“My very nearly dear friend Anna Wintour! It’s me, mostly Joan Didion. Recently I’ve been made aware of Susan Sontag, a camera surrounded by scarves that achieved sentience in 1971, immediately whereafter it invented lesbianism. Pauline Kael, you’ll recall, gave lesbianism a terrible review later that year in the New York Times, and the two of them never spoke again, or before. I wanted your advice. I’m throwing a dinner party this evening for very sharply dressed New York women who are dead, and I wanted to know if you thought it would be a mistake to invite them both.
If you think so, I’ll instead spend the afternoon as I originally planned: very slowly buying every glove in the world. I await your response with eagerness and fashion in my heart. Joan Didion.”
I have a secret theory that Pauline Kael's name isn't Pauline Kael and that she made up the last name Kael because she thinks it's more chic and gives her more credibility. Like assholes who spell Amy "Aimmee" or "Aemee" or Emily "Emyly" or Susan "Suezan" Who do they think they are fooling?
I have a secret theory that Pauline Kael's name isn't Pauline Kael and that she made up the last name Kael because she thinks it's more chic and gives her more credibility. Like assholes who spell Amy "Aimmee" or "Aemee" or Emily "Emyly" or Susan "Suezan" Who do they think they are fooling?