World Literary Awards

← Back to Home

Joan Didion

ジョーン・ディディオン

Joan Didion

Profile

Gender
Female
Born
1934-12-05 （Sacramento, California, U.S.）
Died
2021-12-23 （New York City, U.S.） age 87
Nationality
United States
Languages
English
Residence History
Sacramento (birthplace) → Los Feliz (Los Angeles) → Malibu, California → Brentwood, Los Angeles → Manhattan, New York City (later life)

Career

Occupations
Essayist, Journalist, Novelist, Memoirist, Screenwriter
Active Years
1956-2021
Memberships
American Academy of Arts and Letters (member), American Philosophical Society (member)
Influenced By
Ernest Hemingway, George Eliot, Henry James
Influenced
Contemporary essayists and journalists (significant influence on essay writing), Critics and younger nonfiction writers
Nominations
Pulitzer Prize (finalist for The Year of Magical Thinking), National Book Critics Circle Award (finalist for The Year of Magical Thinking)

Education

University of California, Berkeley
English
Degree: BA
Period: 1952–1956
Year of Graduation: 1956
Country: United States
Won Vogue's "Prix de Paris" essay contest during her senior year and obtained a position at Vogue.

Awards

Elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters
1981
Organization: American Academy of Arts and Letters
Result: 受選
Edward MacDowell Medal
1996
Organization: MacDowell
Result: 受賞
St. Louis Literary Award
2002
Organization: Saint Louis University Library Associates
Result: 受賞
George Polk Book Award
2002
Work: Political Fictions
Organization: George Polk Awards
Result: 受賞
National Book Award for Nonfiction
2005
Work: The Year of Magical Thinking
Organization: National Book Foundation
Result: 受賞
Golden Plate Award (American Academy of Achievement)
2006
Organization: American Academy of Achievement
Result: 受賞
Elected to the American Philosophical Society
2006
Organization: American Philosophical Society
Result: 受選
Prix Médicis (Essay)
2007
Work: The Year of Magical Thinking
Organization: Prix Médicis
Result: 受賞
Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters
2007
Organization: National Book Foundation
Result: 受賞
Writers Guild of America Evelyn F. Burkey Award
2007
Organization: Writers Guild of America
Result: 受賞
Honorary Doctor of Letters (Harvard University)
2009
Organization: Harvard University
Result: 授与
Honorary Doctor of Letters (Yale University)
2011
Organization: Yale University
Result: 授与
National Humanities Medal
2013
Organization: United States Presidential Office / National Endowment for the Humanities
Result: 受賞
PEN Center USA Lifetime Achievement Award
2013
Organization: PEN Center USA
Result: 受賞

Awards & Nominations

Works

Major Works

Slouching Towards Bethlehem

1968 Essay collection (nonfiction)

A collection of magazine pieces about California in the 1960s and the counterculture, blending reportage with personal reflection—often cited as New Journalism.

Californiacounterculturepersonal observation

Play It as It Lays

1970 Novel (fiction)

A novel set in Hollywood exploring alienation and emptiness through its protagonist.

Hollywoodisolationnihilism
Adaptations
  • [Film] Play It as It Lays (film) (1972)

The White Album

1979 Essay collection (nonfiction)

A collection of essays documenting late-1960s experiences and California culture, mixing personal memoir and social observation.

memorycultural criticismCalifornia

The Year of Magical Thinking

2005 Memoir (nonfiction)

A memoir documenting the year following her husband's sudden death and her daughter's illness—an account of grief and mourning.

lossgrieffamily
Adaptations
  • [Stage play (one-woman play)] The Year of Magical Thinking (stage adaptation) / David Hare (2007)

Blue Nights

2011 Memoir (nonfiction)

A memoir reflecting on the death of her daughter, motherhood, and aging; in part a companion to The Year of Magical Thinking.

lossparentingaging

Bibliography

  • Run, River (1963)
  • Slouching Towards Bethlehem (1968)
  • Play It as It Lays (1970)
  • The White Album (1979)
  • Salvador (1983)
  • Miami (1987)
  • After Henry (1992)
  • Political Fictions (2001)
  • Where I Was From (2003)
  • The Year of Magical Thinking (2005)
  • Blue Nights (2011)
  • South and West: From a Notebook (2017)
  • Let Me Tell You What I Mean (2021)

Adaptations

  • Numerous film adaptations and screenplays co-written with husband John Gregory Dunne (e.g., The Panic in Needle Park)
  • Stage adaptation of The Year of Magical Thinking (2007)
  • Documentary Joan Didion: The Center Will Not Hold (2017, Netflix)

Style & Themes

Literary Style
Concise, sentence-focused proseNonfiction that incorporates personal perspectiveNew Journalism techniques (using novelistic devices in reportage)
Recurring Motifs
California and its cultureloss and griefrituals and everyday observationpolitics and public rhetoric

Health

  • Multiple sclerosis (diagnosed)
    1970年代（部分的失明の発作を含むが長期は寛解状態）
    Experienced episodes (including partial blindness) but reportedly remained largely in remission and continued writing.
  • Chronic migraines
    生涯を通じて（詳細不明）
    Intermittently affected daily life and writing.
  • Cancer (treated, details private)
    年次不詳
    Treatment was kept private except from her husband; she continued her writing afterward.
  • Parkinson's disease (complications contributed to death)
    晩年
    Caused complications that contributed to her death in 2021.

Legacy

Joan Didion was a major influence on late-20th and early-21st century American essay and nonfiction writing, celebrated for precise sentencecraft and bringing the personal voice into reportage. She continued to receive public honors and exhibitions, and her work has been adapted for stage and film.

Museums

  • Hammer Museum ("Joan Didion: What She Means" exhibition) Hammer Museum, UCLA (Los Angeles) Opened in 2022
  • Pérez Art Museum Miami (traveling exhibition) Miami, Florida Opened in 2023

Academic Societies

  • American Academy of Arts and Letters
  • American Philosophical Society

In Popular Culture

  • Netflix documentary Joan Didion: The Center Will Not Hold (2017)
  • Appeared in Céline's Spring/Summer 2015 campaign

Quotes

  • To shift the structure of a sentence alters the meaning of that sentence, as definitely and inflexibly as the position of a camera alters the meaning of the object photographed.
    Source: "Why I Write" (The New York Times, 1976) (1976)

Trivia

  • Won Vogue's Prix de Paris essay contest while at university and took a job at Vogue.
  • Adopted a daughter, Quintana Roo Dunne, with husband John Gregory Dunne in 1966.
  • Reportedly smoked exactly five cigarettes per day as of 2011.
  • The Year of Magical Thinking, about her husband's death and her daughter's illness, won the National Book Award.