Hilton Als and Emma Cline on the Late Joan Didion

Hilton Als and Emma Cline on the Late Joan Didion

Joan Didion tried and failed, she said, “to think”; that is, to write about abstractions and symbols, and make grand arguments in the manner of the New York intellectuals of her time. Instead, the California native—who died in December, at the age of eighty-seven—built her work around close observation of American life as she saw it, withholding judgment. And while many of her intellectual contemporaries belong now to a bygone era, “for my generation,” Emma Cline notes, “her influence is so massive.” Cline’s best-selling novel “The Girls” is set in nineteen-sixties California, on the fringes of a cult—what we might think of as Didion country. “I almost can’t think of a writer who is more of a touchstone for every writer that I know.” In fact, younger writers need to “unlearn” her voice, Hilton Als tells David Remnick, in order to find their own. Als notes that Didion eventually rejected the persona of her early works, which was imbued with white female fragility; and she was prophetic, he notes, in placing race and gender at the center of America’s battles.

Since Joan Didion’s death, The New Yorker has published Postscripts by Als, Cline, Zadie Smith, and Nathan Heller. Some of Didion’s own contributions to The New Yorker can be found here.

Jaksot(1020)

Ezra Klein’s Big-Tent Vision of the Democratic Party

Ezra Klein’s Big-Tent Vision of the Democratic Party

The author and podcaster Ezra Klein may be only forty-one years old, but he’s been part of the political-culture conversation for a long time. He was a blogger, then a Washington Post columnist and ed...

26 Syys 202550min

The Cartoonist Liana Finck Picks Three Favorite Children’s Books

The Cartoonist Liana Finck Picks Three Favorite Children’s Books

Liana Finck is a cartoonist and an illustrator who has contributed to The New Yorker since 2015. She is the author of several books, including the graphic memoir “Passing for Human.” Like many of her ...

23 Syys 202511min

Is The 2026 Election Already in Danger?

Is The 2026 Election Already in Danger?

“The Constitution gives the states the power to set the time, place, and manner of elections,” the election lawyer Marc Elias points out. “It gives the President no [such] power.” Yet, almost one year...

19 Syys 202537min

Kevin Young on His Book “Night Watch,” Inspired by Death and Dante

Kevin Young on His Book “Night Watch,” Inspired by Death and Dante

Kevin Young is the poetry editor for The New Yorker, and the author of many books of his own poetry. His newest work, “Night Watch,” focusses on death, while also drawing upon his wide view of history...

16 Syys 202517min

How the “Dangerous Gimmick” of the Two-State Solution Ended in Disaster

How the “Dangerous Gimmick” of the Two-State Solution Ended in Disaster

For decades, the United States backed efforts to achieve a two-state solution—in which Israel would exist side by side with the Palestinian state, with both states recognizing each other’s claim to co...

12 Syys 202538min

Jeff Tweedy on His New Triple Album, “Twilight Override”

Jeff Tweedy on His New Triple Album, “Twilight Override”

Jeff Tweedy is best known as the front man of Wilco, the rock band he formed in Chicago in 1994. In recent years, he’s been working more often as a solo artist, putting out records under his own name ...

9 Syys 202528min

Anna Wintour Embraces a New Era at Vogue

Anna Wintour Embraces a New Era at Vogue

Speculation, analysis, and commentary circulated all summer, after the announcement, in June, that Anna Wintour would step back from her role as the editor-in-chief of American Vogue. This changing of...

5 Syys 202539min

Fred Armisen on “100 Sound Effects”

Fred Armisen on “100 Sound Effects”

The comedian Fred Armisen has a thing for sound. He’s a former punk musician and a master of accents, and he is now releasing a new album of sound effects. “I was lamenting that there aren’t sound-eff...

2 Syys 202518min

Suosittua kategoriassa Politiikka ja uutiset

uutiscast
aikalisa
politiikan-puskaradio
ootsa-kuullut-tasta-2
rss-ootsa-kuullut-tasta
rss-pinnalla
rss-vaalirankkurit-podcast
tervo-halme
rss-asiastudio
otetaan-yhdet
aihe
rss-podme-livebox
the-ulkopolitist
rss-girls-finish-f1rst
et-sa-noin-voi-sanoo-esittaa
rss-tasta-on-kyse-ivan-puopolo-verkkouutiset
rss-mina-ukkola
rss-50100-podcast
rss-ulkopoditiikkaa
rikosmyytit