Terrific ending here, Everett. And be sure, if you haven’t yet, to read past the early Didion to her NYer and NYRB essays, which I found instructive when I was on this journey. So often I find when people talk about her work they talk about her early essays, and not say the essays in After Henry, or the essays as yet uncollected on the NYRB site.
I don’t think it’s just about having a point of view or being vulnerable in your writing. a good personal essay doesn’t sound like any other essay, because it’s personal to that person. Hegel says we have to have every conversation that humans can possibly have in order to discover all the ideas that humans and come up with. If we’re all copying each-other (joan didion leading authors like moths to the MFA flame), it is no wonder we haven’t been able to ascended those balls of the light that Hegel thought he would be able to see in his lifetime. everybody sounds like everybody else, and if I have failed in the task of originality, then I have failed Hegel ):
Quite enjoyed this. Someday I hope someone will write the definitive essay explaining why Didion and Sontag became the default inspirational essayist for ambitious women writers - twenty years ago, I would have bet a lot of money on Sontag.
Thank you! I agree—Didion especially has captured so many young people in the past few years, certainly a central writer among me and my college peers.
I like Didion’s image of the “shimmer” of the surface. As one ages the shimmer dulls and the underside enlarges.
Terrific ending here, Everett. And be sure, if you haven’t yet, to read past the early Didion to her NYer and NYRB essays, which I found instructive when I was on this journey. So often I find when people talk about her work they talk about her early essays, and not say the essays in After Henry, or the essays as yet uncollected on the NYRB site.
Thank you so much! I'll be sure to check those essays out. "Where I Was From" is also on my to-read list.
I enjoyed that one also. Good choice.
I don’t think it’s just about having a point of view or being vulnerable in your writing. a good personal essay doesn’t sound like any other essay, because it’s personal to that person. Hegel says we have to have every conversation that humans can possibly have in order to discover all the ideas that humans and come up with. If we’re all copying each-other (joan didion leading authors like moths to the MFA flame), it is no wonder we haven’t been able to ascended those balls of the light that Hegel thought he would be able to see in his lifetime. everybody sounds like everybody else, and if I have failed in the task of originality, then I have failed Hegel ):
Interesting! I wonder about originality: is it a thing at all? Do we need to imitate first (to an extent) before reaching new ideas?
Quite enjoyed this. Someday I hope someone will write the definitive essay explaining why Didion and Sontag became the default inspirational essayist for ambitious women writers - twenty years ago, I would have bet a lot of money on Sontag.
Thank you! I agree—Didion especially has captured so many young people in the past few years, certainly a central writer among me and my college peers.