I was in high school when I discovered the writing of
Joan Didion. I can't remember which book was my gateway, either
The White Album or
Slouching Toward Bethlehem, but I was beginning to see that I wanted to be a writer myself and her elliptical style hypnotized me. I wanted to write that way. It was the first time I'd really analyzed "style' outside of an English class. And the first time I truly realized that something so effortless-seeming was actually insanely difficult. I cannot wait to read her latest book, which is out today. I have been a working writer for several decades now and I still have so much to learn from her.
Making my way through SLOUCHING. Haven't read it in forty years.
ReplyDeleteMy brother is a huge fan of hers as well, recommended The Year of Magical Thinking to me. I haven't read it yet. Or the one after it either. Blue something?
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