I’m really getting into the writings of Joan Didion, and I’d started a piece that was inspired from a short segment of her 1961 Vogue piece “Self-Respect: Its Source, Its Power” (later published as “On Self-Respect” in her book Slouching Towards Bethlehem), but it’s taken me down so many roads — some of which I may not want to tread in this forum — that I have nothing to do but share the article with you.
I love Didion not only for her style, but also for her insights; and this article is the perfect combination of both. It’s hard to believe she was only 27 when she wrote it, and then on a deadline because the writer originally commissioned for the piece didn’t come through. It’s one of my favorites, and I hope you enjoy it. And maybe someday I’ll get to that passage in depth.
https://www.vogue.com/article/joan-didion-self-respect-essay-1961
