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RETURN TO INNOCENCE?
    Joan Didion’s ‘Slouching Towards Bethlehem’
Outline


Background

  Author, title, setting

Analysis

Discussion
Joan Didion (1934-)
Exploring cultural values and
experiences of American life in
the 1960s

Adopted daughter 1 year before
Slouching research

Awarded for 2005 “The year of
Magical Thinking” - memoir

Blue Nights memoir published
2011 (experiences of grief)
Slouching - 1968


1968 Essay Collection

Didion’s experiences

in California, 1960’s
Title - William Butler Yeats

Irish poet, composed in 1919

Uses imagery of the Apocalypse

- allegory for post-war Europe

Themes and symbology sets tone

Referenced in other artforms
The Second Coming

                           Turning and turning in the widening gyre
                           The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
                           Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
                           Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
                           The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
                           The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
                           The best lack all conviction, while the worst
                           Are full of passionate intensity.

                           Surely some revelation is at hand;
                           Surely the Second Coming is at hand.
                           The Second Coming! Hardly are those words out
                           When a vast image out of Spiritus Mundi
                           Troubles my sight: somewhere in sands of the desert
                           A shape with lion body and the head of a man,
                           A gaze blank and pitiless as the sun,
                           Is moving its slow thighs, while all about it
                           Reel shadows of the indignant desert birds.
                           The darkness drops again; but now I know
                           That twenty centuries of stony sleep
W.B. Yeats - 1865 - 1939   Were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle,
                           And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,
                           Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?
Setting - Summer of Love
Set in Haight-Ashbury district
in months prior to Summer of
Love (100,000 people
converged in neighbourhood)

Was countercultural centre -
mix of music, drugs, sex,
creative expression and
politics.

Popularised through music
and media
Structure
Intro        Polyphonic Snapshots         Analysis   Final Image

Didion portrays a very difference scene

Pushes the boundaries of the observer

Explores the gap between who we are and who we think we are

Balancing act between objective and subjective approaches
Intro        Polyphonic Snapshots         Analysis     Final Image




Attention grabbing - contrast of atrocities “casual killings,
misplaced children, abandoned homes” - to reveal that she
writes of the United States

Tone is set with striking language, use of poem “the centre was
not holding” - “We had aborted ourselves and butchered the
job.” - “Social haemorrhaging”

She establishes the relationship with the reader - Her voice sets
stage in first person, - it is to be an account from ground zero
Intro        Polyphonic Snapshots          Analysis     Final Image




The structure loosens (as in the poem?) Didion shifts to a series
of ‘snapshots’ using multiple voices - interwoven

On her writing, “To shift the structure of a sentence alters the
meaning of that sentence, as definitely and inflexibly as the
position of a camera alters the meaning of the object
photographed.”

So she carefully presented these snapshots to lack careful
presentation
Intro            Polyphonic Snapshots                    Analysis          Final Image

Characters - voices

   Kid 16/17 who has been shooting speed for 3 days

   Max who drops 250-350 micrograms of acid every 6 days, teenage girlfriend Sharon

   Arther Lisch - leader of the Diggers, who worries the influx of runaways will lead to
   full-blown humanitarian crisis

Disorienting - she darts back and forth as erratically as the homeless youth she writes of -
as a reader you get a sense of what it was like to be amongst those she was writing about

She uses their vernacular, adapts her own language to further paint these snapshots -
“on a bad trip” “I figure the sign is Sharon’s trip”

Relentless and grim - in some ways reminded me of Jack Kerouac and his beat generation
Intro        Polyphonic Snapshots         Analysis    Final Image




On her negotiation of access - she has gained their trust:

“I am so physically small, so temperamentally unobtrusive, and
so neurotically inarticulate that people tend to forget that my
presence runs counter to their best interests. And it always
does.”

Notoriously inarticulate - “Had I been blessed with even limited
access to my own mind there would have been no reason to
write.”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4qesozdFK8U
http://www.c-spanvideo.org/program/155799-1   43:00 -ish - 55:00
Intro        Polyphonic Snapshots          Analysis     Final Image




In this section we are led through the quote of a psychiatrist to
Didion writing directly of her findings

She discovered a league of lost children - not amid a social
revolution but rather in a drug-addled stupor, consumed by a
self-destructive nihilism and lacking the language to articulate
their particular malaise.

“Army of children waiting to be given the words.”
Intro        Polyphonic Snapshots        Analysis     Final Image




The analysis seems to tie these snapshots together, we are then
called to reflect on these thoughts with two more examples

Final and shocking image of 5 year old girl on Acid. Didion uses
her neutral and objective tone until one key moment, “I start to
ask if any of the other children in High Kindergarten get stoned,
but I falter at the key words.”

Very subtle, but immensely telling
Style and Conclusion
Uncluttered writing style (Hemingway was an influence for
Didion)

Structure used to immerse the reader in her world

Extremely accurate use of quotes, right down to vernacular
(however graphic)

Very involved research, close and honest relationships with
sources

Snapshots used to back up her opinion, then more examples
used in newly presented frame
References

Didion, J 1990, “Slouching Towards Bethlehem, “ Slouching
towards Bethlehem, New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux

Harkins-Cross, R 2012, “Writing the self: On Joan Didion.
Meanjin, Vol.71, No. 2: 80-88.

Ulin, D 2010, “What Happened Here?”, Columbia Journalism
Review Vol.48 Issue 6, 50-54.
Discussion
How can structure influence the reader? Can you think of any
examples? When is it ok to break the rules and when isn’t it?

  (Order of scenes, Points of analysis/digression etc)

On the topic of representation - what are your thoughts on how
Didion represented her subjects?

