You cannot, in actuality, reverse or overcome a couple million years of biological and cultural evolution and history by ignoring it, or just declaring it no longer operative; as we are witnessing, that route leads to a whole world of dissatisfaction, regret, and despair and, eventually, to social and cultural collapse.

The much more truthful saying should have been that–just as Yang needs Yin to work and be complete–for the preservation and progress of the species, for social cohesion and stability, a woman needs a man and family–as does a man need a woman and a family–and, as unsatisfactory, turbulent, and difficult as things may be at times, one can’t live and flourish without the other, and without that bond, and the family, and the children it produces. influences, protects and raises, society stagnates, slides into chaos and violence, can become decadent, and possibly, then, just fall apart.

A couple of years before that Vogue thing, though, Didion won a guest editorship position at Mademoiselle. See this review of a recent biography on her: https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2015/09/the-elitist-allure-of-joan-didion/399320/

Thanks!

I don’t mind her “Vogue” background. I find the fashion world interesting in an exotic way. Plus I get to expand my vocabulary! I loved “The Devil Wears Prada.”

Ann: Well, she did get her start at “Vogue”!

I admired Didion’s “Slouching,” which I read when it first came out. Haven’t read it for ages, though, and don’t remember all that much about it. I did read her heartwrenching book about the deaths of her husband and daughter, though. She is a very good writer. It was indeed a rough go even to read about.

Perhaps my writing was influenced by her, since I read her so long ago and did admire her writing.

And “After Hours” is one of my favorite movies.