The book recounts Didion's experiences of grief after Dunne's 2003 death. Days before his death, their daughter Quintana Roo Dunne Michael was hospitalized in New York with pneumonia which developed into septic shock; she was still unconscious when her father died. In 2004, Quintana was again hospitalized after she fell and hit her head disembarking from a plane at Los Angeles International Airport.
After learning of her father's death, she returned to Malibu, her childhood home.
The book follows Didion's reliving and reanalysis of her husband's death throughout the following year, in addition to caring for Quintana. With each replay of the event, the focus on certain emotional and physical aspects of the experience shifts. Didion also incorporates medical and psychological research on grief and illness into the book.
The title of the book refers to magical thinking in the anthropological sense, thinking that if a person hopes for something enough or performs the right actions then an unavoidable event can be averted. Didion reports many instances of her own magical thinking, particularly the story in which she cannot give away Dunne's shoes, as he would need them when he returned.[5] The experience of insanity or derangement that is part of grief is a major theme, about which Didion was unable to find a great deal of existing literature.[6]
Didion applies the reportorial detachment for which she is known to her own experience of grieving; there are few expressions of raw emotion. Through observation and analysis of changes in her own behavior and abilities, she indirectly expresses the toll her grief is taking. She is haunted by questions about the medical details of her husband's death, the possibility that he sensed it in advance, and how she might have made his remaining time more meaningful. Fleeting memories of events and persistent snippets of past conversations with John take on a new significance. Her daughter's continuing health problems and hospitalizations further compound and interrupt the natural course of grief.
Writing process
Didion wrote The Year of Magical Thinking between October 4 and December 31, 2004, completing it a year and a day after Dunne died.[7] Notes she made during Quintana's hospitalizations became part of the book.[8] Quintana Roo Dunne Michael died of pancreatitis on August 26, 2005, before the book's publication, but Didion did not revise the manuscript.[9] Instead she devoted a second book, Blue Nights, to her daughter's death.[10]
Reception
The New York Times Book Review praised the memoir as "not a downer. On the contrary. Though the material is literally terrible, the writing is exhilarating and what unfolds resembles an adventure narrative."[11]The New York Review of Books declared, "I can't imagine dying without this book."[12]The American Prospect's mixed review found that the book read "like a Warren Report on the death of LBJ."[13] In 2019, the book was ranked 40th on The Guardian's list of the 100 best books of the 21st century.[14]
Also in 2008, it was performed in Barcelona at the Sala Beckett, directed by Òscar Molina and starring Marta Angelat.
The play was performed in Canada at the Belfry Theatre in 2009 and at the Tarragon Theatre by Seana McKenna.[18] This production was also mounted in January 2011 as part of English Theatre's season at the National Arts Centre in Ottawa.
On October 26, 2009 Redgrave reprised her performance again in a benefit production of the play at the Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine in New York City.[15]
In January 2010, the play was mounted at the Court Theatre (Chicago), starring Mary Beth Fisher. Fisher won the 2010 "Jeff" Solo Performance Award for her performance in the play.[19]
The play was mounted in April 2011 by Nimbus Theater in Minneapolis, Minnesota, starring Barbra Berlovitz and directed by Liz Neerland.[20][21]
The play opened in May 2015, at Teatro Español y Naves del Español in Madrid, Spain, as El Año del Pensamiento Mágico[22] produced by Teatro Guindalera. The production starred Jeannine Mestre and was directed by Juan Pastor Millet.[22]
The Norwegian translation of the play premiered in September 2015 at Den Nationale Scene in Bergen, directed by Jon Ketil Johnsen and starring Rhine Skaanes.[23]
On November 3, 2017, Stageworks Theatre in Tampa, Florida, opened a production of the play featuring Vickie Daignault. Writing in the Tampa Bay Times, Colette Bancroft noted Daignault's "skill and subtlety" and the exploration of grief in Didion's play that was "raw and refined at once."[24]
Beginning in March 2020, the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic forced theatres to close worldwide. In the fall of 2021, productions began to resurface. Cesear's Forum, a minimalist theatre company at Playhouse Square, Cleveland, Ohio, presented the play, with Julia Kolibab, in a November/December production.[25]
Translations
Czech: Víc než další den, lit. 'More Than the Next Day'. Translated by Jarmila Emmerová. Prague: Beta - Pavel Dobrovský. 2006. ISBN8073062593.
Dutch: Het jaar van magisch denken. Translated by Christien Jonkheer. Amsterdam: Prometheus. 2006. ISBN9789044608366.
Italian: L'anno del pensiero magico. Translated by Vincenzo Mantovani. Milan: Il Saggiatore. 2006. ISBN9788842813828.
Spanish: El año del pensamiento mágico. Translated by Olivia de Miguel. Chicago: Global Rhythm Press. 2006. ISBN9788493448745.
Chinese: 奇想之年; pinyin: Qíxiǎng zhī nián; lit. 'Year of Wonder'. Translated by Li Jingyi. Taipei: YLib. 2007. ISBN9789573260042.
Finnish: Maagisen ajattelun aika. Translated by Marja Haapio. Helsinki: Like. 2007. ISBN9789524718912.
French: L'année de la pensée magique. Translated by Pierre Demarty. Paris: Grasset. 2007. ISBN9782246712510.
Norwegian: De magiske tankers år. Translated by Halvor Kristiansen. Oslo: Tiden Norsk Forlag. 2007. ISBN9788205364998.
Polish: Rok magicznego myślenia. Translated by Hanna Pasierska. Warsaw: Prószyński i S-ka. 2007. ISBN9788374695183.
Turkish: O yılın büyüsü, lit. 'The Magic of That Year'. Translated by Burcu Tümer Unan. Ankara: Arkadaş Yayınevi. 2007. ISBN9789755095165.
Croatian: Godina magičnog razmišljanja. Translated by Lara Hölbling Matković. Ivanec Bistranski: Fraktura. 2009. ISBN9789532661187.
Greek: Η χρονιά της μαγικής σκέψης, romanized: I chroniá tis magikís sképsis. Translated by Xenia Mavrommati. Athens: KEDROS. 2011. ISBN9789600442601.
Japanese: 悲しみにある者, romanized: Kanashimi ni aru mono, lit. 'One in Sorrow'. Translated by Toshio Ikeda. Tokyo: Keio University Press. 2011. ISBN9784766418705.
Hungarian: A mágikus gondolatok éve. Translated by Krisztina Varga. Budapest: Európa Könyvkiadó. 2017. ISBN9789634056775.
Danish: Et år med magisk tænkning. Translated by Bente Kastberg. Copenhagen: Gyldendal. 2018. ISBN9788702261738.
Arabic: عام التفكير السحري, romanized: Am al-tafkir al-siriy. Translated by Shadi Kharmasho. Baghdad: Dar al-Mada. 2020. ISBN9789933604363.
Bulgarian: Годината на магическото мислене, romanized: Godinata na magicheskoto mislene. Translated by Zornitsa Hristova. Sofia: List. 2021. ISBN9786197596519.
Russian: Год магического мышления, romanized: God magicheskogo myshleniya. Translated by Vasily Arkanov. Moscow: Corpus. 2021. ISBN9785171210922.
Serbian: Година магијског мишљења, romanized: Godina magijskog mišljenja. Translated by Alen Bešić. Belgrade: Štrik. 2022. ISBN9788689597646.
Slovak: Rok magického myslenia. Translated by Jana Juráňová. Bratislava: BRAK. 2023. ISBN9788082860217.