the form, an essayist who in my opinion, resembles Didion in style and concept. Any debate of the essay as an art form, should be silenced by Didion's slouching. Why did I take so long to read this, I asked myself as I palmed my forehead, for I drooled through each page, not even noticing when it was time to clear my desk for office hours with students.

These essays illuminate the America of the 1960s that will never exist again, and yet it is the America of today - the odd juxtaposition confuses, I know. Didion has managed to illustrate a landscape of hurt and pain, of music and money, of politics, drugs, rehabilitation, and gain. This is New York, this is California, this is a slouch towards Bethlehem. I was moved by her memoirs Blue Nights and The Year of Magical Thinking; however, with this book, I was inspired by not only the stories and the essay form, but also by the art of the craft of narrative nonfiction in some of her pieces, this art that places a writer within the center of observation, and yet silences her persona.
n  

The impulse to write things down is a peculiarly compulsive one, inexplicable to those who do not share it, useful only accidentally, only secondarily, in the way that any compulsion tries to justify itself.

n
Didion was a compulsive notetaker and eavesdropper. Because of this, we get stories about: the Los Angeles Santa Ana, a party in Beverly Hills, a story of Sacramento, a "hallucinatory" view of New York, a riff "on morality," a behind-the-scenes look at a Center for the Study of Democratic Institutions, an intense look at acid, alcohol, promiscuity, and all of the hurt that evolves with flashing. Some things we see, we know we'll never see again.

I loved reading "Goodbye to All That," Didion's meditation on New York City, a place she loved and loathed, the city wherein she lost herself. Yet my favorite essay was "Where the Kissing Never Stops," an essay which allowed me to view myself, to think about those intrinsic values placed aside for work; after all, isn't this the beauty of the personal essay, that it teaches us something about ourselves? I found oneness with Joan Beaz, the artist, humanitarian, renegade, and recluse; the woman whose life Didion explores in this piece. Perhaps this is one of those essay collections that leaves each of us with something of ourselves:
n  

The roles assigned to her are various, but variations on a single theme. She is the Madonna of the disaffected. She is the pawn of the protest movement. She is the unhappy analysand. She is the singer who would not train her voice, the rebel who drives the Jaguar too fast, the Rima who hides with the birds and the deer. Above all, she is the girl who 'feels' things, who has hung on to the freshness and pain of adolescence, the girl ever wounded, ever young.

n

Fascinating time capsule of the 60s. I enjoyed the lens on Sacramento.

Summary

 Some Dreamers of the olden Dream - interesting start. Housewife post murder of her husband. Didion ponders the nature of the role of women at that time. The essay never established innocence or guilt, it pondered what must of have gone on in her head, while examining the predetermined role of a wealthy wife/socialite in the 60s.

 John Wayne: A Love Song - Didion laments the manliness and masculinity of John Wayne as he struggles w/ a cancer diagnosis. It's almost as if she expected he would be passing away soon...he lived for another decade after this essay was written. Knowing what I know about John Wayne, this one had me wondering about Didion. Really fawning essay. The times I guess.

 Where the Kissing Never Stops - This was an essay about Joan Baez. It's kind of my favorite so far because it indirectly points out the pretentiousness of Baez as she endeavors to give back the people via a school that has no curriculum or charter. There is an obviousness to the pretense. Acts like she's just like everybody else, ignoring the numerous resources, wealth and power that she has. Great to put your energy into a school, however what is taught in order to receive praise. Curious how Didion fawns all over Wayne for literal doing nothing but acting, but undermines Baez in her own way (no matter how self serving) who seems to be trying to contribute to society.

  Comrade Laski, C.P.U.S.A. (M.-L.) - a brief exploration of the communist party via a young man that appears to suffer from depression (and paranoid delusions). Another time capsule where Didion finds a person whose dedication to his idea of communisms bears little resemblance to textbook definitions of communism. Another case of trying to undermine an idea by taking an extreme example and applying the quirks of the individual across the board. Lopsided. Corporate masters dictated the contents of this I suspect.

