Southern Bookman

Joan Didion’s 1970 novel “Play It as It Lays” gives bleak view of Hollywood

Dialogue reveals character in Joan Didion’s 1970 novel “Play It As It Lays.”

Moved by the controversy surrounding the release of “Notes to John,” her diary reflections on her psychiatric visits, I recently read the novel.

Didion’s  fragmentary story about the mental and spiritual dissolution of the B-film actress Maria Wyeth reminded me of Renata Adler’s “Speedboat.”

Switching from Maria’s elliptical first-person narrative to limited third person to portray her interactions with her Hollywood circle, Didion doesn’t give physical descriptions.

The reader imagines the characters from the way they talk and their sketchily described actions.

Places receive full descriptions - swimming pools, bedrooms, the desert, Las Vegas casinos.

The Los Angeles freeway, which Maria obsessively drives, is lavishly imagined. 

Maria’s former husband, Carter Lang, is a well-known director and the father of her child, Kate, who’s in an institution suffering from an undisclosed illness.

Her worried love for Kate is her most endearing quality as she engages in increasingly self-destructive acts.

Carter fitfully seeks to aid Maria as her mental health declines, yet abandons her in exasperation.

Maria’s acquaintances in the film industry also reach out to her, then withdraw. 

A screenwriter along with her husband, John Gregory Dunne, Didion dabbled in the Hollywood social scene.

She exposes the immorality and nihilism of the community of which she and Dunne were intimate members.

Yet an underlying empathy shines through.

Maria and her friends and lovers desperately seek human connection, short-circuited by their vanity and spiritual emptiness.

Didion manages to elicit sympathy for them, despite their self-absorption and destructive behavior.

 

 

 

 

 

Publication of Joan Didion’s psychiatric notes raises controversy

Joan Didion wrote intensive reflections in her journal about her sessions with a psychiatrist.

Although she kept her musings private, they were addressed to her husband and writing partner, John Gregory Dunne.

Stirring controversy, a book of her diary entries titled “Notes to John” was published this week.

The book’s release raised questions about whether Didion, who died in 1999, would have approved of the publishing of her intimate thoughts.

She didn’t prepare the 49 entries for publication. The journal was discovered after her death.

Didion began seeing psychiatrist Roger MacKinnon in 1999, concerned about her daughter Quintana’s alcoholism, depression and borderline personality disorder.

After each session, she recorded her unfiltered impressions, which remain unedited in “Notes to John.”

Didion’s longtime agent, Lynn Nesbit, discovered the journal in a filing cabinet after Didion’s death and spearheaded the notes’ publication.

Critics point out that Didion kept the notes private, apparently considering them personal meditations.

Didion’s spontaneous language gives readers new insights into her relationships with Dunne and Quintana. 

Following Dunne’s unexpected death at their dinner table, Didion wrote about her searing grief in the best-selling “The Year of Magical Thinking.” 

She examined her sorrow over Quintana’s death in “Blue Nights.”

“Notes to John” possesses strong literary value, yet posthumously violates Didion’s privacy.

Didion acolytes undoubtedly will welcome a new selection of her incandescent writing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Planet in critical condition on Earth Day

On the 55th Earth Day, the world’s future looks dire.

Festive celebrations of the first Earth Day, April 22, 1970, signaled a new covenant with the planet.

Bipartisan commitment to the environment during the Nixon Administration led to the Clean Air and Clean Water Acts and creation of the Environmental Protection Administration by the end of 1970.

The first Earth Day’s optimism and sense of purpose have fallen away to despair and pessimism.

As climate change and extreme weather worsen, the world’s countries have abandoned their commitment to reduce emissions.

Mass extinction of species, ocean degradation, plastic pollution and the increased use of carbon-based fuels also imperil the globe.

Yet we must remain hopeful and keep fighting for Earth, our home.

 

Sally Jenkins, Kevin Blackistone revitalize Washington Post

Sportswriters Sally Jenkins and Kevin Blackistone are upholding a high standard of excellence at the depleted Washington Post.

