Didion, Joan

Joan Didion was born and raised in Sacramento , California ^[10] , in the family of Frank Reese and Edouin (née Gerrett) Didion. Having barely learned to read, she read all the books in the house, and in her youth she even received written permission from her mother to take adult books in the library, especially biographies. She described herself as a “shy book child” ^[10] .

Didion went to kindergarten as a child. Due to the fact that during World War II, his father served in aviation, the family constantly moved; Joan attended school irregularly. Then, in 1943 or early 1944, the family again settled in Sacramento, and his father went to Detroit to settle defense orders made during the First and Second World Wars . Didion writes in his memoir , Where am I from? ^[10] (2003), about the fact that childhood experiences move her and make her feel an eternal outcast.

In 1956, Didion graduated from the University of California at Berkeley with a Bachelor of Arts in English. She later participated in an essay competition sponsored by fashion magazine Vogue . Having won the first prize, she received the post of editorial assistant in this journal ^[11] .

Career

Didion worked for Vogue for two years as a copywriter and editor. Her first novel, Run, the River , was released in 1963 . She returned to California with her second husband, writer John Gregory Dunn , and in 1968 published her first documentary book And Wandered to Bethlehem - a collection of notes about life in California ^[9] .

Her 1983 essay, Salvador , was written after a two-week trip to El Salvador with her husband. In 1984, she also published the novel Democracy , in which she talks about a long but inseparable love between a wealthy heiress and an elderly CIA officer unfolding amid the Cold War and the Vietnam conflict. In 1992, she published the book After Henry , a collection of twelve geographical essays. In 1996, a romantic thriller was the last thing he wanted .

Didion and Dunn worked closely for most of their careers; many of their works resonate with each other. The writers also worked for eight years on the script of the film Close to the Heart based on the biography of the journalist Jessica Savitch.

On October 4, 2004, Didion began work on the book Year of Magical Thinking, which tells of her husband’s death and severe illness for her daughter, and completed the manuscript 88 days later, on New Year’s Eve ^[12] . After the release of these memoirs, she went on tour. This journey, made during mourning, became for her a therapeutic process ^[13] .

In 2007, she wrote a play for one actress based on the book Year of Magical Thinking . The result of the work was a Broadway show, produced by Scott Rudin , and the main role was played by Vanessa Redgrave . Although at first Didion doubted whether to work on the play, she soon found this new genre quite interesting for herself ^[13] .

Personal life

Working in the New York-based Vogue magazine, Didion met her future husband, John Gregory Dunn , who was collaborating with Time at the time. They married in 1964 and soon moved to Los Angeles , not intending to stay there for long. California ultimately became their home for the next twenty years. In 1966, they adopted a girl who was named Quintana Ru Dunn ^[14] . Didion described her childhood and subsequent illness in 2005 in her memoirs ( Year of Magical Thinking, 2005).

In 1979, Didion lived in Brentwood Park, a quiet suburb of Los Angeles (California). Before moving to Brentwood, she lived in Hollywood , in Los Felice, near Franklin Avenue, north of Hollywood Boulevard ^[15] .

In less than two years, Didion survived two tragedies. On December 30, 2003, while her daughter Quintana, Ru Dunn, was in a coma in the intensive care unit due to pneumonic septic shock , her husband died of a heart attack. Quintana died of acute pancreatitis on August 26, 2005. She was thirty-nine years old ^[13] . Later in the book Blue Nights, Didion spoke of the death of Quintana.

Since 2005, Didion lives in New York, on East 71st Street ^[12] .

In 2002, Didion received the Literary Prize of the Partner Library awarded by the University of St. Louis ^{[16] [17]} .

Didion received great recognition after the publication of the book Year of Magical Thinking , which was awarded the National Book Prize in 2005 ^[18] .

In 2007, Didion received a medal from the National Book Fund of the annual medals for her outstanding contribution to American literature. In the same year, Didion was awarded the Prize of the Guild of Scriptwriters of the USA ^[19] .

In 2009, Didion was awarded the title of Honorary Doctor of Philology at Harvard University . ^[20] Yale University in 2011 awarded the writer another title - Honorary Doctor of Literature ^[21] . On July 3, 2013, the White House mentioned Didion among the winners of the US National Medal in the Arts , which will be presented to President Barack Obama. ^[22] In 2010, Didion lamented that under Obama, the United States became a “zone free of irony” ^[23] .

Fiction

• Run, the river (1963)
• How God Will Put His Soul (1970)
• Book of General Prayer (1977)
• Democracy (1984)
• The last thing he wanted (1996)

Non-fiction

• And wandered to Bethlehem (1968)
• White Album (1979)
• Salvador (1983)
• Miami (1987)
• After Henry (1992)
• Political Fiction (2001)
• Where am I from? (2003)
• Fixed ideas: America since 9.11 (2003, Frank Rich's introduction)
• Didion, time-tested (2004, favorites)
• Year of Magical Thinking (2005)
• We tell stories to live (2006, seven-volume compilation)
• Blue Nights (2011) ISBN at 978-0-307-26767-2

Plays, plays, essays, scripts

• Year of Magical Thinking (2006)

Movie Scenarios

• The Needle Park Panic (1971)
• How God Will Put His Soul (1972, based on the novel)
• A star was born (1976)
• Secrets of Confession (1981)
• Close to the Heart (1996)
• How this happens (2012, co-authored by Todd Field) ^[24]