Joan Anderson's Walk on the Beach
The True Story of a Friendship Based on the Aging Process
A Walk on the Beach: Tales of Wisdom from an Unconventional Woman reveals the secrets to a full life, as told to Joan Anderson by the spry nonagenarian Joan Erikson.
When Joan Anderson finds herself in a midlife crisis she heads off sans husband to her family’s summer home in Cape Cod. One dismal day while walking on the beach she meets a spry 90 year old woman whom she befriends. Both women have the same first name – Joan, and their similarities end there. But, it is their differences which form the bond of their friendship and the basis of this true story.
Joan Erikson
The elder Joan is the wife of pioneering psychoanalyst Erik Erikson, the person who coined the phrase ‘identity crises’. Joan collaborated with her husband as he wrote several books on the stages of human development. Now in their last stages of life, Joan finds herself continuing on with her husband’s work. Between daily visits to her ailing husband and long walks on the beach, Joan further explores their lives’ work delving deeper into the human aging process.
An Unconventional Life
Joan Erikson may not have had an easy life, but revels in the fact she has had a rich and glorious life. Her energy-fuelled optimism is contagious and her beliefs include, “The important thing is to share what you know.” Joan has lots to share. She left for Europe in the 1920s to study modern dance. In Europe Joan was a modern dancer with Isadora Duncan when she met her soul mate Erik Erikson. Erik was studying with Sigmund Freud at the time. Joan admits that her own midlife crisis was somewhat relieved by the fact she never fell into the tweed trappings other Harvard faculty wives found themselves wrapped up in.
Midlife Crisis
Joan Anderson quickly recognizes in Erikson the mentor she requires to guide her over what she sees as the pinnacle of her life. What she receives from Erikson is the wisdom of a woman who has lived life her own way and views midlife as more of a change of direction rather than the summit or destination of a person’s life. Starting with walks on the beach, moving on to shared meals, and ending with the celebration of lives well lived, Erikson imparts to Anderson her wisdom on how to live life to its fullest. The book itself leads to wanting to know more about Erikson’s extraordinary and adventurous life. It would also have been interesting to know Joan Erikson’s take on the post-feminist world of bored middle-aged women.
A Walk on the Beach follows in the footsteps of Anderson’s previous two bestsellers A Year by the Sea and An Unfinished Marriage, and her critically acclaimed Breaking the TV Habit. She has also been the author of numerous children’s novels. A Walk on the Beach also contains a reading group companion.
Publisher: Broadway Books, New York ISBN: 0-7679-1475-9
