Carrie Fisher's literary legacy as shared by her fans

Fisher's acerbic wit and fearlessness came through most clearly on the page.
 By 
Maria Gallucci
 on 
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Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable

Carrie Fisher skyrocketed to global fame in 1977 after starring as Princess Leia Organa in the first Star Wars film. But it didn't take long for the actress to establish herself as more than just intergalactic and Hollywood royalty.

Fisher, who died Tuesday at age 60, also became an accomplished novelist and screenwriter. She filled pages with dry wit and raw honesty to reveal her struggles with depression, addiction, bipolar disorder and divorce.

Upon learning of her death, mourning fans quickly took to Twitter to share their most meaningful excerpts from Fisher's acclaimed books.


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Postcards from the Edge

Fisher's first novel, the semi-autobiographical Postcards from the Edge, was published just 10 years after Fisher first appeared in that iconic white robe with those unusual hair buns.

The protagonist, the fictional film actress Suzanne Vale, struggles to reassemble her life after a drug overdose. Fisher soon followed up with screenplay for a 1990 film version of Postcards, which starred Meryl Streep in Fisher's role.

The Princess Diarist

Fisher's final book, the 2016 autobiography The Princess Diarist, supplied hilarious and juicy details of Fisher's time on the first Star Wars set.

She based the book on her recently discovered journals that she kept during the filming of the iconic 1977 movie, when Fisher was just 19 years old and deeply enamored with the 34-year-old (and married) Harrison Ford, aka Han Solo. The two had a brief on-set affair, Fisher claimed in her book.

Wishful Drinking

Fisher's 2008 Wishful Drinking, her first memoir, was adapted from her one-woman stage show of the same name. It also became an HBO special in 2010.

In Wishful Drinking, Fisher offers another tragicomic account of what it was like to grow up as a product of "Hollywood in-breeding." Her parents were Hollywood legends Debbie Reynolds and Eddie Fisher. She also chronicles her rocky relationships with the singer Paul Simon, her one-time fiancée Dan Ackroyd and the talent agent Bryan Lourd, with whom she had a daughter.

For Fisher's fans, the disheveled, struggling, hilarious and hopeful mess portrayed in her literary works also seemed to adequately capture the essence of 2016, a year that has featured bewildering political turbulence and the loss of too many entertainment icons.

Topics Star Wars

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Maria Gallucci

Maria Gallucci was a Science Reporter at Mashable. She was previously the energy and environment reporter at International Business Times; features editor of Makeshift magazine; clean economy reporter for InsideClimate News; and a correspondent in Mexico City until 2011. Maria holds degrees in journalism and Spanish from Ohio University's Honors Tutorial College.

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