 7000 Romaine, Los Angeles 38 - A short article about name dropping in a lower middle class address that is peripheral to the film industry. Lots of people try to wear the prestige of the film industry while living in substandard accommodations surrounding the film studios.

 California Dreaming - Didion explores a political organization that caters to famous people. It's a setup that allows celebrities to buy access to politicians. The trade off is that the political organization gets to publicly associate w/ the celebs (who apparently have the intellectual heft towards governance /sarcasm). Hmm so strange. That could never happen now...

"Marrying Absurd - Didion looks at the marketing of marriage in Vegas. Fascinating because these essays were written in the 60s. A time capsule. BTW, it hasn't changed.

Slouching Toward Bethlehem - A realisic look at the drug culture in San Francisco masquerading as hippy counter culture. A bunch of drugged kids. Pretty depressing.

On Keeping A Notebook - short essay about how Didion has always kept a notebook and how that allows her to stay in touch with the person she used to be. Self reflective.

  On Self Respect - "Nonetheless, character—the willingness to accept responsibility for one’s own life—is the source from which self-respect springs."

 I Can't Get that Monster Out of My Mind - Didion ponders Hollywood after the loss of the studio system. Meh.

On Morality - Didion ponders morality. A very short, surface level essay. Not especially memorable."

 On Going Home - Didion as an adult w/ a daughter goes home for a visit without her immediate family. Familiar.

 Notes from a Native Daughter - Love letter to the City of Sacramento in the 60s. As someone who lives in the area now, I recognize much of what she is talking about and also recognize how much has changed. For me this one is a standout...for obvious reasons (I live here). Loved it!!

Letter from Paradise 21 degree by 19'N. 157 degrees by 52' W - Didion looks at Hawaii w/ the same eye she looks at Sacramento. Very interesting essay that showcased the "paradise" vs reality of military and oligarchical capitalist competence. Another good one. Timeless.

 Rock of Ages - a look at Alcatraz after it was closed as a prison but before it was a State park. Interesting.

 The Seacoast of Despair - tribute to the vaccuousness of the vanity of vast wealth. Didion muses on the very ugly houses on ridiculously expensive real estate that populate Newport Beach over the breakers. The breakers where many poor people have lost children to the sea. But mostly it's about the tackiness associated with such vast wealth not just in architecture but also in deeds.

 Guaymus, Sonora - Bored and tired Didion and her husband take a short jaunt to a sleepy town in Mexico where after a week long stay they decided to do something, they found there wasn't much to do so they went home.

 Los Angeles Notebook - a look at the pretensious atmosphere of LA. Putrescence is the word of the essay...

Goodbye to All That - Didion looks back nostalgically about NYC. How she fell in love with it and how it's gotten tiresome after 8 year. Keep in mind that this is nostalgia from a 30ish yr old woman. I think she returned to NYC later in her life.

While I can appreciate the excellent and interesting writing of Didion, perhaps this is one to read in small doses instead of straight through. Some of the rhythms and pacing of the essays began to feel similar even when the subjects were not. In the end, this was good but not as good as I had anticipated. I still recommend it, just read a few essays at a time.

3.5 Stars rounded up

Read on kindle

Η Joan Didion με δεινή πένα και υπηρετώντας το ιδανικό του "See enough and write it down" καταγράφει το σημείο που τέμνεται ο περιβάλλων χώρος και το ανθρώπινο μυαλό και περιγράφει με ζωντάνια και με σαφή αντίληψη της βαρύτητας της περιρρέουσας ατμόσφαιρας την Καλιφόρνια και τη Νέα Υόρκη, μεταξύ άλλων, της δεκαετίας του 1960, την ιδιομορφία των κοινωνικών καταστάσεων, τη προσωρινότητα και την αγάπη για μια πόλη, την πολωτική οικονομική πραγματ��κότητα, με την καταθλιπτική κι αδιέξοδη ατμόσφαιρα να διαπερνά τα κείμενά της.

