The Year of Magical Thinking

Infobox Book
name = The Year of Magical Thinking
title_orig =
translator =


image_caption = 2005 Knopf cover
author = Joan Didion
illustrator =
cover_artist =
country = United States
language = English
series =
genre = Memoir
publisher = Knopf
release_date = 2005
media_type = Print (Hardback & Paperback)
pages = 240 pp (Knopf hardcover edition)
isbn = ISBN 1-4000-4314-X (Knopf hardcover edition)
preceded_by =
followed_by =

"The Year of Magical Thinking" (2005), by Joan Didion (b. 1934), is an account of the year following the death of the author's husband John Gregory Dunne (1932-2003). Published by Knopf in October 2005, the book was immediately acclaimed as a classic in the genre of mourning literature. It won the National Book Award in November 2005 and was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award [Cite web| url = http://www.bookcritics.org/?go=pastAwards | work = National Book Critics Circle | title = All Past National Book Critics Circle Award Winners and Finalists | accessdate = 2007-04-26] as well as the Pulitzer Prize for Biography/Autobiography. [Cite web| url = http://www.pulitzer.org/ | work = The Pulitzer Prizes | title = The Pulitzer Prizes | accessdate = 2007-05-31]

Structure and themes

The book recounts Didion's experiences of grief after Dunne's 2003 death of a cardiac arrest in their New York apartment. Days before his death their daughter Quintana Roo Dunne Michael was hospitalised in New York with pneumonia which developed into septic shock and was still unconsious when her father died. During 2004 Dunne Michael was hospitalised again after a collapse and bleed into her brain.

The narrative structure of the book follows Didion's re-living and re-analysis of her husband's death throughout the year following it, in addition to caring for Dunne Michael. With each replay of the event, the focus on certain emotional and physical aspects of the experience shifts. Didion also incorporates medical and psychological research on grief and illness into the book.

The title of the book refers to magical thinking in the anthropological sense, thinking that if a person hopes for something enough or performs the right actions that an unavoidable event can be averted. Didion reports many instances of her own magical thinking, particularly the story in which she cannot give away Dunne's shoes, as he would need them when he returned. [cite news
last=Feeney
first=Mark
url=http://www.boston.com/ae/books/articles/2005/10/26/amid_unbearable_sorrow_she_shows_her_might/
title=Amid unbearable sorrow, she shows her might
date=2005-10-26
accessdate=2008-06-09
work=The Boston Globe] The experience of insanity or derangement that is part of grief is a major theme, one that Didion was unable to find a great deal of existing literature about. [cite news
last=Van Meter
first=Jonathan
title=When Everything Changes
url=http://nymag.com/nymetro/arts/books/14633/
date=2005-10-02
accessdate=2008-06-09
work=New York Books]

Didion applies the iconic reportorial detachment for which she is known to her own experience of grieving; there are few expressions of raw emotion. Through observation and analysis of changes in her own behavior and abilities, she indirectly expresses the toll her grief is taking. She is haunted by questions concerning the medical details of her husband's death, the possibility that he sensed it in advance, and how she might have made his remaining time more meaningful. Fleeting memories of events and persistent snippets of past conversations with John take on a new significance. Her daughter's continuing health problems and hospitalizations further compound and interrupt the natural course of grief.

Writing process

Didion wrote "The Year of Magical Thinking" between October 4 2004 and December 31 the same year, completing it a year and a day after Dunne died. [cite news
last = O'Hagan
first = Sean
title = The years of writing magically
url = http://books.guardian.co.uk/departments/biography/story/0,,1854009,00.html
date= 2006-08-20
accessdate=2008-06-09
work=The Guardian] Notes she made during Dunne Michael's hospitalisations became part of the book. [cite news
last=Brockes
first=Emma
title=Q: How were you able to keep writing after the death of your husband? A: There was nothing else to do. I had to write my way out of it
url=http://books.guardian.co.uk/reviews/biography/0,,1668939,00.html
date=2005-12-16
accessdate=2008-06-09
work=The Guardian] Dunne Michael died of pancreatitis on August 26 2005 prior to the publication of the book, but Didion told the press that she would not revise the manuscript. [cite news
last = McKinley
first = Jesse
title=Joan Didion's New Book Faces Tragedy
url=http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/29/books/29didi.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
date=2005-08-29
accessdate=2008-06-09
work=The New York Times]

The Play

"See also: The Year of Magical Thinking (Play)"

On March 29th, 2007, Didion's adaptation of her book for Broadway, directed by David Hare, opened with Vanessa Redgrave as the sole cast member. The play expands upon the memoir by dealing with Dunne Michael's death. Redgrave reprised her role to largely positive reviewsd at London's National Theatre. This production is set to tour the world, dates already announced include Salzberg, Bath and Cheltenham. [Cite news | url = http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/26/theater/26didi.html?ex=1177732800&en=d2a5a1c9da9f0f2d&ei=5070 | title = Vanessa Redgrave and Joan Didion, Working on a Merger | work = The New York Times | date = 2006-05-26 | accessdate = 2007-04-26] The play was also performed in the Sydney Theatre Company's 2008 season, starring Robyn Nevin and directed by Cate Blanchett. [cite news|last=Hallett|first=Bryce|title=Theatre's dream team keeps Nevin in the act|url=http://www.smh.com.au/news/arts/theatres-dream-team-keeps-nevin-in-the-act/2007/09/07/1188783493335.html|date=2007-09-08|accessdate=2007-09-16|publisher=The Sydney Morning Herald]

References and notes

External links

* [http://www.studio360.org/episodes/2007/03/02 Audio interview with Joan Didion by Kurt Anderson (2005)] . "Studio 360". March 2, 2007.