Yesterday I heard that Joan Didion passed away. Kinda stopped me in my tracks. Yes, she was old (87), but she was other things too.
Slouching Towards Bethlehem (not necessarily a seasonal title) and The White Album (1979), published eleven years later, are great collections, while A Year of Magical Thinking (2005) laid bare certain things about the author that reminded me why it is sometimes best never to meet those whose art you admire.
Maybe I will re-read her novel Play It As It Lays (1970) over the holidays. I remember not thinking much of it the first time around, though I think I understood what she was getting at with the construction/subtraction of her subject, something I was reminded of a couple years later when I read Lorrie Moore's short story "Willing" (1990).
No comments:
Post a Comment