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Didion, Joan : Blue Nights

Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 2011

ISBN 9780307267672

Fine copy in fine dust jacket, 8vo, 188 pp.

1st

Didion, Joan : Blue Nights

Alfred A. Knopf, New York City, NY, 2011

ISBN 0307267679

First Edition / First Printing. As New in As New Dust Jacket. 200 pages. The author's second memoir on grief. Now considered a contemporary classic. The First Hardcover Edition. Precedes and should not be confused with all other subsequent editions, particularly copies that are signed on a bookplate. Published in a small and limited first print run as a hardcover original only. The First Edition is now rare. Presents Joan Didion's "Blue Nights". Her sequel to "The Year of Magical Thinking" (2005). The latter was her unforgettable account of two tragedies in 2004: Her husband John Gregory Dunne's sudden death (heart attack) and her daughter Quintana's sudden illness (critical but not life-threatening). "Blue Nights" is about Quintana's death on August 26, 2005, two months before "The Year of Magical Thinking" was published. Even though Quintana's death was widely publicised, Didion, in a feat of emotional and literary poise, chose not to re-write the memoir or add an epilogue. Six years later, she finally tells us the story of Quintana's life, illness, and death at the age of 39. "When I began writing these pages, I believed their subject to be children, the ones we have and the ones we wish we had, the ways in which we depend on our children to depend on us, the ways in which neither we nor they can bear to contemplate the death or the illness or even the ageing of the other. As the pages progressed, it occurred to me that their actual subject was this failure to confront the certainties of ageing, illness, death. Only as the pages progressed further did I understand that the two subjects are the same: When we talk about mortality, we are talking about our children" (Joan Didion). In Joan Didion's, and all other mothers', case, she is talking about the child who will not be there to mourn her when she dies. An absolute "must-have" title for Joan Didion collectors. This copy is very prominently, neatly, and beautifully signed in black ink-pen on the title page by Joan Didion. It is signed directly on the page itself, not on the bookplate that the publisher released "en masse". This title is a contemporary classic. This is one of few such signed copies of the First Hardcover Edition/First Printing still available online and is in especially fine condition: Clean, crisp, and bright, a pristine beauty. It is one of the most beautiful signed copies we have ever seen. Please note: Didion did not tour for the book (as she did for "The Year of Magical Thinking"). Hence the deluge of bookplates. Copies available online have serious flaws, are in multiple subsequent printings, or are remainder-marked. This is surely an accessible and lovely alternative. A rare signed copy thus. Winner of the National Book Award in 2005 for "The Year of Magical Thinking". One of the most brilliant writers of our time. A fine collectible copy. (SEE ALSO OTHER JOAN DIDION TITLES IN OUR CATALOG). ISBN 0307267679.

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