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76506-01 - Seminar: Joan Didion (3 CP)
| Semester | spring semester 2026 |
| Course frequency | Once only |
| Lecturers | Daniel Ortiz (daniel.ortiz@unibas.ch, Assessor) |
| Content | This class will be an intensive study of the work of Joan Didion (1934-2021), one of the most important postwar American writers of literary non-fiction. Didion’s career spanned six decades: we will read her most significant work across this period. Our reading will begin with 'Slouching Toward Bethlehem' (1968) and 'The White Album' (1979), journalistic examinations of American culture and counterculture during the 1960s and 1970s in which Didion developed her prose style’s unique alliance of incisive restraint and hallucinatory vision. We will then read her novel 'Play It As It Lays' (1970) – a glittering, unnerving portrayal of Hollywood emptiness and personal disintegration – as well as her political reporting in the 1990s, including her interventions in the Central Park Five case and the Clinton–Lewinsky scandal. We will conclude with 'The Year of Magical Thinking' (2003) and 'Blue Nights' (2011), Didion’s late-life grief memoirs in which she confronted the sudden premature deaths of both her husband and daughter. Didion famously opens 'The White Album' by observing that “we tell ourselves stories in order to live.” Our class will examine closely the stories she told and wrote as well as the life she lived. In both, Didion often placed herself at the center of paradoxes. Course discussion accordingly will explore the discipline of survival and the inescapability of grief; the dual necessity of control and excess; the promises of morality and the haze of nihilism; narrativity and the meaninglessness beneath it; American national tradition and American political illusions; and finally the power and insufficiency of language to make sense of our perceptions of reality. Our approach to Didion will combine admiration with a willingness to question her, and we will assess her legacy alongside several of her most influential critics and interpreters, including Zadie Smith, Barbara Grizzutti Harrison, and Hilton Als. Above all, we will try to respond fully to the challenge she issued in her essay “Why I Write”: “Writing is the act of saying…'listen to me, see it my way, change your mind'.” |
| Learning objectives | Students will complete a comprehensive reading and study of Didion’s work. |
| Bibliography | Please purchase the following texts in their respective editions, available at the Labyrinth Bookstore: - 'Slouching Toward' Bethlehem (FSG Classics). - 'The White Album' (FSG Classics). - 'Play It As It Lays' (FSG Classics). - 'The Year of Magical Thinking' (Alfred A. Knopf). All other texts will be uploaded on ADAM. |
| Weblink | ADAM |
| Admission requirements | This seminar is for BA students on the advanced level who have completed ALL three introductory modules (including the proseminar papers). |
| Course application | Please sign up via services.unibas.ch and by e-mail to daniel.ortiz@unibas.ch. Places are limited to 25. |
| Language of instruction | English |
| Use of digital media | Online, mandatory |
| Interval | Weekday | Time | Room |
|---|---|---|---|
| wöchentlich | Friday | 10.15-12.00 | Nadelberg 6, Raum 11 |
Dates
| Date | Time | Room |
|---|---|---|
| Friday 20.02.2026 | 10.15-12.00 | Nadelberg 6, Raum 11 |
| Friday 27.02.2026 | 10.15-12.00 | Fasnachtsferien |
| Friday 06.03.2026 | 10.15-12.00 | Nadelberg 6, Raum 11 |
| Friday 13.03.2026 | 10.15-12.00 | Nadelberg 6, Raum 11 |
| Friday 20.03.2026 | 10.15-12.00 | Nadelberg 6, Raum 11 |
| Friday 27.03.2026 | 10.15-12.00 | Nadelberg 6, Raum 11 |
| Friday 03.04.2026 | 10.15-12.00 | Ostern |
| Friday 10.04.2026 | 10.15-12.00 | Nadelberg 6, Raum 11 |
| Friday 17.04.2026 | 10.15-12.00 | Nadelberg 6, Raum 11 |
| Friday 24.04.2026 | 10.15-12.00 | Nadelberg 6, Raum 11 |
| Friday 01.05.2026 | 10.15-12.00 | Tag der Arbeit |
| Friday 08.05.2026 | 10.15-12.00 | Nadelberg 6, Raum 11 |
| Friday 15.05.2026 | 10.15-12.00 | Auffahrt |
| Friday 22.05.2026 | 10.15-12.00 | Nadelberg 6, Raum 11 |
| Friday 29.05.2026 | 10.15-12.00 | Nadelberg 6, Raum 11 |
| Modules |
Modul: Advanced Anglophone Literary and Cultural Studies (Bachelor's degree subject: English) |
| Assessment format | continuous assessment |
| Assessment details | Besides attendance and active participation, students will complete a brief oral examination of their mastery of course material in the form of an individual conversation with the instructor (details will be announced in class on the syllabus). Students will also have the option of writing a BA Seminar paper in conjunction with the course. |
| Assessment registration/deregistration | Reg.: course registration; dereg.: not required |
| Repeat examination | no repeat examination |
| Scale | Pass / Fail |
| Repeated registration | no repetition |
| Responsible faculty | Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, studadmin-philhist@unibas.ch |
| Offered by | Fachbereich Englische Sprach- und Literaturwissenschaft |