Knowing how it felt to feel nothing, Didion kept on playing.&nbsp;

Joan Didion&mdash;legendary novelist, screenwriter, and journalist&mdash;passed away on December 23, 2021, per her publisher, Penguin Random House/Knopf. The writer's death was caused by complications from Parkinson's Disease.
&ldquo;We are deeply saddened to report that Joan Didion died earlier this morning at her home in New York due to complications from Parkinson&rsquo;s disease,&rdquo; Penguin Random House/Knopf said in a public statement.
She is preceded by her daughter, Quintana Roo, and husband, John Gregory Dunne. Their passing is documented in her book The Year of Magical Thinking, which won the 2005&nbsp;<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Book_Award_for_Nonfiction" title="">National Book Award for Nonfiction</a> and was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize.&nbsp;
A prolific writer, Didion first came to the public eye through her subversive take on 1960s culture and unraveling general cultural tapestry. Her essays within White Album and&nbsp;Slouching Towards Bethlehem chronicled counterculture and social discourse through the personalized eye of Didion.&nbsp;
In 2012, Didion was awarded the National Humanities Medal by President Barack Obama. "I&rsquo;m surprised she hasn&rsquo;t already gotten this award," Obama said.&nbsp;
Didion's master of terse prose extended America's influence on modern literature, creating a dense and empathetic catalog that has forever changed our lives.&nbsp;
As a team of mourning journalists, L'OFFICIEL is honored to have her immortal words to cling to.&nbsp;

“We tell ourselves stories in order to live.” 

“Life changes fast. Life changes in the instant. You sit down to dinner and life as you know it ends.”

“We forget all too soon the things we thought we could never forget. We forget the loves and the betrayals alike, forget what we whispered and what we screamed, forget who we were.”

“I know what ‘nothing’ means, and I keep on playing.”

“A place belongs forever to whoever claims it hardest, remembers it most obsessively, wrenches it from itself, shapes it, renders it, loves it so radically that he remakes it in his own image.”

“I mean maybe I was holding all the aces, but what was the game?”

“The impulse to write things down is a particularly compulsive one, inexplicable to those who do not share it, useful only accidentally, only secondarily in the way that any compulsion tries to justify itself.”

“… one of the mixed blessings of being twenty and twenty-one and even twenty-three is the conviction that nothing like this, all evidence to the contrary notwithstanding, has ever happened to anyone before.”

“A single person is missing for you, and the whole world is empty.”

Joan Didion Passes at 87 Years Old, Look Back on Her Best Quotes

L'OFFICIEL USA November 2024 - Salma Hayek Pinault Cover

L'OFFICIEL HOMMES USA October 2024 - Rupert Friend Cover

L'OFFICIEL HOMMES USA October 2024 - Joseph Quinn Cover

L'OFFICIEL USA September 2024 - Fall Fashion Cover Featuring Supermodel Sasha Pivovarova

Joan Didion Passes at 87 Years Old, Look Back on Her Best Quotes

Tags

Related Articles

L'Officiel Art

Why New York City's Literary Scene Will Never Die

L'Officiel Art

Tom Bianchi's Latest Book Aims to Cure Sexual Repression

L'Officiel Art

The Top Ten Bestselling Books at the Strand in 2017

Recommended posts for you

Fashion

An Inside Look at Thom Browne’s 10,000 Hour Creations for Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo

Pop culture

7 Things To Know About 'Emily in Paris' Star Philippine Leroy-Beaulieu

Pop culture

Charli XCX Takes on New York in Style Ahead of Saturday Night Live

Pop culture

F1's Hottest Drivers, On and Off The Track

Fashion

New NYC Store Openings in 2024

Film & TV

Everything to Know About the New 'Dune' TV Series, a Must-Watch

Travel & Living

The Most Chic Places to Have Thanksgiving Dinner in NYC

Fashion

Carolina Herrera's Resort 2025 Collection Captures the 'Intensity' of Mexico City