Joan Didion, a titan of the modern day personal narrative, new journalism and style, has died in her home at age 87 after a battle with Parksion’s Disease. Author of books such as Slouching Towards Bethlehem, The White Album and The Year of Magical Thinking, Didion was instrumental in writing that captured the subtle emotional nuances of day-to-day life, culture and a sensibility towards 21st century empathy which acted as a reparative means to heal from emotional trauma, both for Didion and for her readers.
Born on December 5, 1934 in Sacramento, California, Didion recalled writing starting at the age of five, and was self-described as a “shy, bookish child,” who overcame her anxiety through acting and pubic speaking.
After winning a essay contest sponsored by Vogue Magazine in the 1960s, Didion launched her career for Vogue as a promotional copywriter, working her way up to an associate feature editor later on. Her first work of nonfiction, Slouching Towards Bethlehem, was published in 1968, the book contained reflections on personal experiences she had while living in California.
Didion, while working on various other nonfiction projects throughout the 20th century, contributed analysis to both the faulty trial and prosecution of the Central Park Five, as well as contributed research and documentation that is said to have contributed to the resignation of President Richard Nixon.
On New Years Eve in 2004, Didion published The Year of Magical Thinking, a recollection of personal anxieties, grief and ennui following the death of her husband, John and the severe physical illness of her daughter Quintana in October of the same year. The work was written and published in 88 days.
Didion, in the 21st acted as the muse for the French luxury brand Céline’s Spring/Summer 2015 campaign with a photo of her shot by Juergen Teller.
In 2017, Didion’s nephew Griffin Dunne directed an Netflix documentary about her life and work, titled Joan Didion: The Center Will Not Hold, which added context to both The Year of Magical Thinking as well as another of Didion’s works, Blue Nights.
Didion leaves behind a legacy that is unmatched, both in what she contributed to the zeitgeist of new journalism, as well as what she embedded on the hearts of those who read her work. Her writing grazed and confronted the gentle and precarious situation that is life and love, and faced the reality that the things we hold dearest are also the most temporal.
