20 Contemporary Literature, 1970 to Present
Artists of Nonf iction (Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1990), which compares
Didion’s nonfiction with that of Tom Wolfe, Norman Mailer, Gay Talese, and
John McPhee.
TOPICS FOR DISCUSSION AND RESEARCH
- Didion has discussed mythic notions about the West in her writing about
California featured in large sections of Slouching towards Bethlehem, The
White Album, and After Henry; the state and Western ideals are also the
subject of Where I Was From. Elyse Blankley invites readers to question
Didion’s use of the metaphor of California as the “final frontier” and the tra-
ditional Western belief in “unfettered individualism.” Should readers accept
these ideals or “deconstruct” them as myths? Although Blankley focuses on
Didion’s novels, students could pose similar questions about Didion’s essays
about California. Is Didion calling for a return to these ideals or disman-
tling them? Students should also be mindful of any changes in Didion’s
presentation of the West. How do Didion’s representations of the West in
Slouching towards Bethlehem or The White Album compare to those in Where
I Was From? - Students might consider comparing Didion’s depictions of California to those
of other writers whose perceptions about the state are grounded in different
histories and experiences. A starting point could be Richard Rodriguez’s mem-
oir Days of Obligation (1984), in which he compares his experience to Didion’s.
Rodriguez observes that her version “was about ghostly ladies who perched on
the veranda of the Senator Hotel and about their husbands, who owned the
land and were selling the land. Joan Didion’s Sacramento was nothing to do
with me; families like mine meant the end of them.” In addition to Rodriguez’s
memoir, students might consider Maxine Hong Kingston’s The Woman Warrior
(1976) and China Men (1980). - Didion has been criticized for the lack of objectivity in her nonfiction. In his
analysis of Didion’s nonfiction prose, however, Mark Z. Muggli defends her
subjective stance, writing: “In ‘Alicia and the Underground Press,’ Didion writes
that the Underground Press is not read for its facts. Neither should Didion be
read for hers. Literal facts are usually her starting point, but figurality gives
her journalism much of its interest.” Students can apply this observation in
an examination of literal and figurative (metaphoric or symbolic) meanings in
one of Didion’s collection or several of her essays. Which details are literal and
can be verified by other sources as objective facts? When Didion elaborates or
embellishes facts with metaphor, what meaning is added to her writing? How
does metaphor allow her to develop themes and perspectives unavailable in
purely factual, literal, or objective reportage? - Krista Comer notes that Didion’s view of gender “presents critics with more
of a problem, for Didion is no feminist. She disdains the category ‘woman
writer.’ In more than one essay she ridicules the women’s movement. All of
these factors make Didion a problematic candidate for feminist endorse-
ment.” And yet, Comer observes, in her California fiction, Didion does