Joan Didion

Krista Comer (Rice University)
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Joan Didion's name recognition as an American writer is such that her frequent byline in the

New York Review of Books

reads simply “Joan Didion's most recent book is

Slouching Toward Bethlehem

(1968), a study in the new journalism of the 1960s, remains the single best “period piece” on the California counterculture of that era.

Play It As It Lays

, her second novel, set in 1960s Los Angeles, was nominated for a National Book Award in 1971. Didion has written five other novels and her essays have been collected four times as books. She also has collaborated with writer/husband John Gregory Dunne to write numerous screenplays for Hollywood feature films.

If Joan Didion persists as something of an enigma to readers and literary critics Bher characters have been denounced as morose and

2369 words

Citation: Comer, Krista. "Joan Didion". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 24 January 2002 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=4940, accessed 28 March 2024.]

4940 Joan Didion 1 Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.

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