Brevity and Lack of Background in Joan Didion's "White Album"

Lauren Gurfein, English 171, Sages and Satirists, Brown University, 2002

Although Didion's writing style and pace is interesting and intriguing, while reading I sometimes feel daunted by her name dropping. She breezes through significant figures of the sixties with barely a sentence of background.

I am telling you neither that Huey Newton killed John Frey nor that Huey Newton did not kill John Frey, for in the context of revolutionary politics Huey Newton's guilt of innocence was irrelevant. [p. 27]

There are other examples as well, for this continues through the entire piece.

Didion is very assuming in her writing. Does that turn off the reader? Or is that just an attribute to Didion's style that is overlooked, for lack of significance?

Last modified 6 February 2002