We’ve got so much time for…
JOAN DIDION’S IMAGE is so captivating that to some she remains just that: an image. Whether smoking next to her Stingray Corvette in 1968 (above), or aloof in huge black shades as the face of Céline in 2015, Didion was, and always will be, cool. But she’s so much more than that.
Not familiar with the writer who, it’s not hyperbole to say, is one of the most exciting writers of the 20th century? Let Joan Didion: The Center Will Not Hold, a documentary made by her nephew (showing on Netflix from Friday) be your introduction.
Or better yet, luxuriate in her words – Didion’s knife-sharp scrutinies of California, culture and celebrity are alive with startling, precise sentences woven with astute social observations and jolting personal revelations. They’re perfect compositions that can’t be bettered and, quite simply, a pure joy to read. Interested in the ’60s? Dive into her Slouching Towards Bethlehem essays. Suffered monumental loss? Take solace from her blisteringly brutal 2005 book, The Year of Magical Thinking, written after the death of her husband. On Self-respect, the essay she wrote for Vogue in 1961, should be essential reading for all girls. In turbulent times our best writers take on a new power, reminding us that the pen really is mightier than the sword.
Didion’s category- defining legacy is a potent reminder that you can be many things: emotional and intellectual, a writer and mother, a literary legend and a fashion icon, substance and style. She’s complicated – which is far more interesting than being cool.