Insights from Joan Didion's Final Book
In fear of adding yet another Joan Didion article to the internet, I was reluctant to echo thoughts and ideas conveyed numerously by columnists regarding the ‘observations’ and ‘understandings’ of her world and everything surrounding it.
That was…until I recently shuffled through some notes I had taken upon a first reading of Let Me Tell You What I Mean (a collection of Didion essays spanning from 1968-2000)...and upon revisiting, was inspired to offer a series of new reflections that mirror, mesh, and move beyond those initial reactions.
As suggested by the title, Joan digs deep to reveal to us what exactly it is that ‘she means’—and crucially, in appropriate detail.
The contents of this book?
Twelve essays, a collection of written lectures, and columns from the Saturday Evening Post that acutely depict the novelty of herself in her own time—trying to “write entirely to find out what I'm thinking, what I'm looking at, what I see and what it means.”
Down below, I’ve chosen two of the Let Me Tell You What I Mean essays (“Telling Stories” and “Why I Write”) from which I drew my insights; hopefully, to offer a glimpse of what it’s like to be inside her raincoat….
“Telling Stories” (an essay from Let Me Tell You What I Mean)
Properly titled, “Telling Stories” reverberates the ‘good, bad, and the ugly’ of Joan’s troubled experiences of writing narratives during the different times and places of her life. The majority of the text openly narrates the personal struggles throughout her adolescence—often dwelling upon her shortcomings as a writer...beginning with her enrollment in Mark Schorer’s “writers’ workshop” in the fall of ‘54 at UC-Berkeley. Only able to produce three of the five short-stories assigned to the class, her confidence was at an all-time-low for Joan.
This experience was followed by ten years of producing no written stories at all.
However, she didn’t drop writing altogether. Instead, she found confidence while living in New York, writing for Vogue Magazine. Writing exercises (such as working on semi-literary projects) that were practiced as an associate feature editor during her time at Vogue, ultimately changed her view of how words were to be used. Words were now, as she once stated: “...tools, toys, weapons to be deployed strategically on a page.” Revelations made during that time led to her quiet, perhaps more organic and natural, reintroduction to writing novels, piece by piece.
It took time for Joan to overcome these crippling insecurities. A change in surroundings—along with the passage of time—was perhaps the best medicine for this writer in peril.
What can be derived from this essay is how a writer's environment has significant influence over how one thinks about writing, and to what extent it may limit oneself.
My takeaway: Making the space we inhabit work for us, rather than paralyze us, is an essential element of how we continue to grow as writers.
“Why I Write” (another essay from Let Me Tell You What I Mean)
“All I knew then was what I wasn’t, and it took me some years to find out what I was. Which was a writer. By which I mean not a “good” writer or a “bad” writer but simply a writer, a person whose most absorbed and passionate hours are spent arranging words on pieces of paper.” – Joan Didion, “Why I Write”
It can be assumed that this passage (or perhaps “Why I Write” as a whole) comes from a place of visceral longing–in an attempt to actualize her ‘why’?—quite unapologetically.
Forward, sincere, and incredibly embracive in thought—it's no wonder why this essay, in particular, is a standout among readers. And, I think it's largely due to the sense of urgency—purely out of the necessity to find the locus in her own mise en scène.
Although she may not be the most proficient in the dealings of the abstract, Joan’s precise and articulate method of finding out what it is she’s thinking, and what it is she’s looking at brings distinctive clarity to the concepts most-susceptible to our everyday misconceptions.
The key insight behind this essay is not to ask yourself for permission to write, but rather, the ‘why’?
In fact, any answer to your ‘why’ is a valid one.
The logic and reasoning resides in the notion of rediscovering and internalizing your ‘why’—because it might just lead to that long-awaited breakthrough you’ve been looking for.
If you’re unfamiliar with Didion’s work, I would urge you to get off Substack and spend some quality time with her writing—it’s very rewarding. I promise.
Thanks for this insightful window into her work!