While the newspaper has suffered circulation declines, massive staff resignations and the loss of several well-known columnists over Publisher Jeff Bezos’  repressive editorial edicts, Jenkins and Blackistone keep producing outstanding work like their columns Sunday.

Jenkins looked at the distinguished career of Gus Welch, a teammate of Jim Thorpe at the Carlisle Indian School.

Led by the all-American Thorpe, coach Pop Warner’s Indians football team defeated then dominant Ivy League powers and Army in the 1911-12 season.

Jenkins in conducting research for “The Real All-Americans,” her groundbreaking book on Thorpe and the Indians, found Welch’s pristine Carlisle letter in a library file.

The veteran columnist recounts the school’s abusive treatment of Indian students. Carlisle sought to erase the students’ Indian identities.

Welch after battlefield service in World War I had an esteemed coaching career in the Washington, D.C. area.

Jenkins sees him as a shining example of an American Indian giving exemplary service to his country despite the prejudice he suffered.

Blackistone gives a different side of beloved ESPN personality Lee Corso, who is retiring at age 89.

Famous for donning mascot headgear when predicting the winner of College Game Day’s signature game each week, Corso will leave the show after making one final prediction next season.

Before his ESPN days, Corso had a long career as an assistant and head football coach.

Blackistone discloses that Corso while an assistant at the University of Maryland recruited Darryl Hall, the first black player for a Southern football team.

Corso also counseled Hall in overcoming racism as the only black member of an all-white team.

Blackistone said Corso for his support of Hall deserves recognition beyond his Game Day comic persona.

Jenkins and Blackistone give hope that The Washington Post can return to its glory days.

American liberty reflected in April historic anniversaries

As Donald Trump dismantles American democracy, the republic’s history casts a steady light.

Trump’s desire to rule like a tinpot king clashes with the nation’s winning liberty from Great Britain’s King George III and its conflicted progress toward greater freedom for all.

Massachusetts farmers and craftsmen fired the first shot of American liberty 250 years ago Saturday, attacking British troops at the Battle of Lexington and Concord. 

“The Shot Heard Round the World” on April 19, 1775, committed the 13 colonies to the Declaration of Independence and the American Revolution. 

This week also marked the 150th anniversary of President Abraham Lincoln’s assassination on, April 14, 1865, Good Friday.

Mortally wounded by John Wilkes Booth while attending a play at Ford Theater in downtown Washington, Lincoln died early the next morning in the house across the street where he’d been taken.

The president died six days after Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee surrendered to Union Commander Ulysses S. Grant, ending the Civil War.

Booth carried out the Southern belief that Lincoln was a tyrant, hating him for ending slavery and waging total warfare to destroy the Confederacy.

Yet Lincoln in his second inaugural address promised benevolence toward the South as it re-entered the union.

Lincoln’s message of “malice toward none” starkly contrasts with Trump’s reckless vindictiveness.

Trump’s dictatorial actions imperil the liberty that the Lexington and Concord patriots fought for and to which Lincoln rededicated the nation.

 

 

 

 

Easter’s arrival brings hope

On Easter, I seek to renew the reverence I felt when I joined the Catholic Church nearly 50 year ago.

After months of classes, I and my fellow catechumens entered the faith during the Easter vigil Mass at historic Sacred Heart in downtown Atlanta.

I was young then, a new father. My children have grown into successful adults. The seasons have come and gone.

Over the years, I fell away from the faith. Yet that ancient story of Christ’s death and resurrection still stirs hope that our better angels will prevail.

Spring beauty appears fragile this year

This beautiful spring might be one of the last.

Cool spring days like those this week will vanish in the next few years.

Temperatures have already reached into the 80s this season, with more expected this weekend. Springtime highs near 100 will soon be common.

Dogwoods and azaleas won’t thrive in such extreme heat. Springtime blooms will wither.

Now that I am old, I’ve cherished this year’s gorgeous spring. I hope it’s not a farewell song.

