Published on April 22, 2025, “Notes to John” is a collection of Joan Didion’s therapy notes and diary entries found by her estate posthumously. It has struck criticism from the literary world and Didion fans alike. Much of the entries were written between late 1999 to July 2003, which was during a particularly tough time for the Didion-Dunne family. Didion was seeing a psychiatrist, which she reflects on throughout the book, relaying discussions from her therapy sessions that give details about her childhood, her struggles with depression and alcoholism and her complex relationship with her struggling alcoholic, adopted daughter Quintana.
The publication of something so personal to a famed writer like Didion calls many things into question for the literary world, such as the ethics of publishing posthumous writings, and what it means for fans to have access to writing that was originally intended to be private.
Readers question whether it is even ethical to publish Didion’s therapy notes, and whether fans deserve every work from their favorite authors.
While reading this book, it is clear in Didion’s writing that she was depressed, which feels especially apparent when listening to the audiobook version. “Notes to John” reveals Didion’s psyche that was hidden under her well-made mask. This book is a heartbreaking read that gives the reader more insight on the ways Didion and her family were struggling. It is arguably more emotionally heavy than her previous books written about her struggles with grief after losing both her husband and daughter, such as “Blue Nights” and “The Year of Magical Thinking.”
It feels like an invasion of privacy to read about Didion’s therapy sessions. It is even possible that the publication of this book breaks the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) confidentiality clause. There’s no doubt that Didion would be horrified to see her personal therapy notes and her darkest secrets told to the public.
People close to Didion have expressed disagreement with the publishing of “Notes to John,” with some sharing statements on the matter: “The collective feeling in her inner circle is that her privacy has been betrayed…While I, of course, understand the public thirst for this document, given Joan’s extraordinary place in American letters, Joan was nothing if not meticulous and intentional with the details she decided to share.”
Joan Didion would not have wanted her darkest family secrets to be published. It would have been a disservice to her legacy to not follow her wishes after her passing. Although Didion left these journals on her desk, she never left instructions for her estate to publish them. It ruins the image that Didion worked so hard in her life to construct. In particular, Didion was extremely private and protective of Quintana.
For years, Didion didn’t reveal the cause of Quintana’s death in order to protect her daughter’s image. Because of this prevailing invasion of privacy she cultivated during her lifetime, it seems obvious that if she wanted these journals to be published, Didion would have left her estate and her assistants clear permissions about publishing them.
On the other hand, some fans of Didion believe that she would have wanted these published because she didn’t burn these journals, like other writers, such as Charles Dickens, did before they died. Many deceased writers have had their work treated like content that deserves to be given to the masses, so it is quite common to see posthumous publishing. In a dramatic way, some people even see the idea of finding never-before-seen writing after someone’s passing as a sign of communication from them. However, this reason isn’t adequate justification to publish writing that was meant to be personal.
Didion is more than a literary icon; she was a real person. In fan culture, fans automatically assume that they are entitled to know everything about their favorite figure. Didion didn’t seem to crave the celebrity status that most people are familiar with today, though. She was a real person — and a writer that drew inspiration from her authentic life experiences — and she deserves to have privacy even after her death. Overall, these journals don’t display her literary process. Instead they reveal a deeply traumatic time in her life that should have been kept private.
Verdict: These journals aren’t literary gold; they’re just depressing revelations of Joan’s darkest times in her life. The publication of this book isn’t ethical as it is a violation of privacy. Didion doesn’t owe her fans an invitation to learn everything about her life.
