You know, I think that jaundiced look she gives the Doors -- a band I didn't much like as a kid and now adore -- is actually identification. Didion and Morrison and Rechy (whose CITY OF NIGHT has never been out of print, thanks in part to the shout out in "L.A. Woman") still feel like a pulse when I'm in California. One of many veins but there nonetheless.
Didion was a superb author, but I've only read one of her books which I got for a pittance at a library sale. Can't even recall the title, but there is no doubt her prose was exceptional. Your post here makes me want to read more of her writing.
Great post! I didn't read Didion till relatively recently, and of course I have read 'Slouching Towards Bethlehem'. OK, I haven't. But after your writing here, I definitely will – being only a little bit post-Haight Ashbury myself. OK, a bit and a bit more, but. Thanks.
Love your nearly-closing sentence about Los Angeles and fairy-food.
Oh, thank you! I'm glad you enjoyed the post, and I'm glad I'm not the only one who waited so long to get round to Didion. I've now got a copy of The White Album that I just picked up on hold at the library the other day.
You know, I think that jaundiced look she gives the Doors -- a band I didn't much like as a kid and now adore -- is actually identification. Didion and Morrison and Rechy (whose CITY OF NIGHT has never been out of print, thanks in part to the shout out in "L.A. Woman") still feel like a pulse when I'm in California. One of many veins but there nonetheless.
Love this idea--all of them a bit like ghosts, perhaps, too, inhabiting an LA for which the contemporary version is merely an overlay.
Didion was a superb author, but I've only read one of her books which I got for a pittance at a library sale. Can't even recall the title, but there is no doubt her prose was exceptional. Your post here makes me want to read more of her writing.
This was exactly the effect I hoped it would have!
Great post! I didn't read Didion till relatively recently, and of course I have read 'Slouching Towards Bethlehem'. OK, I haven't. But after your writing here, I definitely will – being only a little bit post-Haight Ashbury myself. OK, a bit and a bit more, but. Thanks.
Love your nearly-closing sentence about Los Angeles and fairy-food.
Oh, thank you! I'm glad you enjoyed the post, and I'm glad I'm not the only one who waited so long to get round to Didion. I've now got a copy of The White Album that I just picked up on hold at the library the other day.