Blue Nights

Blue Nights

Blue Nights is a memoir written by American author Joan Didion, first published in 2011. The memoir is an account of the death of Didion's daughter, Quintana, who died in 2005 at age 39. Didion also discusses her own feelings on parenthood and aging. The title refers to certain times in the "summer solstice [...] when the twilights turn long and blue." Blue Nights is notable for its "nihilistic" attitude towards grief as Didion offers little understanding or explanation of her daughter's death. Writing for The New York Review of Books, Cathleen Schine said,

Blue

Blue is one of the three primary colours in the RGB (additive) colour model, as well as in the RYB colour model. It lies between violet and cyan on the spectrum of visible light. The term blue generally describes colours perceived by humans observing light with a dominant wavelength between approximately 450 and 495 nanometres. The clear daytime sky and the deep sea appear blue because of an optical effect known as Rayleigh scattering. An optical effect called the Tyndall effect explains blue eyes. Distant objects appear more blue because of another optical effect called aerial perspective.

blue

Adjective

1. Of a blue hue.
2. Depressed, melancholic, sad.

Noun

1. The colour of the clear sky or the deep sea; the colour midway between green and violet in the visible spectrum and one of the primary additive colours.
2. Anything coloured blue, especially to distinguish it from similar objects differing only in colour.

nights

Adverb

1. At night (during night-time, especially on a regular basis).

Noun

1. plural of night