J9: Question One After reading Didion, Chapters 1-10 (3-120), discuss why you think Didion named her book,Year of Magical Thinking.

J9: Question Two Part of the strength and impact of Didion’s writing comes from her use of specific details, such as in the following passage:

Several years ago, walking east on Fifty-seventh Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues on a bright fall day, I  had what I believed to be at the time to be an apprehension of death.  It was an effect of light: quick sunlight dappling, yellow leaves falling (but from what? were there even trees on West Fifty-seventh street?), a shower of gold, spangled, very fast, a falling of the bright. (Didion 76)

Pick another sentence or two, and notice specific details in it.  How do these details add to the intensity of the passage you have picked?

J9: Question Three How does Didion describe grief?  From your own experience, or from your observation of others, or from the representations of grief we have read in literature this semester, agree or disagree with Didion’s experience of grief.

J10: Respond to Didion

For this post, respond to the second half of Didion’s book. What did you find moving, compelling, or true? If you want, you can read some of the articles I’ve linked to about Didion.  Or you can consider whether Pennebaker and Didion have a similar point of view about writing and grief.  Or you can surprise us with your own original ideas about the book.  For this post, all of you can play in the same sandbox.  Remember to respond to each other.