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The Resource South and West

South and West

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Summary
From the best-selling author of the National Book Award-winning The Year of Magical Thinking: two extended excerpts from her never-before-seen notebooks—writings that offer an illuminating glimpse into the mind and process of a legendary writer. Joan Didion has always kept notebooks: of overheard dialogue, observations, interviews, drafts of essays and articles—and here is one such draft that traces a road trip she took with her husband, John Gregory Dunne, in June 1970, through Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama. She interviews prominent local figures, describes motels, diners, a deserted reptile farm, a visit with Walker Percy, a ladies' brunch at the Mississippi Broadcasters' Convention. She writes about the stifling heat, the almost viscous pace of life, the sulfurous light, and the preoccupation with race, class, and heritage she finds in the small towns they pass through. And from a different notebook: the "California Notes" that began as an assignment from Rolling Stone on the Patty Hearst trial of 1976. Though Didion never wrote the piece, watching the trial and being in San Francisco triggered thoughts about the city, its social hierarchy, the Hearsts, and her own upbringing in Sacramento. Here, too, is the beginning of her thinking about the West, its landscape, the western women who were heroic for her, and her own lineage, all of which would appear later in her acclaimed 2003 book, Where I Was From. One of TIME’s most anticipated books of 2017 One of The New York Times Book Review's “What You’ll Be Reading in 2017”Includued among the Best Books of March 2017 by both LitHub and Signature
Work
Instance
Label
South and West
Title
South and West
Creator
Subject
Summary
From the best-selling author of the National Book Award-winning The Year of Magical Thinking: two extended excerpts from her never-before-seen notebooks—writings that offer an illuminating glimpse into the mind and process of a legendary writer. Joan Didion has always kept notebooks: of overheard dialogue, observations, interviews, drafts of essays and articles—and here is one such draft that traces a road trip she took with her husband, John Gregory Dunne, in June 1970, through Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama. She interviews prominent local figures, describes motels, diners, a deserted reptile farm, a visit with Walker Percy, a ladies' brunch at the Mississippi Broadcasters' Convention. She writes about the stifling heat, the almost viscous pace of life, the sulfurous light, and the preoccupation with race, class, and heritage she finds in the small towns they pass through. And from a different notebook: the "California Notes" that began as an assignment from Rolling Stone on the Patty Hearst trial of 1976. Though Didion never wrote the piece, watching the trial and being in San Francisco triggered thoughts about the city, its social hierarchy, the Hearsts, and her own upbringing in Sacramento. Here, too, is the beginning of her thinking about the West, its landscape, the western women who were heroic for her, and her own lineage, all of which would appear later in her acclaimed 2003 book, Where I Was From. One of TIME’s most anticipated books of 2017 One of The New York Times Book Review's “What You’ll Be Reading in 2017”Includued among the Best Books of March 2017 by both LitHub and Signature
Accompanying matter
technical information on music
http://library.link/vocab/creatorName
Didion, Joan
http://library.link/vocab/subjectName
  • Biography & Autobiography
  • Literary Criticism
  • Nonfiction
Label
South and West
Instantiates
Publication
Capture and storage technique
digital storage
Configuration of playback channels
unknown
Control code
OVERDRIVE:e7994b65-df76-498a-be9f-8f6c20ab3df9
Dimensions
not applicable
Form of item
electronic
Groove width / pitch
not applicable
http://library.link/vocab/inputERC
True
Isbn
9780525494218
Kind of cutting
not applicable
Kind of disc cylinder or tape
not applicable
Kind of material
other
http://library.link/vocab/resourcePreferred
True
Special playback characteristics
unknown
Specific material designation
  • other
  • remote
Speed
unknown
Tape configuration
not applicable
Tape width
not applicable
Label
South and West
Publication
Capture and storage technique
digital storage
Configuration of playback channels
unknown
Control code
OVERDRIVE:e7994b65-df76-498a-be9f-8f6c20ab3df9
Dimensions
not applicable
Form of item
electronic
Groove width / pitch
not applicable
http://library.link/vocab/inputERC
True
Isbn
9780525494218
Kind of cutting
not applicable
Kind of disc cylinder or tape
not applicable
Kind of material
other
http://library.link/vocab/resourcePreferred
True
Special playback characteristics
unknown
Specific material designation
  • other
  • remote
Speed
unknown
Tape configuration
not applicable
Tape width
not applicable

Subject

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