tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6959297.post5354396614059727272..comments2024-03-21T07:37:30.475-04:00Comments on Light reading: In this week's NYRBJenny Davidsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02295436498255927522noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6959297.post-41507177577280417052006-10-24T02:53:00.000-04:002006-10-24T02:53:00.000-04:00I think it's hard for many people to understand th...I think it's hard for many people to understand the mentality of people from old california families. Anyone who writes about him or herself is in some way "narcissistic." Didion uses herself as a stand-in for the equally detached observer in life (both curious and apathetic)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6959297.post-16594626075676125382006-09-22T04:20:00.000-04:002006-09-22T04:20:00.000-04:00Richard Wollheim's Germs is all too easy to find. ...Richard Wollheim's Germs is all too easy to find. You can order it direct from its principal publisher in the UK and the book will be airmailed within 24 hours, to arrive in the US in 5-7 working days. It is incredible. The address to go to is www.waywiser-press.com/ordersAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6959297.post-76040845286855076562006-09-20T11:37:00.000-04:002006-09-20T11:37:00.000-04:00Not to cause trouble, but don't get me started on ...Not to cause trouble, but don't get me started on John Leonard! I found his twin panegyrics to Elizabeth Hardwick and Joan Didion to be embarrassing and, under the circumstances, deeply sycophantic. On Hardwick, in the NYRB:<br /><br />"We are so comfortable in such company that we lean on her, as if she were a brother or a broom. And then all of a sudden, by rag doll twinkletoes and sleight-of-hand, we are head over heels."<br /><br />To end on a positive note, I think Coetzee is by far the best lit critic currently writing for the NYRB. And have you read Richard Wollheim's "Germs"? Supposedly an incredible memoir, though I've had difficulty tracking it down.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6959297.post-62797787408473626662006-09-20T10:10:00.000-04:002006-09-20T10:10:00.000-04:00The Harrison essay is devastating. She gets a grea...The Harrison essay is devastating. She gets a great quote from Gloria Steinem about Didion: "Ask her how come, if she spends all her time crying and swimming and struggling to open a car door, she finds the energy to write so much?"<br /><br />That said, I was completely obsessed with her for several years and still have a strong reaction to many of her early essays. I can see the flaws, certainly, but there's something there that always gets me. John Leonard wrote a great appreciation of The Year of Magical Thinking in NYRB.Alicehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01307958850120460298noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6959297.post-77977849701413633282006-09-20T05:46:00.000-04:002006-09-20T05:46:00.000-04:00Hi - This is another, less-than-enraptured essay o...Hi - This is another, less-than-enraptured essay on Joan Didion... I think it does get at something: <br /><br />http://www.writing.upenn.edu/~afilreis/103/didion-per-harrison.html<br /><br />E.M.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6959297.post-76942774981138911592006-09-19T22:21:00.000-04:002006-09-19T22:21:00.000-04:00Now, see, I love early Didion. When I was writing...Now, see, I love early Didion. When I was writing my senior essay (1986), I read a Didion book a day, essay collections and novels. I don't think it's her sensibility I love--I can totally see why it would be annoying, and that same smugness you describe here is there in those essay collections whose names I'm forgetting and don't feel like looking up--but the impeccable construction at the structural/essay level is irresistible to me. They teach beautifully, too. But I've had The Year of Magical Thinking for months now and haven't read it. I didn't like the excerpt in the Times, I think because it was so confident in its generalizing based on her singular experience, which is related to Mr. Waggish's comment. But so many people have loved it that I think I must read it soon.Beccahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12002802440403969922noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6959297.post-5164303693537357342006-09-19T18:12:00.000-04:002006-09-19T18:12:00.000-04:00You have totally put your finger on it--I must rea...You have totally put your finger on it--I must read that Kael essay!Jenny Davidsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02295436498255927522noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6959297.post-81727469310082678732006-09-19T09:08:00.000-04:002006-09-19T09:08:00.000-04:00Completely with you on Didion. I've never understo...Completely with you on Didion. I've never understood what the fuss was about, and I too find her persona narcissistic. Pauline Kael (whom I like) wrote a scathing destruction of Play It As It Lays (it's in For Keeps). Her description of Didion:<br /><br />"The ultimate princess fantasy is to be so glamorously sensitive and beautiful that you have to be taken care of; you are simply too sensitive for this world--you see the truth, and so you suffer more than ordinary people and can't function."<br /><br />And she also found the ultimate Didion quote:<br /><br />"I am haunted by the cannibalism of the Donner Party."Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com