Denis Johnson Popular Books

Denis Johnson Biography & Facts

Denis Hale Johnson (July 1, 1949 – May 24, 2017) was an American novelist, short-story writer, and poet. He is perhaps best known for his debut short story collection, Jesus' Son (1992). His most successful novel, Tree of Smoke (2007), won the National Book Award for Fiction. Johnson was twice shortlisted for the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. Altogether, Johnson was the author of nine novels, one novella, two books of short stories, three collections of poetry, two collections of plays, and one book of reportage. His final work, a book of short stories titled The Largesse of the Sea Maiden, was published posthumously in 2018. Early years Denis Johnson was born on July 1, 1949, in Munich, West Germany. Growing up, he also lived in the Philippines, Japan, and the suburbs of Washington, D.C. His father, Alfred Johnson, worked for the State Department as a liaison between the USIA and the CIA. His mother, the former Vera Louise Childress, was a homemaker. He earned a B.A. in English (in 1971) from the University of Iowa and an M.F.A. (in 1974) from the Iowa Writers' Workshop, where he also returned to teach. While at the Writers' Workshop, Johnson took classes from Raymond Carver. Career Johnson published his first book, a collection of poetry titled The Man Among Seals, in 1969 at the age of 19. He earned a measure of acclaim with the publication of his first novel, Angels, in 1983. He came to prominence in 1992 with the short story collection Jesus' Son, which included vignettes originally published in The New Yorker, inspired by Isaac Babel’s book Red Cavalry. The first story "Car Crash While Hitchhiking" was published in The Paris Review. In a 2006 New York Times Book Review poll, Jesus' Son was voted one of the best works of American fiction published in the last 25 years. It has been variously described as: seminal, legendary, transcendent, a classic, and a masterpiece. It was adapted into the 1999 film of the same name, which starred Billy Crudup. Johnson has a cameo role in the film as a man who has been stabbed in the eye by his wife.The Stars at Noon (1986), a spy thriller, follows an unnamed American woman during the Nicaraguan Revolution of 1984. It was adapted into the 2022 film Stars at Noon by director Claire Denis, starring Joe Alwyn and Margaret Qualley.Tree of Smoke won the 2007 National Book Award for Fiction and was a finalist for the 2008 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. It takes place during the Vietnam War, spanning the years 1963–70, with a coda set in 1983. In the novel, we learn the history of Bill Houston, a main character in Johnson’s first novel Angels, the latter novel set in the early 1980s.Train Dreams, originally published as a story in The Paris Review in 2002, was published as a novella in 2011 and was a finalist for the 2012 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. However, for the first time since 1977, the Pulitzer board did not award a prize for fiction that year.Johnson's plays have been produced in San Francisco, Chicago, New York, and Seattle. He was the Resident Playwright of Campo Santo, the resident theater company at Intersection for the Arts in San Francisco. In 2006 and 2007, Johnson held the Mitte Chair in Creative Writing at Texas State University in San Marcos, Texas. Johnson also occasionally taught at the Michener Center for Writers at the University of Texas at Austin.The final book he published while still alive was the novel The Laughing Monsters, which he called a "literary thriller" set in Uganda, Sierra Leone, and Congo. It was released in 2014. Johnson's final work, a book of short stories titled The Largesse of the Sea Maiden, was published posthumously in January 2018. Personal life Johnson was twice divorced and lived with his third wife, Cindy Lee, in Phoenix, Arizona, at the time of his death. They also shared a home in Idaho. Johnson had three children, two of whom he homeschooled; in October 1997, he wrote an article for the website Salon in defense of homeschooling.For most of his 20s, Johnson was addicted to drugs and alcohol and did not do much writing. In 1978, he moved to his parents' home in Scottsdale, Arizona to sober up and find direction. He stopped drinking alcohol in 1978 and quit recreational drugs in 1983.In his essay "Bikers for Jesus," Johnson described himself as "a Christian convert, but one of the airy, sophisticated kind." Death Johnson died on May 24, 2017, from liver cancer at his home in The Sea Ranch, a community near Gualala, California, at the age of 67. Awards and nominations 1981 – National Poetry Series award (selected by Mark Strand), for The Incognito Lounge 1983 – The Frost Place poet in residence 1986 – Guggenheim Fellowship 1986 – Whiting Award 1993 – Lannan Fellowship in Fiction 2002 – Aga Khan Prize for Fiction from The Paris Review, for Train Dreams 2007 – National Book Award, for Tree of Smoke 2008 – Pulitzer Prize for Fiction finalist, for Tree of Smoke 2012 – Pulitzer Prize for Fiction finalist, for Train Dreams 2017 – Library of Congress Prize for American Fiction (awarded posthumously)Works Novels Angels (Knopf, 1983) ISBN 9780394532257 Fiskadoro (Knopf, 1985) ISBN 9780394538396 The Stars at Noon (Knopf, 1986) ISBN 9780394538402 Resuscitation of a Hanged Man (Farrar, Straus & Giroux [FSG], 1991) ISBN 9780374249496 Already Dead: A California Gothic (Harper Collins, 1997) ISBN 978-0060187378 The Name of the World (Harper, 2000) ISBN 9780060192488 Tree of Smoke (FSG, 2007) ISBN 9780330449205 Nobody Move (FSG, 2009) Train Dreams (FSG, 2011) – a novella first published in The Paris Review [2002] and in Europe [2004] The Laughing Monsters (FSG, 2014) ISBN 9780374280598Short fiction Jesus' Son (FSG, 1992) ISBN 9780374178925 The Largesse of the Sea Maiden (Penguin/Random House, 2018) ISBN 9780812988635Poetry The Man Among the Seals: Poems (Stone Wall Press, 1969) ISBN 9780887486272 Inner Weather (Graywolf Press, 1976) ISBN 0394523474 The Incognito Lounge and Other Poems (Random House, 1982) ISBN 0394523474 The Veil (Alfred A. Knopf, 1987) ISBN 0394743431 The Throne of the Third Heaven of the Nations Millennium General Assembly: Poems Collected and New (Harper Perennial, 1995) ISBN 9780060926960 "Last Night I Dreamed I Was in Mexico" (Ploughshares 36.4, 2010, p. 58) "The Trees Leaning into One Another, Green and Horrible" (Ploughshares 36.4, 2010, p. 59)Plays Hellhound on My Trail: A Drama in Three Parts (2000) Shoppers: Two Plays (Harper, 2002) ISBN 9780060934408- includes Hellhound on My Trail Des Moines, San Francisco premiere in October 2007Des Moines, New York premiere in November 2022 Soul of a Whore and Purvis: Two Plays in Verse (FSG, 2012) ISBN 9780374277963Screenplays The Prom (1990) (directed by Steven Shainberg) Hit Me (1996) (directed by Steven Shainberg, adapted from the novel A Swell-Looking Babe by Jim Thompson)Nonfiction (contributor) One Man By Himself: Portraits of John Serl (Hard Press, 1995) ISBN 9789110224940 "The Civil War in Hell". Esquire. 1990-12-01. Retrie.... 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Best Seller Denis Johnson Books of 2024