  (sub-point - Didion was very transparent about herself, but her
  attitudes towards and relationships with her subjects are less
  defined - discuss) or use eg. of 5yo girl - would you report it?

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Slouching

  • 1. RETURN TO INNOCENCE? Joan Didion’s ‘Slouching Towards Bethlehem’
  • 2. Outline Background Author, title, setting Analysis Discussion
  • 3. Joan Didion (1934-) Exploring cultural values and experiences of American life in the 1960s Adopted daughter 1 year before Slouching research Awarded for 2005 “The year of Magical Thinking” - memoir Blue Nights memoir published 2011 (experiences of grief)
  • 4. Slouching - 1968 1968 Essay Collection Didion’s experiences in California, 1960’s
  • 5. Title - William Butler Yeats Irish poet, composed in 1919 Uses imagery of the Apocalypse - allegory for post-war Europe Themes and symbology sets tone Referenced in other artforms
  • 6. The Second Coming Turning and turning in the widening gyre The falcon cannot hear the falconer; Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold; Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world, The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere The ceremony of innocence is drowned; The best lack all conviction, while the worst Are full of passionate intensity. Surely some revelation is at hand; Surely the Second Coming is at hand. The Second Coming! Hardly are those words out When a vast image out of Spiritus Mundi Troubles my sight: somewhere in sands of the desert A shape with lion body and the head of a man, A gaze blank and pitiless as the sun, Is moving its slow thighs, while all about it Reel shadows of the indignant desert birds. The darkness drops again; but now I know That twenty centuries of stony sleep W.B. Yeats - 1865 - 1939 Were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle, And what rough beast, its hour come round at last, Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?
  • 7. Setting - Summer of Love Set in Haight-Ashbury district in months prior to Summer of Love (100,000 people converged in neighbourhood) Was countercultural centre - mix of music, drugs, sex, creative expression and politics. Popularised through music and media
  • 8. Structure Intro Polyphonic Snapshots Analysis Final Image Didion portrays a very difference scene Pushes the boundaries of the observer Explores the gap between who we are and who we think we are Balancing act between objective and subjective approaches
  • 9. Intro Polyphonic Snapshots Analysis Final Image Attention grabbing - contrast of atrocities “casual killings, misplaced children, abandoned homes” - to reveal that she writes of the United States Tone is set with striking language, use of poem “the centre was not holding” - “We had aborted ourselves and butchered the job.” - “Social haemorrhaging” She establishes the relationship with the reader - Her voice sets stage in first person, - it is to be an account from ground zero
  • 10. Intro Polyphonic Snapshots Analysis Final Image The structure loosens (as in the poem?) Didion shifts to a series of ‘snapshots’ using multiple voices - interwoven On her writing, “To shift the structure of a sentence alters the meaning of that sentence, as definitely and inflexibly as the position of a camera alters the meaning of the object photographed.” So she carefully presented these snapshots to lack careful presentation
  • 11. Intro Polyphonic Snapshots Analysis Final Image Characters - voices Kid 16/17 who has been shooting speed for 3 days Max who drops 250-350 micrograms of acid every 6 days, teenage girlfriend Sharon Arther Lisch - leader of the Diggers, who worries the influx of runaways will lead to full-blown humanitarian crisis Disorienting - she darts back and forth as erratically as the homeless youth she writes of - as a reader you get a sense of what it was like to be amongst those she was writing about She uses their vernacular, adapts her own language to further paint these snapshots - “on a bad trip” “I figure the sign is Sharon’s trip” Relentless and grim - in some ways reminded me of Jack Kerouac and his beat generation
  • 12. Intro Polyphonic Snapshots Analysis Final Image On her negotiation of access - she has gained their trust: “I am so physically small, so temperamentally unobtrusive, and so neurotically inarticulate that people tend to forget that my presence runs counter to their best interests. And it always does.” Notoriously inarticulate - “Had I been blessed with even limited access to my own mind there would have been no reason to write.”
  • 15. Intro Polyphonic Snapshots Analysis Final Image In this section we are led through the quote of a psychiatrist to Didion writing directly of her findings She discovered a league of lost children - not amid a social revolution but rather in a drug-addled stupor, consumed by a self-destructive nihilism and lacking the language to articulate their particular malaise. “Army of children waiting to be given the words.”
  • 16. Intro Polyphonic Snapshots Analysis Final Image The analysis seems to tie these snapshots together, we are then called to reflect on these thoughts with two more examples Final and shocking image of 5 year old girl on Acid. Didion uses her neutral and objective tone until one key moment, “I start to ask if any of the other children in High Kindergarten get stoned, but I falter at the key words.” Very subtle, but immensely telling
  • 17. Style and Conclusion Uncluttered writing style (Hemingway was an influence for Didion) Structure used to immerse the reader in her world Extremely accurate use of quotes, right down to vernacular (however graphic) Very involved research, close and honest relationships with sources Snapshots used to back up her opinion, then more examples used in newly presented frame
  • 18. References Didion, J 1990, “Slouching Towards Bethlehem, “ Slouching towards Bethlehem, New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux Harkins-Cross, R 2012, “Writing the self: On Joan Didion. Meanjin, Vol.71, No. 2: 80-88. Ulin, D 2010, “What Happened Here?”, Columbia Journalism Review Vol.48 Issue 6, 50-54.
  • 19. Discussion How can structure influence the reader? Can you think of any examples? When is it ok to break the rules and when isn’t it? (Order of scenes, Points of analysis/digression etc) On the topic of representation - what are your thoughts on how Didion represented her subjects? (sub-point - Didion was very transparent about herself, but her attitudes towards and relationships with her subjects are less defined - discuss) or use eg. of 5yo girl - would you report it?

Notes de l'éditeur

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