Ep. 17. Joan Didion, 'Goodbye to All That' (with Danielle Cameron)

In this episode, we do things a little differently. I talk to Dr Danielle Cameron about the opening paragraphs of Joan Didion's essay 'Goodbye to All That' from her collection Slouching Towards Bethlehem (1968). Danielle is a British Mauritian writer and academic based in London. She holds a PhD in American Studies from the University of East Anglia, and her interdisciplinary research focuses upon interrelationships between the writing of age in literature and sociological developments. Danielle is currently writing her first book, which explores how adulthood (as defined by marriage, mortgage and career) is a neoliberal construct, and the ways in which novels both reproduce and resist this norm. From the 2024/25 academic year, Danielle will be working as a Fellow in Interdisciplinary Social Science at the London School of Economics, where she will be teaching on the School’s flagship interdisciplinary course LSE100.Episode references: Elaine Castillo, How to Read Now Danielle's book recs: Elaine Castillo, Moderation; Colson Whitehead, The Colossus of New York and The Intuitionist; Christine Smallwood, The Life of the Mind; Vauhini Vara, Searches: Selfhood in the Digital Age; Ariel Saramandi, Portrait of an Island on FireFollow the show on Instagram and subscribe to the Substack for transcripts and more links. Find Danielle and LSE100 on Instagram. Please leave feedback here.Produced, hosted, and edited by Chris Lloyd.