It was so beautifully written— she was a totally captivating writer…..and just so engagingly fun to spend time with.

I wasn’t as used to the new dumb questions, so when men I had once thought of as wise daddies now asked me “How do you write?” I did not try and spill red wine in their suede pants, I would just smile and say, “On a typewriter in the mornings when there’s nothing else to do.”

Eve Babitz". Simon & Schuster. Archived from the original on April 21, 2021 . Retrieved April 21, 2021. Babitz’s sentences—fluffy, golden, and spunky—which appear flippant…but like Marilyn Monroe infusing the ditz with closeted intellectualism, Babitz has a genius for revealing the depths of ostensibly shallow waters.”—Monica McClure, The Culture Trip a b Lambert, Molly (October 7, 2019). "The Perseverance of Eve Babitz's Vision". The Paris Review. Archived from the original on April 21, 2021 . Retrieved April 21, 2021. In 1963, her first brush with notoriety came through Julian Wasser's iconic photograph of a nude, twenty-year-old Babitz playing chess with the artist Marcel Duchamp, on the occasion of his landmark retrospective at the Pasadena Art Museum. The show was curated by Walter Hopps, with whom Babitz was having an affair at the time. The photograph is described by the Smithsonian Archives of American Art as being “among the key documentary images of American modern art”.

Two by Two: Tango, Two-step, and the L.A. Night (1999). New York, NY: Simon & Schuster. ISBN 0684833921 OCLC 41641459 ever since i first discovered eve babitz, i have been captivated by the themes she writes about. she’s known as “the” bohemian it girl on the internet, exploring la in the 60s and 70s while encountering the famous or the almost famous.And because we already know this is a love story with no expected ending, the reader is allowed to tumble into these worlds. Basically, we follow her — sometimes into a short story, sometimes a vignette or five. As a result Slow Days, Fast Company tumbles sometimes too, but almost always delightfully. I mean this word. Wonder is important. Sometimes I wanted to argue with her — her being Eve, being Eve-as-protagonist — but I never felt lost or bored. She wants and she is frustrated, which are sexy moves in a pseudo-autobiographical narrative, because you can’t always get what you want so writing it down anyway is brave, and comic. “I wanted,” writes Eve, Babitz’s sentences—fluffy, golden, and spunky—which appear flippant…but like Marilyn Monroe infusing the ditz with closeted intellectualism, Babitz has a genius for revealing the depths of ostensibly shallow waters.

a b Green, Penelope (October 3, 2019). "The Eve Babitz Revival". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on April 21, 2021 . Retrieved April 21, 2021. Slow Days, Fast Company is organized as a loose series of sketches. The thread that ties them together is Babitz herself, who often can be found openly contemplating herself. Her concern with her own magnetic appeal comes across less as vanity, however, than simple self-awareness – in her first book, Eve's Hollywood, she is frank: “I looked like Brigitte Bardot and I was Stravinsky’s goddaughter.” Babitz is aware both that her beauty and connections have given her a pass into a social realm inaccessible to most people, and simultaneously condemned her to inhabit a certain stereotype in the eyes of many onlookers. “I wasn’t as used to the new dumb questions, so when men I had once thought of as wise daddies now asked me 'How do you write?’ I did not try and spill red wine in their suede pants, I would just smile and say, 'On a typewriter in the mornings when there’s nothing else to do.’'' Babitz was born in Hollywood, California, the daughter of Mae, an artist, and Sol Babitz, a classical violinist on contract with 20th Century Fox. [1] Her father was of Russian Jewish descent and her mother had Cajun (French) ancestry. [2] Babitz's parents were friends with the composer Igor Stravinsky, who was her godfather. [3] She attended Hollywood High School. [4] :39–40 Career [ edit ] Babitz' collection of essays, Slow Days, Fast Company, the best non-fiction written about the Joys of Sensuous LA, I have always thought right up there with Joan Didion's Slouching Towards Bethlehem.”—Lee Grove, Boston GlobeThe houses and architecture that originated in Los Angeles are entitled the “bungalow” style. I live in one. A bungalow. The Eve Babitz Revival". New York Times. October 3, 2019. Archived from the original on April 21, 2021 . Retrieved April 29, 2021. Well, gee," I said to him, "there are so many perfect women, it's just horrible you have to spend time sitting here with me."Horrible indeed! No use being morose about it, however. Even if I never found an Eve Babitz, I can appreciate her discriminating mind even at this distant remove. This is a girl who did not believe in the viability of most relationships: "The real truth is that I've never known any man-woman thing to pan out (it may pan out to them, of course, but couples in middle age who don't speak to each other are not my idea of a good movie.)" So awesome that NYRB Classics has republished this collection as Eve Babitz was not just a Hollywood IT girl. These are sharp, witty and intelligent observations of her life and LA. It’s a gigantic, sprawling, ongoing studio,” writes Eve. “Everything is off the record.” I admire this heartbeat close approach, which invites a closeness incorporating but also expanding the male gaze, which is an inevitable albatross for a white cis woman telling stories in Los Angeles at this time. We are asked to enter these worlds, to see Los Angeles as Eve does, to consider happiness a right not a luxury. There is music and warmth and jokes and booze and frequently, hot flashes of color and food, like tiny paintings: “golden bracelets caught the light of the mustard hills.” “A faded rose-suede suit.” “A white powder called Coyote’s Brain.” Above all, Eve is fascinated with women, she likes “to find things out from them.”

Her dishy, evocative style has never been characterized as Joan Didion-deep but it's inarguably more fun and inviting, providing equally sharp insights on the mood and meaning of Southern California.”—Laura Pearson, Chicago Tribune In Hollywood’s Eve: Eve Babitz and the Secret History of L.A., biographer Lili Anolik writes, "passing herself off as a groupie allowed Eve to infiltrate, edge into territory from which she'd otherwise have been barred." [15] Reviewing this biography for The Nation, journalist Marie Solis wrote, "Babitz didn’t live a life free from patriarchy, but modern-day readers might surmise that she found a way to outsmart it. Despite her proximity as a Hollywood insider to the powerhouses of male celebrity, she rarely succumbed to their charms; instead, she made everyone play by her own rules." [16] Babitz] achieved that American ideal: art that stays loose, maintains its cool, is purely enjoyable enough to be mistaken for simple entertainment. It’s a tradition that includes Duke Ellington, Fred Astaire, Preston Sturges, Ed Ruscha, and, it goes without saying, Marilyn Monroe.”—Lili Anolik, Vanity Fairto say the least — eve’s writing style is chatty, gossipy and it reads like you’re catching up with your “cool” friend. some of her observations and lines are hilarious, however, i do think that she’s given way more credit for her wittiness than she actually deserves. most of her writing consists of nothing but surface-level descriptions of la and society and passionless prose.