At first, yah, Didion BUMMED me out, as we say in Lincoln 205. After the first chapter, I wondered if I should keep reading or not- I was already feeling a little down on life and it felt like Didion might be a kind of TOXIC character- who can't see any romance or beauty in the world. As we began discussing the environment of the time- the "everything goes" and "it's your trip, man" attitude, I began to really appreciate her. Maybe I need romance/beauty right now, maybe WE need romance/beauty right now because we know everything is totally FUCKED-- 2012, economic collapse, gentrification beyond control, right? We need something to keep us from sitting down and dying, to be proactive-- some HOPE even within the DOOM---- even IF everything is screwed, we have to TRY. We have to believe to try. But, in Didion's heyday, there was nothing BUT romance. There was a naivety. But then, there were FIVE YEAR OLDS ON LSD, as she disturbingly ends one chapter. That can't be a good sign.
As, I kept reading, I began to think: sure, she is a little distant, "cold" in that she remains uninvolved (though she begins to use first person plural "WE" more as the book progresses- and, in these rare instances, it is extremely touching), but more than anything, her images are CRYSTAL CLEAR. The boy turning the marble in his fingers in the Baez piece "Where the Kissing Never Ends", etc. They are images that stay with me in their clarity. There is beauty in the unadorned details. Beauty in things as they are. Without the rose-tinted glasses. She's kinda Zen, right?
Yes. I agree.We need lyrical beauty right now. I'mn not sure if Hunter T is the ticket! Ha ha. But I think Annie D and Least Heat-Moon might bring you some relief. Spalding Gray might, too. Her's a sad guy in many ways, but he's very funny. And weirdly lyrical.
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