Joan Didion has died

[astrangerhere]

Joan Didion, American journalist and author, dies at age 87


“I closed the box and put it in a closet. There is no real way to deal with everything we lose.”

― Joan Didion, Where I Was From

[astrangerhere]

The New York Review of Books has taken down the paywall on every article she wrote for them since 1973:

https://www.nybooks.com/contributors/joan-didion/

[Quoth]

Maybe better known to Americans and readers of journalism & non-fiction? I'd never heard of her despite having very wide reading tastes and reading since before she published.

[astrangerhere]

She was indeed one of our most instantly recognizable journalists (both in person and in prose).

If you are in any way curious about her work, this piece that will be in The New Yorker next week has links to many of her more famous essays: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2...oan-didion-saw.

[Critteranne]

It might depend on all sorts of factors. I heard about her by accident when I was young -- I think because she had a book of essays called "Slouching Towards Bethlehem." The title caught my eye.

Starting earlier this year (summer?), Barnes & Noble has featured a couple of Joan Didion books on special tables in the front, sometimes as part of their "Buy One, Get one 50% off" deals. One of them was the novel "Play It as It Lays." (The other might have been "Slouching Towards Bethlehem.")

Interesting family connections. Her brother-in-law was author and film/TV producer Dominick Dunne. Her nephew was actress Dominique Dunne, who was murdered by her boyfriend when she was just 22. (Dominick Dunne wrote and talked extensively about it.) Her nephew was Griffin Dunne (actor, director, etc.)

[Gardenman]

I guess I must hav been living under a rock. I never heard of her untill now.

[John F]

Originally Posted by Gardenman

I guess I must hav been living under a rock. I never heard of her untill now.

Ditto. Maybe I've read an article by her, but I don't recognize the name.

Either way, RIP.*

If you're close to her, maybe don't read the following:

Spoiler:

*Unless she did something really bad, then maybe She should toss and trun, and then RIP.

[hobnail]

Originally Posted by Gardenman

I guess I must hav been living under a rock. I never heard of her untill now.

I'm guessing you're not old enough. I remember her name but I don't think I've ever read anything by her (too busy living those times to be reading about them). Here's a succinct line from wikipedia about her:

Her writing during the 1960s through the late 1970s engaged audiences in the realities of the counterculture of the 1960s and the Hollywood lifestyle.

[Gardenman]

Originally Posted by hobnail

I'm guessing you're not old enough. I remember her name but I don't think I've ever read anything by her (too busy living those times to be reading about them). Here's a succinct line from wikipedia about her:

was living through them too. would not have been reading about them.

[hobnail]

Originally Posted by Gardenman

was living through them too. would not have been reading about them.

Yeah, at the time perhaps of more interest to our parents, "the establishment", or "the man".

[Uncle Robin]

Being a child in the 70s and living a long way from the US, I'm not surprised that I'd never heard of her, but I was impressed by a quote I saw on Twitter "She would never pretend to be less smart". Respect.