Water—California water—is a recurring presence in Joan Didion’s work, both her fiction and nonfiction; it is, indeed, an ‘obsession.’ In this article, I argue that water control—as epitomized by the Hoover Dam and California water history—has its counterpart in control over writing, the total command of Didion’s obsessively honed prose. I do so by analyzing two essays of the 1970s (“At the Dam,” “Holy Water”) and her 2003 memoir Where I Was From.

My hands on the turbine": Joan Didion, Water, and Control / C. Scarpino. - In: IPERSTORIA. - ISSN 2281-4582. - 2022:19(2022 Jun 25), pp. 114-128. [10.13136/2281-4582/2022.i19.1163]

My hands on the turbine": Joan Didion, Water, and Control

C. Scarpino
2022

Abstract

Water—California water—is a recurring presence in Joan Didion’s work, both her fiction and nonfiction; it is, indeed, an ‘obsession.’ In this article, I argue that water control—as epitomized by the Hoover Dam and California water history—has its counterpart in control over writing, the total command of Didion’s obsessively honed prose. I do so by analyzing two essays of the 1970s (“At the Dam,” “Holy Water”) and her 2003 memoir Where I Was From.
Joan Didion; water; control; The White Album; Where I Was From
Settore L-LIN/11 - Lingue e Letterature Anglo-Americane
25-giu-2022
https://iperstoria.it/article/view/1163
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/2434/932369
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