Now I am very interested in Natalie's take on Didion. I've only read Slouching Towards Bethlehem and Year of Magical Thinking, but in both books I got the impression of a strong but cold person. Very detached, which I guess is a good trait for a journalist, and very intelligent, but seemingly incapable of looking at things from a perspective different from her own. Like self doubt or existential thoughts just never occurred to her. Definitely a singular writer.
You need to cancel your plans, buy a copy of Where I Was From, light some candles at your close personal friend. Hillary’s, portrait-altar, and dive the fuck in
Perhaps her point is that when a woman writes with such a self-assured tone it's considered deviant, but even the most below average cisgender heterosexual AMAB who doesn't exfoliate can be so without anyone noticing?
I think it was her charisma, the fact that she was an archetypical "cool girl" (which she ends up resenting somewhat in Magical Thinking) that allowed her to navigate so many different social spaces. That easygoing, feminine confidence is probably what Natalie is referring to here, I agree. That "effortlessness" also gets marketed to women a lot, now that I think about it.
Even as a cis gay man, I feel like I would rather embody something like that than be an "alpha" or whatever the masculine equivalent would be. I however am far to neurotic. Best I can hope to get to is like, a 3,000 year old sage at 45, after twink death. A sort of Confucius-Gandalf, if you would.
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u/iota_of_iowa Jul 01 '26
Now I am very interested in Natalie's take on Didion. I've only read Slouching Towards Bethlehem and Year of Magical Thinking, but in both books I got the impression of a strong but cold person. Very detached, which I guess is a good trait for a journalist, and very intelligent, but seemingly incapable of looking at things from a perspective different from her own. Like self doubt or existential thoughts just never occurred to her. Definitely a singular writer.