As a teenager she obsessively typed out the works of Ernest Hemingway, learning the rhythm and simplicity of clear, declarative writing. What I want and what I fear.”īorn on 5 December 1934 in Sacramento, California, Didion was just five years old when she wrote her first story, at her mother’s encouragement. “I write entirely to find out what I’m thinking, what I’m looking at, what I see and what it means. “Had I been blessed with even limited access to my own mind there would have been no reason to write,” she explained in her 1976 essay “Why I Write”. Her work, whether fiction or journalism, was clear-sighted, precise and perceptive, and always peppered with her signature bone-dry wit. Joan Didion, who died today in New York at the age of 87, was a writer all her life. Each piece is classic Didion: incisive, bemused, and stunningly prescient.Throughout her life, Didion drew powerful narratives out of the chaos and disorder of American culture (Alamy) In 'Why I Write,' Didion ponders the act of writing: 'I write entirely to find out what I'm thinking, what I'm looking at, what I see and what it means.' From her admiration for Hemingway's sentences to her acknowledgment that Martha Stewart's story is one 'that has historically encouraged women in this country, even as it has threatened men,' these essays are acutely and brilliantly observed. Here, Didion touches on topics ranging from newspapers ('the problem is not so much whether one trusts the news as to whether one finds it'), to the fantasy of San Simeon, to not getting into Stanford.

They showcase Joan Didion's incisive reporting, her empathetic gaze, and her role as 'an articulate witness to the most stubborn and intractable truths of our time' ( The New York Times Book Review). With a forward by Hilton Als, these twelve pieces from 1968 to 2000, never before gathered together, offer an illuminating glimpse into the mind and process of a legendary figure.

A NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK OF THE YEAR * NEW YORK TIMES BEST SELLER * From one of our most iconic and influential writers, the award-winning author of The Year of Magical Thinking: a timeless collection of mostly early pieces that reveal what would become Joan Didion's subjects, including the press, politics, California robber barons, women, and her own self-doubt.

Didion let me tell you