"The Paranoia Was Fulfilled" - An Analysis of Joan Didion's Essay The White Album

This article looks at Joan Didion’s essay “The White Album” from the collection of essays The White Album (1979), as a relevant text to reflect upon America’s turmoil in the sixties, and investigate in particular the subject of paranoia. “The White Album” represents numerous historical events from...

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Autor principal:	Rachele Colombo
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN IT
Publicado:	Università degli Studi di Torino 2019
Materias:	Joan Didion The White Album paranoia Sixties America E11-143 American literature PS1-3576
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/085c4bb2cf614b8d8c8cd7b92ac12618
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id	oai:doaj.org-article:085c4bb2cf614b8d8c8cd7b92ac12618
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:085c4bb2cf614b8d8c8cd7b92ac126182021-11-23T14:20:59Z"The Paranoia Was Fulfilled" - An Analysis of Joan Didion's Essay The White Album10.13135/2612-5641/31742612-5641https://doaj.org/article/085c4bb2cf614b8d8c8cd7b92ac126182019-12-01T00:00:00Zhttps://www.ojs.unito.it/index.php/jamit/article/view/3174https://doaj.org/toc/2612-5641 This article looks at Joan Didion’s essay “The White Album” from the collection of essays The White Album (1979), as a relevant text to reflect upon America’s turmoil in the sixties, and investigate in particular the subject of paranoia. “The White Album” represents numerous historical events from the 1960s, but the central role is played by the Manson Murders case, which the author considers it to be the sixties’ watershed. This event–along with many others–shaped Didion’s perception of that period, fueling a paranoid tendency that reflected in her writing. Didion appears to be in search of a connection between her growing anxiety and these violent events throughout the whole essay, in an attempt to understand the origin of her paranoia. Indeed, “The White Album” deals with a period in Didion’s life characterized by deep nervousness, caused mainly by her increasing inability to make sense of the events surrounding her, the Manson Murders being the most inexplicable one. Consequently, Didion seems to ask whether her anxiety and paranoia are justified by the numerous violent events taking place in the US during the sixties, or if she is giving a paranoid interpretation of completely neutral and common events. Because of her inability to find actual connections between the events surrounding her, in particular political assassinations, Didion realizes she feels she is no longer able to fulfill her main duty as a writer: to tell a story. Surrendering to the impossibility of building a narrative, she can only juxtapose images that results in what she defines as a cutting-room experience. Paranoia appears to be a fil rouge that tightens everything together, influencing Didion’s perception of the world and, ultimately, her writing. Rachele ColomboUniversità degli Studi di TorinoarticleJoan DidionThe White AlbumparanoiaSixtiesAmericaE11-143American literaturePS1-3576ENITJAm It!, Vol 1, Iss 2 (2019)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN IT
topic	Joan Didion The White Album paranoia Sixties America E11-143 American literature PS1-3576
spellingShingle	Joan Didion The White Album paranoia Sixties America E11-143 American literature PS1-3576 Rachele Colombo "The Paranoia Was Fulfilled" - An Analysis of Joan Didion's Essay The White Album
description	This article looks at Joan Didion’s essay “The White Album” from the collection of essays The White Album (1979), as a relevant text to reflect upon America’s turmoil in the sixties, and investigate in particular the subject of paranoia. “The White Album” represents numerous historical events from the 1960s, but the central role is played by the Manson Murders case, which the author considers it to be the sixties’ watershed. This event–along with many others–shaped Didion’s perception of that period, fueling a paranoid tendency that reflected in her writing. Didion appears to be in search of a connection between her growing anxiety and these violent events throughout the whole essay, in an attempt to understand the origin of her paranoia. Indeed, “The White Album” deals with a period in Didion’s life characterized by deep nervousness, caused mainly by her increasing inability to make sense of the events surrounding her, the Manson Murders being the most inexplicable one. Consequently, Didion seems to ask whether her anxiety and paranoia are justified by the numerous violent events taking place in the US during the sixties, or if she is giving a paranoid interpretation of completely neutral and common events. Because of her inability to find actual connections between the events surrounding her, in particular political assassinations, Didion realizes she feels she is no longer able to fulfill her main duty as a writer: to tell a story. Surrendering to the impossibility of building a narrative, she can only juxtapose images that results in what she defines as a cutting-room experience. Paranoia appears to be a fil rouge that tightens everything together, influencing Didion’s perception of the world and, ultimately, her writing.
format	article
author	Rachele Colombo
author_facet	Rachele Colombo
author_sort	Rachele Colombo
title	"The Paranoia Was Fulfilled" - An Analysis of Joan Didion's Essay The White Album
title_short	"The Paranoia Was Fulfilled" - An Analysis of Joan Didion's Essay The White Album
title_full	"The Paranoia Was Fulfilled" - An Analysis of Joan Didion's Essay The White Album
title_fullStr	"The Paranoia Was Fulfilled" - An Analysis of Joan Didion's Essay The White Album
title_full_unstemmed	"The Paranoia Was Fulfilled" - An Analysis of Joan Didion's Essay The White Album
title_sort	"the paranoia was fulfilled" - an analysis of joan didion's essay the white album
publisher	Università degli Studi di Torino
publishDate	2019
url	https://doaj.org/article/085c4bb2cf614b8d8c8cd7b92ac12618
work_keys_str_mv	AT rachelecolombo theparanoiawasfulfilledananalysisofjoandidionsessaythewhitealbum
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"The Paranoia Was Fulfilled" - An Analysis of Joan Didion's Essay The White Album

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