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the essay's theme of societal fragmentation. In a 2011 interview, Didion discussed her technique of centering herself and her perspective in her non-fiction works like "Slouching
Towards Bethlehem": "I thought it was important always for the reader, for me to place myself in the piece so that the reader knew where I was, the reader knew who was talking...At the time I started doing these pieces it was not considered a good thing for writers to put themselves front and center, but I had this strong feeling you had to place yourself there and tell the reader who that was at the other end of the voice."
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One critic describes the essay as "a devastating depiction of the aimless lives of the disaffected and incoherent young," with Didion positioned as "a cool observer but not a hardhearted one." Another scholar writes that the essay's form mirrors its content; the fragmented structure resonates with
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has pronounced that such work may achieve the stature of 'art,' perhaps it is possible for this collection to be recognized as it should be: not as a better or worse example of what some people call 'mere journalism,' but as a rich display of some of the best prose written today in this country."
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In her preface to the book, Didion writes, "I went to San
Francisco because I had not been able to work in some months, had been paralyzed by the conviction that writing was an irrelevant act, that the world as I had understood it no longer existed. If I was to work again at all, it would be
190:. At some point, an editor suggested that she had the makings of a collection, so she stacked her columns with past articles she liked (a report from Hawaii, the best of some self-help columns she'd churned out while a junior editor at
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Eva-Sabine
Zehelein, "'A good deal about California does not, on its own preferred terms, add up': Joan Didion Between Dawning Apocalypse and Retrogressive Utopia,"
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The book was immediately favorably received; its popularity continued to grow and become a "phenomenon" with a devoted readership in subsequent years.
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sympathizers then and now, Didion offers a rather grim portrayal of the goings-on, including an encounter with a pre-school-age child who was given
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district of San
Francisco during the neighborhood's heyday as a countercultural center. In contrast to the more
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Louis Menand, "Out of
Bethlehem: The Radicalization of Joan Didion,"
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Jonathan
Yardley, "In a Time of Posturing, Didion Dared Slouching,"
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We Tell
Ourselves Stories in Order to Live: Collected Nonfiction
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601:"Slouching Towards Bethlehem | The Saturday Evening Post"
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A section entitled "The Santa Ana" appeared first in 1967 in
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under the title "How Can I Tell Them There's
Nothing Left".
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under the title "Just Folks at a School for Non-Violence".
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wrote, "Didion's first collection of nonfiction writing,
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Didion originally wrote the piece as an assignment for
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under the title "Self-respect: Its Source, Its Power".
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The title essay describes Didion's impressions of the
164:. The contents of this book are reprinted in Didion's
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under the title "The
Insidious Ethic of Conscience".
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during the 1960s. It takes its title from the poem "
647:Dan Wakefield, "Places, People and Personalities,"
511:"SLOUCHING TOWARDS BETHLEHEM | Kirkus Reviews"
241:necessary for me to come to terms with disorder."
462:under the title "Farewell to the Enchanted City".
415:under the title "Hawaii: Taps Over Pearl Harbor".
908:Works originally published in American magazines
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303:under the title "The Howard Hughes Underground".
634:Caitlin Flanagan, "The Autumn of Joan Didion,"
573:David L. Ulin, "An Evening with Joan Didion,"
409:"Letter from Paradise, 21° 19' N., 157° 52' W"
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21:Slouching Towards Bethlehem (disambiguation)
818:We Tell Ourselves Stories in Order to Live
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362:"I Can't Get That Monster out of My Mind"
326:Appeared first on September 23, 1967, in
152:that mainly describes her experiences in
16:1968 collection of essays by Joan Didion
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913:Books about the San Francisco Bay Area
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523:
685:
562:European Journal of American Studies,
526:"What We Get Wrong About Joan Didion"
564:vol. 6, no. 3, doc. 6, 2011, pp. 5.
255:"Some Dreamers of the Golden Dream"
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513:– via www.kirkusreviews.com.
