I am in the middle of the process of writing my final paper and some thoughts and questions are going through my head so I wanted to share them:

Although “The Year of Magical Thinking” speaks of terrible tragedy, its not a downer! The writing, by one of the main participants of the tragedy, is exciting! How crazy is that? As Joan Didion once said: “The way I write is who I am, or have become.”

Dissembling nature of memory and grief?

Does the fluid narrative structure represent disorientation by stress caused by sudden death?

Juxtaposing of hard, cold, documents-supported facts with most personal and precisely expressed feelings – the signature of Didion’s alchemy.

Mystical quality of the book?

Musical quality of Didion’s writing? Rhythm is life!

In “The Year of Magical Thinking”, Joan Didion writes about the year she tried to come to terms with twin calamities of December 2003: the life threataning sickness of her daughter and death of her husband. This book is extremely honest, precise and shocking story of loss, grief and sorrow. The quality of Didion’s introspection is simply fascinating. It is also a book that gives us detailed portrait of a four decade long marriage. The term “Magical Thinking” probably has a few meanings but one of them , for sure, refers to the process of memoir writing itself. It takes a lot of strength, courage, intelligence and personal power to be able to rethink, to reconstruct the most painful and so recent memories in one’s life. Joan Didion demonstrated an extraordinary character, perfect reportorial eye and admiring capacity for honesty. As a result, her book is a gift to all of us: it can not only help us be better prepared for the inevitable, but also remind us to appreciate life much more that we do every single day.

…We are not meeting tonight…
Please check this blog over the next week or so for finalized January plans…for our optional class “fieldtrip.”