Joan Didion and the Ethics of Memory

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Looking at the breadth of Joan Didions writing, from journalism, essays, fiction, memoir and screen plays, it may appear that there is no unifying thread, but Matthew R. McLennan argues that the ethics of memory the question of which norms should guide public and private remembrance offers a promising vision of what is most characteristic and salient in Didions works. By framing her universe as indifferent and essentially precarious, McLennan demonstrates how this outlook guides Didions reflections on key themes linked to memory: namely witnessing and grieving, nostalgia, and the paradoxically amnesiac qualities of our increasingly archived public life that she explored in famous texts like Slouching Towards Bethlehem, The Year of Magical Thinking and Salvador. McLennan moves beyond the interpretive value of such an approach and frames Didion as a serious, iconoclastic philosopher of time and memory. Through her encounters with the past, the writer is shown to offer lessons for the future in an increasingly perilous and unsettled world.

Reviews

Reading both with and against Joan Didion, Matthew McLennan again challenges the disciplinary boundaries of philosophy, while providing critical insight into the ethics and politics of memory, nostalgia, and truth. * Devin Zane Shaw, Regular Faculty, Douglas College, Canada *
Matthew McLennans book is a fresh new voice in the study of Joan Didions art: his comprehensive critique dazzles with insight and will certainly open up new avenues of research for future Didion scholars. * Katarzyna Nowak-McNeice, Assistant Professor of English, The University of Wroclaw, Poland *
In his bracing analysis of Didion's "ethics of memory," Matthew McLennan gives us a Didion both self-pitying and tough, a writer whose devastating personal loss resonates with a vast public readership. His account of Didion as a moral teacher whose pessimism saves her from nihilism casts her in an important new light. * Leigh Gilmore, Visiting Professor of English, The Ohio State University, USA, and author of Tainted Witness: Why We Doubt What Women Say About Their Lives *

Author Bio

Matthew R. McLennan is Associate Professor in the School of Ethics, Social Justice and Public Service, Saint Paul University / Universit Saint-Paul, Canada