Notes to John

Since its publication, Notes to John has been criticized as an invasion of the late Joan Didion’s privacy. Craft an argument that either supports or refutes this notion. What are the negative and/or positive aspects of publishing Didion’s diary? Incorporate external sources into your essay.

Analyze the style and tone of Didion’s diary entries. What point of view, structure, and form does she use? Because the diaries are unedited, what do these stylistic choices reveal about Didion’s writing process?

Explore the relationship between Didion’s identity as an individual and her identity as a mother. What do the diaries reveal about how she sees herself in relation to Quintana? How does Notes to John portray Navigating Mother-Daughter Relationships differently from other texts with similar subject matter?