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677:book page on the official website
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250:I. Life Styles in the Golden Land
903:Essay collections by Joan Didion
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216:image of the milieu promoted by
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524:Heller, Nathan (Jan 25, 2021).
273:"Where the Kissing Never Stops"
667:The New York Times Book Review
649:The New York Times Book Review
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611:
593:
580:
575:Conversations with Joan Didion
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554:
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517:
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477:The New York Times Book Review
398:"Notes from a Native Daughter"
297:"7000 Romaine, Los Angeles 38"
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178:According to Nathan Heller in
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393:III. Seven Places of the Mind
324:"Slouching Towards Bethlehem"
857:The Year of Magical Thinking
480:, novelist and screenwriter
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27:Slouching Towards Bethlehem
7:
825:Let Me Tell You What I Mean
783:Slouching Towards Bethlehem
671:Slouching Towards Bethlehem
619:Slouching Towards Bethlehem
605:www.saturdayeveningpost.com
486:Slouching Towards Bethlehem
278:The New York Times Magazine
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198:Slouching Towards Bethlehem
141:Slouching Towards Bethlehem
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898:American essay collections
458:Appeared first in 1967 in
438:Appeared first in 1965 in
429:Appeared first in 1967 in
420:Appeared first in 1967 in
411:Appeared first in 1966 in
400:Appeared first in 1965 in
384:Appeared first in 1967 in
375:Appeared first in 1965 in
364:Appeared first in 1964 in
353:Appeared first in 1961 in
342:Appeared first in 1966 in
317:Appeared first in 1967 in
308:Appeared first in 1967 in
299:Appeared first in 1967 in
290:Appeared first in 1967 in
275:Appeared first in 1966 in
266:Appeared first in 1965 in
257:Appeared first in 1966 in
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623:Farrar, Straus and Giroux
460:The Saturday Evening Post
451:The Saturday Evening Post
431:The Saturday Evening Post
427:"The Seacoast of Despair"
422:The Saturday Evening Post
413:The Saturday Evening Post
386:The Saturday Evening Post
328:The Saturday Evening Post
319:The Saturday Evening Post
310:The Saturday Evening Post
301:The Saturday Evening Post
292:The Saturday Evening Post
268:The Saturday Evening Post
264:"John Wayne: A Love Song"
259:The Saturday Evening Post
234:The Saturday Evening Post
187:The Saturday Evening Post
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74:Farrar, Straus and Giroux
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765:The Last Thing He Wanted
638:, January/February 2012.
144:is a 1968 collection of
751:A Book of Common Prayer
340:"On Keeping a Notebook"
918:Books about California
893:1968 non-fiction books
447:"Los Angeles Notebook"
548:, December 27, 2007.
456:"Goodbye to All That"
306:"California Dreaming"
288:, C.P.U.S.A. (M.-L.)"
377:The American Scholar
367:The American Scholar
174:Collection's origins
19:For other uses, see
546:The Washington Post
28:
804:Political Fictions
744:Play It As It Lays
590:, August 24, 2015.
26:
880:
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835:Other non-fiction
775:Essay collections
665:Dan Wakefield in
436:"Guaymas, Sonora"
351:"On Self-Respect"
315:"Marrying Absurd"
158:The Second Coming
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54:Cover artist
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811:Where I Was From
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864:Blue Nights
797:After Henry
713:Joan Didion
204:Title essay
150:Joan Didion
48:Joan Didion
887:Categories
737:Run, River
497:References
154:California
758:Democracy
550:Link here
467:Reception
284:"Comrade
237:in 1967.
109:paperback
70:Publisher
843:Salvador
245:Contents
170:(2006).
132:22634186
105:Hardback
62:Language
403:Holiday
345:Holiday
214:utopian
103:Print (
65:English
729:Novels
146:essays
44:Author
850:Miami
441:Vogue
356:Vogue
286:Laski
193:Vogue
160:" by
116:Pages
126:OCLC
107:and
86:1968
669:on
474:In
222:LSD
200:."
148:by
119:238
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Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Additional terms may apply.
