The New York Times film critic explores Joan Didion’s enduring influence through the lens of American mythmaking.

From her early fascination with John Wayne and California’s pioneer past to her rise as a Hollywood screenwriter, Joan Didion both shaped and dismantled the myths that define American culture. In We Tell Ourselves Stories, Alissa Wilkinson delves into the nearly 40-year span during which Didion and John Gregory Dunne worked in Hollywood, examining their impact on film and storytelling. Coinciding with the opening of the Joan Didion and John Gregory Dunne archives at the Library, Wilkinson explores postwar American culture and how Didion’s work serves as both a refuge and a cautionary tale about the power of the stories we tell ourselves.

Wilkinson reveals how Didion’s writing not only critiqued Hollywood’s illusions but also solidified its hold on the American imagination.

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ABOUT THE SPEAKERS

Alissa Wilkinson is a film critic at The New York Times and was formerly a senior correspondent and critic at Vox. Her previous book, Salty: Lessons on Eating, Drinking, and Living from Revolutionary Women, was published in 2022. She lives in Brooklyn, New York.

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