''Run, River'' is the
debut novel
A debut novel is the first novel a novelist publishes. Debut novels are often the author's first opportunity to make an impact on the publishing industry, and thus the success or failure of a debut novel can affect the ability of the author to p ...
of
Joan Didion
Joan Didion (; December 5, 1934 – December 23, 2021) was an American writer. Along with Tom Wolfe, Hunter S. Thompson and Gay Talese, she is considered one of the pioneers of New Journalism. Didion's career began in the 1950s after she won an ...
, first published in 1963.
Summary
The novel is both a portrait of a marriage and a commentary on the
history of California
The history of California can be divided into the Native American period (about 10,000 years ago until 1542), the European exploration period (1542–1769), the Spanish colonial period (1769–1821), the Mexican period (1821–1848), and Un ...
.
Everett McClellan and his wife, Lily Knight McClellan, are the great-grandchildren of
pioneers, and what happens to them (murder and betrayal) is suggested as an epilogue to the pioneer experience.
Didion on ''Run, River''
In her 2003 book of essays ''
Where I Was From'', Didion turned a critical eye on this novel, calling the novel
's nostalgia ''pernicious''. She recalled writing it as a homesick girl lately moved from California to
New York
New York most commonly refers to:
* New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York
* New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States
New York may also refer to:
Film and television
* '' ...
, and judged it to be a work of false nostalgia, the construction of an idyllic myth of rural Californian life that she knew never to have existed.
Original title
In a 1978 interview, Didion said that she had intended the title to be ''Run River'' but that the English publisher,
Jonathan Cape
Jonathan Cape is a London publishing firm founded in 1921 by Herbert Jonathan Cape, who was head of the firm until his death in 1960.
Cape and his business partner Wren Howard set up the publishing house in 1921. They established a reputation ...
, inserted a comma; "but it wasn't of very much interest to me because I hated it both ways. The working title was ''In the Night Season''", which her American publisher did not like.
Linda Lipnack Kuehl
Linda Lipnack Kuehl (January 24, 1940 – February 6, 1978) was an American arts journalist, based in New York City. Intending to write a biography of Billie Holiday, she interviewed friends, fellow performers, and key figures in Holiday's life, ...
, "Joan Didion, The Art of Fiction No. 71," ''The Paris Review
''The Paris Review'' is a quarterly English-language literary magazine established in Paris in 1953 by Harold L. Humes, Peter Matthiessen, and George Plimpton. In its first five years, ''The Paris Review'' published works by Jack Kerouac, Philip ...
'', Winter, 1978.
References
External links
Book page on the official website''The Paris Review'' Interview with Joan Didion, 1978
{{Joan_Didion
1963 American novels
Novels by Joan Didion
Novels set in California
1963 debut novels