Joan Didion's recently uncovered notes to her late husband, John Gregory Dunne, provide a deeply personal look into her thoughts surrounding her daughter Quintana's battle with alcoholism. These pages, discovered in her office after Didion's death, illustrate her emotional vulnerability and concerns that were less public than in her other works. The notes discuss her dreams of Quintana's struggles, reflecting Didion's lifelong habit of documenting significant events and feelings to make sense of them. This treasure trove of reflections offers poignant insight into Didion's private life, revealing a different side of the prolific writer.
"I told him about the dream I had this week in which Quintana and I were sharing a room and every time I woke during the night she wasn't in her bed, she was sitting by the window and she was getting drunker and drunker, and there was nothing I could do about it. She couldn't see me watching her."
"He wanted to know how old Quintana was when we got her, the details of the adoption. We talked at some length about that, and I said I had always been afraid we would lose her. Whale watching. The hypothetical rattlesnake in the ivy on Franklin Avenue."
Collection
[
|
...
]