Joan Didion and Eve Babitz have long been positioned as opposing forces in the cultural tapestry of 1970s California. Didion, the meticulous chronicler of disillusionment and decay, was the embodiment of intellectual rigour. While Babitz, with her unapologetic embrace of glamour, sex and chaos, captured the city’s sunlit hedonism. Yet, as author Lilli Anolik's new book Didion & Babitz details, beneath this surface dichotomy lay a far more intertwined and complex relationship.

Anolik's new biography, Didion & Babitz, unearths the untold story of a connection that defied categorisation. While the public may have seen them as literary foils – Didion the observer, Babitz the participant – it seems like perhaps their lives were more deeply linked than previously imagined. Both women, according to Anolik, sought to navigate the challenges of creating art in a world that demanded women choose between being the brain or the body, the muse or the maker.

At first glance, their differences seem insurmountable. Didion's prose skewered the illusions of Hollywood, crafting an image of herself that resonated with New York’s literary elite. Babitz, on the other hand, painted Los Angeles with affection, turning its vices into virtues, refusing to pander to intellectual expectations. Didion's persona was defined by precision and restraint; Babitz exuded spontaneity, emotion and flair. Yet both captured the same city when putting pen to paper; both offering radically different interpretations of its spirit.

What ties them together, Anolik seems to argue, is a shared struggle within a male-dominated cultural landscape. Didion’s gravitas afforded her staying power, while Babitz was often dismissed as unserious, her insights overshadowed by her image. But they each sought to carve out spaces for themselves as women who refused to play by the rules.

In exploring their parallel lives, Didion & Babitz reveals a hidden collaboration and mutual influence that complicates their perceived opposition. Didion, who famously edited Babitz’s debut work, Eve's Hollywood (1974), left an indelible mark on her prose. Babitz, in turn, presented a raw and unvarnished vision of Los Angeles that stood as a counterpoint to Didion’s detachment.

Their lives ended within days of each other in December 2021 – a poignant synchronicity for two women whose creative journeys had been in conversation for decades. Together, and through Anolik's lens, their stories form a portrait of ambition, artistry, and the price of being a woman in a world that loves to divide. Didion & Babitz reminds us that their rivalry was more than it seemed: it was a testament to the complexity of two icons who reflected, refracted, and, ultimately, reshaped each other’s legacies.

Who is Lilli Anolik?

Lili Anolik, captivated by Eve Babitz's literary mystique, sought her out in the early 2010s, developing a close relationship with the writer in her later years that led to the celebrated biography Hollywood’s Eve. Their bond was rooted in Anolik’s admiration for Babitz's unapologetic embrace of art, fame, and L.A. hedonism, which she chronicled with Babitz’s wry participation.

Didion & Babitz by Lili Anolik was released on November 12, 2024, and is available on Amazon and at all good book stores now.