It appears that Joan Didion—preferred brand of liberal arts girls, inspiration for a litany of advertorials, and a woman responsible for thousands, if not millions, of middling personal essays penned by women relocating from one city to another—has reemerged to grant an exclusive interview.
Today, Time magazine published a quick Q&A with the 86-year-old ahead of the release of a new book of old essays, and it’s a confounding read: One could interpret Didion’s begrudging participation as a form of near-silent protest at the indignity of being asked to reanimate and answer questions in the interest of selling yet another reissue, or as an iconic voice responding to pandemic-stricken America with the lackadaisical scorn required of a year during which the intellectual elite have been banned from doing anything particularly fun.
It could also, of course, be that Joan Didion is really fucking tired of answering these questions.
On how Joan Didion is “feeling”:
I feel fine. Slightly bored, but fine.
On whether Joan Didion “fears death”:
No. Well, yes, of course.
On what it means to Joan Didion to be called “the voice of your generation”:
I don’t have the slightest idea.
On how Joan Didion feels about being a “fashion icon”:
I don’t know that I am one.
On how Joan Didion felt when the Central Park Five were exonerated:
However I felt didn’t get me or them anywhere.
If you’re so inclined, you can read all of the 71 words Joan Didion committed to the interviewer right here.
DISCUSSION
Good for Joan.
She’s been writing for decades and decades; how she feels about everything has been amply recorded.