  • Wyoming synopsis, comments

    Wyoming

    JP Gritton

    A Kirkus Best Fiction of 2019 Pick!A cross between Daniel Woodrell and Annie Proulx, Wyoming is about the stubborn grip of inertia and whether or not it is possible to live without...

  • Feel Free synopsis, comments

    Feel Free

    Zadie Smith

    Winner of the 2018 National Book Critics Circle Award for Criticism A New York Times Notable BookFrom Zadie Smith, one of the most beloved authors of her generation, a new col...

  • Traces Remain synopsis, comments

    Traces Remain

    Charles Nicholl

    In these wonderfully stylish and eclectic essays, Charles Nicholl pursues the fugitive traces of the past with the skill and relish that have earned him a reputation as one of the ...

  • Cherry synopsis, comments

    Cherry

    Nico Walker

    National BestsellerNow a major motion picture starring Tom Holland and directed by the Russo Brothers. A young medic returns from deployment in Iraq to two things: the woman h...

  • The Immortalists synopsis, comments

    The Immortalists

    Chloe Benjamin

    A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR: Washington Post  NPR  Entertainment Weekly  Real Simple  Marie Claire  New York Public Library ...

  • The Largesse of the Sea Maiden synopsis, comments

    The Largesse of the Sea Maiden

    Denis Johnson

    Twentyfive years after Jesus’ Son, a haunting new collection of short stories on mortality and transcendence, from National Book Award winner and twotime Pulitzer Prize finalist De...

  • How The Secret Changed My Life synopsis, comments

    How The Secret Changed My Life

    Rhonda Byrne

    An aweinspiring compilation of the most uplifting and powerful reallife stories from readers of the worldwide bestseller The Secret. Discover how everyday people completely transfo...

  • The Name of the World synopsis, comments

    The Name of the World

    Denis Johnson

    The acclaimed author of Jesus' Son and Already Dead returns with a beautiful, haunting, and darkly comic novel. The Name of the World is a mesmerizing portrait of a professor at a ...

  • Early Sobrieties synopsis, comments

    Early Sobrieties

    Michael Deagler

    "Michael Deagler is the real deal. This is a truly intelligent work from a clearly intelligent writer." Percival Everett, 2023 Windham Campbell Prize recip...

  • Galveston synopsis, comments

    Galveston

    Nic Pizzolatto

    From the creator, writer, and executive producer of the HBO crime series True Detective, comes a dark and visceral literary debut set along the seedy wastelands of Galveston.On the...

  • The Traveling Feast synopsis, comments

    The Traveling Feast

    Rick Bass

    Acclaimed author Rick Bass decided to thank all of his writing heroes in person, one meal at a time, in this "rich smorgasbord of a memoir . . . a soulnourishing, roadburning act o...

  • El favor de la sirena synopsis, comments

    El favor de la sirena

    Denis Johnson

    El último libro de relatos de Denis Johnson.Una obra póstuma en el primer aniversario de su muerte.Escritos poco antes de su muerte, los relatos de este libro memorable representan...