Το ομότιτλο δοκίμιο έχει κατά τη γνώμη μου τη δύναμη του Howl του Ginsberg· πρόκειται για μια σκληρή εξέταση της κουλτούρας των χίπις της γειτονιάς του Σαν Φρανσίσκο που ξεκινάει με μια προμετωπίδα παρμένη από το The Second Coming του Yeats, ποίημα που ενέπνευσε άλλωστε και τον τίτλο του βιβλίου (And what rough beast, its hour come round at last, / Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?), και προσφέρει την πιο άμεση και μεστή αποτύπωση της οπτικής της Didion για τα θέματα που αναλύει στο εν λόγω βιβλίο:

n  The center was not holding. It was a country of bankruptcy notices and public-auction announcements and commonplace reports of casual killings and misplaced children and abandoned homes and vandals who misplaced even the four-letter words they scrawled. It was a country in which families routinely disappeared, trailing bad checks and repossession papers. Adolescents drifted from city to torn city, sloughing off both the past and the future as snakes shed their skins, children who were never taught and would never now learn the games that had held the society together. People were missing. Children were missing. Parents were missing. Those left behind filed desultory missing-persons reports, then moved on themselves. It was not a country in open revolution. It was not a country under enemy siege. It was the United States of America in the cold late spring of 1967, and the market was steady and the G. N. P high and a great many articulate people seemed to have a sense of high social purpose and it might have been a spring of brave hopes and national promise, but it was not, and more and more people had the uneasy apprehension that it was not. n

Old review, with which I disagree.

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I find very attractive the skeptical, reflexively ironic persona that comes through in these essays, as well as the unshockable sang-froid of her prose rhythm--but to call the book a classic, or a "stylistic masterpiece" as the back cover does, seems a bit much. None of these essays, singly, is anything I could cherish. If I encountered any of them in a magazine I would think "she's a good writer" and move on. There's nothing--at least for intellectual pith--that compares with Richard Rodriguez's "Late Victorians," if I may indulge a childish taste for antithesis by invoking another superb stylist known for searching essays on The Meaning of California.

my friend gave me this essay collection for my 22nd birthday with the inscription that ‚not a single word in this was unnecessary‘. I kinda disagree, but nonetheless loved it.
joan didion in the late 60‘s was a journalist working for publications like the new york times magazine, vogue and the saturday evening post. slouching towards bethlehem was her 1968 debut where she collected previously published essays that she wrote in the last two years.
essentially this book is a polaroid snapshot into the west coast of the sixties, the guardian says that our perception of 1960‘s california exists largely because of didion. she pioneered what was later called ‚new journalism‘, a kind of reporting where the writer immerses themselves into the community that they‘re portraying and essentially becomes a part of it. this is taken to a beautifully prosaic and melancholic, philosophical extent in the title giving essay ‚slouching towards bethlehem‘ about haight street and the san fransisco based countercultural movement we have come to associate with woodstock and hippie culture. essays like this or the ones about marriage in las vegas or leaving new york felt personal and fast paced. but especially through the last half of the book I felt a certain slump, many people who were prominent figures at the time are unknown to me, the references can be hard to understand, not because they are difficult but because this book is essentially a contemporary piece of journalism that referenced popular culture of exactly that time.

I read this in college and I was ambivalent. I was young and naive and ignorant and undecided about many things (this is still true - how the horizons of ignorance expand as we learn!), and Didion didn't help me because I couldn't decide whether to agree with her, and I couldn't feel what she felt or think what she thought. I couldn't make much of the picture she painted of the world.

Having recently read a few other bits and pieces of Didion's and reviews of her work, I've decided I don't want to come back to this collection. There's too much bell hooks & Audre Lorde to get through.

It should come as no surprise that this collection of Joan Didion's essays and journalism from the the mid sixties leading up to her publication of Play It As It Lays is thoroughly good, cynical, and perceptive. She writes about societal malaise and the ominous leisure landscapes of California all quite wonderfully, in particular. Though it does leave me wanting to grab more of her fiction soon, as well.