 First edition | |
| Author | Joan Didion |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Genre | Memoir |
| Published | 2011 Alfred A. Knopf |
| Publication place | United States |
| Media type | Print (hardcover & paperback) |
| Pages | 208 |
| ISBN | 978-0307267672 |
Blue Nights is a memoir written by American author Joan Didion, first published in 2011. The memoir is an account of the death of Didion's daughter, Quintana, who died in 2005 at age 39. Didion also discusses her own feelings on parenthood and aging. The title refers to certain times in the "summer solstice [...] when the twilights turn long and blue."[1] Blue Nights is notable for its "nihilistic"[2] attitude towards grief as Didion offers little understanding or explanation of her daughter's death. Writing for The New York Review of Books, Cathleen Schine said,
"'We tell ourselves stories in order to live,' Didion famously wrote in The White Album. Blue Nights is about what happens when there are no more stories we can tell ourselves, no narrative to guide us and make sense out of the chaos, no order, no meaning, no conclusion to the tale."[3]
Blue Nights has been called a "companion piece"[4] to Didion's The Year of Magical Thinking, published in 2005, which focuses on Didion's experiences following the death of her husband and hospitalization of her daughter.
- ^ Didion, Joan. Blue Nights. p 3.
- ^ O'Rourke, Meghan. "Joan Didion’s Blue Nights isn’t about grieving for her daughter. It’s about a mother’s regrets." Slate. Accessed November 5, 2014.
- ^ Schine, Cathleen. "Elegy to the Void." The New York Review of Books. Accessed November 5, 2014.
- ^ Banville, John. Book review. The New York Times. Accessed November 5, 2014.