Didion’s grief and of her need to move beyond it. The implied Didion’s usual
sure-footed self-presentation falters here. This faltering is eloquent testimony
to the painful effects of the trauma of John’s death and of the virtual necessity
of denial. That testimony in turn makes the rest of the implied Didion’s con-
struction of the narrative, with its various ways of naming, facing, and work-
ing through the experiencing-I’s magical thinking, all the more impressive.
214 • CHAPTER 1 0