Roth Scholar Maggie McKinley Publishes New Book on Joan Didion
- 14 hours ago
- 1 min read
Please join the Philip Roth Society in congratulating Roth scholar Maggie McKinley on the publication of her new book, The Art of Looking Back: Joan Didion and American Nostalgia from LSU Press.
From the publisher's website:
In The Art of Looking Back, Maggie McKinley evaluates the complex nature of nostalgia in the canon of Joan Didion, a theme that has often been taken for granted, oversimplified, and misunderstood. In reassessing this fraught concept, McKinley emphasizes the productive rather than the regressive or escapist qualities of nostalgia in Didion's work, highlighting its role as a critical tool to dissect cultural myths and understand individual identity. McKinley's contextualized analysis offers a nuanced understanding of Didion's views of American history, national rhetoric, hubris, gender politics, grief and loss, and more, underscoring why Didion's writing remains deeply relevant as a cultural touchstone in the twenty-first century.
