Didion, Joan

Didion, Joan
born Dec. 5, 1934, Sacramento, Calif., U.S.

U.S. novelist and essayist.

Her writing explores disorder and personal and social unrest. Her first novel was published in 1963; later novels include Play It as It Lays (1970), A Book of Common Prayer (1977), Democracy (1984), and The Last Thing He Wanted (1996). Her essay collections Slouching Towards Bethlehem (1968) and The White Album (1979) are perceptive, clear-eyed analyses of American culture. With her husband, John Gregory Dunne, she has written a number of screenplays, including A Star Is Born (1976).

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▪ American author
born Dec. 5, 1934, Sacramento, Calif., U.S.

      American novelist and essayist known for her lucid prose style and incisive depictions of social unrest and psychological fragmentation.

      Didion graduated from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1956 and then worked for Vogue magazine from 1956 to 1963, first as a copywriter and later as an editor. During this period she wrote her first novel, Run River (1963), which examines the disintegration of a California family. While in New York City, she met and married writer John Gregory Dunne (Dunne, John Gregory), with whom she returned to California in 1964. A collection of magazine columns published as Slouching Towards Bethlehem (1968) established Didion's reputation as an essayist and confirmed her preoccupation with the forces of disorder. In a second collection, The White Album (1979), Didion continued her analysis of the turbulent 1960s. The inner decay of the Establishment is a major theme of the essays constituting the volume After Henry (1992; also published as Sentimental Journeys).

      Other works by Didion include the short novels Play It as It Lays (1970), A Book of Common Prayer (1977), Democracy (1984), and The Last Thing He Wanted (1996) and the essays Salvador (1983), Miami (1987), and Where I Was From (2003). Essays on U.S. politics, including the presidential election of 2000, were collected in Political Fictions (2001). Didion also wrote several screenplays with her husband, including A Star Is Born (1976; with others), True Confessions (1981), and Up Close and Personal (1996). Following Dunne's death in 2003, she wrote The Year of Magical Thinking (2005), in which she recounted their marriage and mourned his loss. The memoir won a National Book Award (National Book Awards), and Didion adapted it for the stage in 2007.

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  • Didion, Joan — (n. 5 dic. 1934, Sacramento, Cal., EE.UU.). Novelista y ensayista estadounidense. En sus obras explora los trastornos y el malestar personal y social. Su primera novela –El río corre – se publicó en 1963; después vendrían Play It as It Lays… …   Enciclopedia Universal

  • Joan Didion — Didion at the 2008 Brooklyn Book Festival Born December 5, 1934 (1934 12 05) (age 76) Sacramento, California, U …   Wikipedia

  • Joan Didion — Saltar a navegación, búsqueda Joan Didion (2008). Joan Didion (n. Sacramento, 5 de diciembre de 1934) Escritora, ensayista y periodista americana. Contenido …   Wikipedia Español

  • Joan Didion — Pour les articles homonymes, voir Didion. Joan Didion (2008). Joan Didion (née le 5 décembre  …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Joan — /john/, n. 1. ( Fair Maid of Kent ) 1328 85, wife of Edward, the Black Prince, and mother of Richard II. 2. a fictitious female pope about A.D. 855 858. 3. a female given name. * * * (as used in expressions) Betty Joan Perske Baez Joan Chandos… …   Universalium

  • Joan — (as used in expressions) Betty Joan Perske Baez, Joan (Chandos) Crawford, Joan Didion, Joan Miró, Joan Roberta Joan Anderson Robinson, Joan (Violet) Joan (Violet) Maurice Barbara Joan Streisand Sutherland, Dame Joan Tower, Joan …   Enciclopedia Universal

  • Joan Didion — (2008). Joan Didion (* 5. Dezember 1934 in Sacramento) ist eine Journalistin und Buchautorin aus den USA. Didion schreibt regelmäßig für The New York Review of Books und The New Yorker. In Zusammenarbeit mit ihrem (im Jahr 2003 verstorbenen) Mann …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Didion — ist der Name: einer Gattung der Marienkäfer, Didion (Gattung) Didion ist der Nachname folgender Personen: Isidor Didion (1798−1878), französischer General Joan Didion (* 1934), US amerikanische Journalistin und Schriftstellerin …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Didion —   [ dɪdɪən], Joan, amerikanische Schriftstellerin, * Sacramento (Calif.) 5. 12. 1934. Didion sieht für ihre weiblichen Helden einen Ausweg aus der sinnentleerten Welt des »American dream«, wenn überhaupt, in der Wiederherstellung eines… …   Universal-Lexikon

  • Didion —  Cette page d’homonymie répertorie des personnes (réelles ou fictives) partageant un même patronyme. Didion est un nom de famille notamment porté par : Charles Didion (1803 1882), ingénieur français ; Isidore Didion (1798 1878),… …   Wikipédia en Français

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