text: This author criticized pretentious directors and film theory in "I Can't Get That Monster Out of My Mind".
full_question: This author criticized pretentious directors and film theory in "I Can't Get That Monster Out of My Mind". In another work, she recalls playing the song "Wichita Lineman" to get an Ezra Pound quote out of her head. This author's interviews with Linda Kasabian, a former Manson family member, as well as her visits to Black Panther Party meetings and (*) Doors recording sessions, are chronicled in an essay that begins with the statement "we tell ourselves stories in order to live." She wrote about life in the aftermath of her husband in The Year of Magical Thinking and used a Yeats quote for the title of an essay on the Haight-Ashbury district in the 60's, "Slouching Towards Bethlehem." For 10 points, name this female American essayist of "The White Album".
first_sentence: This author criticized pretentious directors and film theory in "I Can't Get That Monster Out of My Mind".
raw_answer: Joan Didion