SOUTH AND WEST

Joan Didion has always kept notebooks: of overheard dialogue, observations, interviews, drafts of essays and articlesand here is on e such draft that traces a road trip she took with her husband, John Gregory Dunne, in June 1970, through Louisiana, Mississippi, an d Alabama. She interviews prominent local figures, describes motels, diners, a deserted reptile farm, a visit with Walker Percy, a l adies brunch at the Mississippi Broadcasters Convention. She writes about the stifling heat, the almost viscous pace of life, the sulfurous li...[Read more]