  • Small Treasons synopsis, comments

    Small Treasons

    Mark Powell

    With writing that is both devastating and tender, Mark Powell (The Sheltering) brings his acclaimed eye to an American marriage on the verge of rupture, spinning an alltoocurrent t...

  • Shoppers synopsis, comments

    Shoppers

    Denis Johnson

    "Perfection is not the basis of what I'm talking about," says a member of the Cassandra family, which forms the center of Denis Johnson's plays, Hellhound on My Trail and Shoppers ...

  • The Hard Crowd synopsis, comments

    The Hard Crowd

    Rachel Kushner

    Now includes a new essay, “Naked Childhood,” about Kushner’s family, their converted school bus, and the Summers of Love in Oregon and San Francisco!“The Hard Crowd is wild, widera...

  • The Secret to Love, Health, and Money synopsis, comments

    The Secret to Love, Health, and Money

    Rhonda Byrne

    This indepth masterclass from the author of the groundbreaking bestseller The Secret illustrates how to apply the law of attraction to three of life’s most important areas: relatio...

  • Thrillville, USA synopsis, comments

    Thrillville, USA

    Taylor Koekkoek

    A raw and remarkable debut story collection concerning substance abuse, societal alienation, and doomed romance from a writer whose work has appeared in prestigious literary journa...

  • El nombre del mundo synopsis, comments

    El nombre del mundo

    Denis Johnson

    Denis Johnson configura en El nombre del mundo un retrato febril de la rutina, la tristeza y la devastación.El nombre del mundo narra la aventura personal de Michael Reed, un profe...

  • Already Dead synopsis, comments

    Already Dead

    Denis Johnson

    A contemporary noir, Already Dead is the tangled story of Nelson Fairchild Jr., disenfranchised scion to a northern California land fortune. A relentless failure, Nelson has botche...

  • Object Lessons synopsis, comments

    Object Lessons

    The Paris Review

    A New York Magazine Best Book of the YearA Huffington Post Best Book of the Year Twenty contemporary authors introduce twenty sterling examples of the short story from the pages o...

  • Homesick for Another World synopsis, comments

    Homesick for Another World

    Ottessa Moshfegh

    A New York Times Book Review Notable Book of 2017An electrifying first collection from one of the most exciting short story writers of our time"I can’t recall the last ti...

  • The Graybar Hotel synopsis, comments

    The Graybar Hotel

    Curtis Dawkins

    In this “toughly courageous, unflinching, and unapologetic” (O, The Oprah Magazine) debut collection, Curtis Dawkins, an MFA graduate and convicted murderer serving life without pa...

  • Soul of a Whore and Purvis synopsis, comments

    Soul of a Whore and Purvis

    Denis Johnson

    Two playshilarious and searing in equal measureby one of our most essential and original authors In his poetry, short stories, novels, and plays, the National Book Awardwinning aut...

  • All Day Is a Long Time synopsis, comments

    All Day Is a Long Time

    David Sánchez

    One of The Millions' "Most Anticipated Books of 2022" One of PureWow’s "10 Books We Can’t Wait to Read in January" One of BookShop.org's "Notable New Releases" One of The New York ...

  • Fat City synopsis, comments

    Fat City

    Leonard Gardner & Denis Johnson

    Fat City is a vivid novel of allegiance and defeat, of the potent promise of the good life and the desperation and drink that waylay those whom it eludes. Stockton, California is t...

  • Pictures from Italy synopsis, comments

    Pictures from Italy

    Charles Dickens

    'When Dickens has described something you see it for the rest of your life' George OrwellIn 1844, Charles Dickens took a break from novel writing to travel through Italy for almost...

  • Wild Places synopsis, comments

    Wild Places

    Katherine Mansfield

    A beautiful new hardback edition of Katherine Mansfield's most vivid and distinctive stories.Katherine Mansfield was the only writer Virginia Woolf envied. Mansfield transformed th...

  • This Is Not America synopsis, comments

    This Is Not America

    Jordi Punti

    From the acclaimed, prizewinning Catalonian author of the novel Lost Luggage, a collection of nine masterful short stories about adulthood, heartbreak, and outsiders in search of t...

  • Les routiers sont sympas synopsis, comments

    Les routiers sont sympas

    Rachel Kushner

    « D’une beauté folle, sensuelle et dévastatrice. »The New York Times  Les routiers sont sympas  est un recueil de dixneuf textes tranchants comme des lames de rasoirs, où...

  • Sophia synopsis, comments

    Sophia

    Michael Bible

    “You’ll smile with joy turning every page.” Barry Hannah   Reverend Maloney isn’t the world’s greatest spiritual advisor. He drinks gin out of his coffee cup and has sex drea...

  • The Paris Review Book synopsis, comments

    The Paris Review Book

    The Paris Review

    An exciting new anthology from the journal Time magazine called "the biggest 'little magazine' in history." To commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of the venerable Paris Review, ...