The White Album

Joan Didion was an important figure in New Journalism and in documenting 1960s counterculture and was born and raised in California, so her focus in these essays on events in California makes sense. Her familiarity with California and interest in the area manifest in her nuanced portraits of its figures and industries. California is diverse, and Didion’s essays describe an array of places and individuals. She covers Huey Newton in jail, lifeguards at Zuma Beach, shopping malls, people addicted to gambling, the Bishop of California, bureaucrats, and much more. Didion first published these essays in prominent literary outlets, showing that her views on American society and culture were in demand.

However, Didion portrays her views as arcane or obscure. In the essay “In the Islands,” she notes, “[Y]ou are getting a woman who for some time now has felt radically separated from most of the ideas that seem to interest other people” (118). Didion characterizes this as a negative, but her detached, unique perspective adds to her intrigue. She wants to “believe in the narrative and in the narrative’s intelligibility” (9) but is suspicious of meaning and the use of stories. Her doubts give her essays a whimsical and fragmented character.