 

 

HBO “Treme” marathon a treat for New Orleans lovers

David Simon’s “Treme,” a portrait of post-Katrina New Orleans, never received the ecstatic praise given to “The Wire,” his study of Baltimore.

After a strong start, “Treme” fizzled, abruptly ending in a truncated fourth season.

Treasuring romantic memories of my youthful days in New Orleans, I loved “Treme” more than “The Wire,” which I found contrived and didactic.

My nostalgic passion for New Orleans flowed when I discovered that HBO’s running a “Treme” marathon for four days.

On Monday the marathon began with the show’s first season, taking place during Katrina’s immediate aftermath. The episodes capture the city’s despair, resilience and enduring special character.

Authentic depictions of New Orleans music, food, restaurants, bars, Mardi Gras indian traditions and neighborhoods reveal the city’s magical allure.

New Orleans’ political corruption, civic disorder and propensity for violence also are examined.

Khandi Alexander, John Goodman, Melissa Leo, Wendell Pierce Jr., Clarke Peters, Steve Zahn and other cast members bring to life a gallery of distinctive New Orleans characters.

Cameos from New Orleans musicians add spice to the gumbo.

The suicide of novelist Creighton Bernette, played by Goodman as a Falstaffian rogue, wounds the show. Bernette’s presented as the leading champion of New Orleans’ recovery and his loss leaves a gap.

I’m looking forward to the rest of “The Treme” marathon, even if the quality falls off.

 

Kyren Lacy’s death shows athletes need support

LSU’s Kyren Lacy killed himself Saturday night, just months after his breakthrough senior season as a star wide receiver.

Lacy, 24, died in his car from a self-inflicted gunshot wound following a chase with law-enforcement officers in Houston, according to the Harris County Sheriff’s Department.

The chase began when officers responded to a call from a female relative that Lacy fired a shot into the ground following an argument.

Officers pursued Lacy, who’d left the scene. Lacy shot himself while the chase was still in progress, authorities said, and was found dead in his crashed car.

Lacy died two days before the start Monday of a grand jury investigation into charges that Lacy caused a fatal crash in December in which a 78-year-old former Marine was killed.

Authorities in Lafourche Parish, La., charged Lacy with vehicular homicide, felony hit and run and reckless operation of a vehicle. He was accused of leaving the scene of the accident and not reporting it to authorities.

After turning himself in, Lacy was freed on $151,000 bail. He was cooperating with authorities.

Matthew Ory, Lacy’s attorney, disputed the charges, claiming they resulted from an overzealous investigation that he called “a witch hunt.”

Lacy’s grief-stricken father, Kenny Lacy, issued a social media plea for parents to talk to children about their mental health from an early age.

Following his stellar senior season, Lacy rose in NFL draft rankings. 

Like too many other star black athletes, Lacy was ill-prepared for the world outside of stadiums and their cheering crowds.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

ESPN also a Masters tradition

ESPN gives a few extra helpings of nostalgia in its coverage of the Masters’ opening rounds.

The sports network presents the tournament as a great family reunion for golf fans.

In  the tradition of golf rhapsodizers like Henry Longhurst, ESPN anchor Scott Van Pelt on Thursday’s broadcast exuded joy at Augusta National’s springtime beauty and the tournament’s competitive majesty.

Reflecting the sport’s literary associations, ESPN writer and noted author Wright Thompson in two sentimental tributes presented the Masters as an oasis of generational tradition in a world of constant change.

Along with the ESPN talent, venerable CBS anchor Jim Nance and fellow crew members previewed their weekend coverage.

ESPN’s Curtis Strange, the two-time U.S. Open champion who suffered heartbreaking losses at the Masters, added compelling personal reflections to the commentary of CBS’ Trevor Immelman, Ian Baker-Finch and Dottie Pepper.

Longtime Masters fans missed the folksy voice of Verne Lunquist, who retired last year.

For all of the Masters pretensions, the tournament offers one of the last shared rituals.