Joan Didion’s Retrospective Conjures our Lost Innocence
by Thomas Drotar
I was 14 years old in 1970. And though I didn’t discover Didion until much later, I realize now that if I did, I would have understood that I wasn’t alone in my anxieties and my uncertainty of the future.
And upon discovering her early works decades later I definitely felt somehow vindicated in the fear and uncertainty I conjured up and wrapped myself in at 14. She spoke to me and explained what I already sensed but couldn’t conjure the words or feelings to understand. And upon my discovery or her early works I found the voice of that generation taking me by the hand and leading me through its confusion but nonetheless leaving me unsatisfied with the outcome. Her intelligence softened the blow from this realization, the way she described it, always leaving me with a desire to read her other works in the hopes that indeed one could still have their cake and eat it too. Upon completion I realized how naive my desire.
If you’re new to Didion may I suggest you start with the book above. You will not be disappointed.
