Denis Johnson
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- For Denis Johnson from London, who invented the bicycle forerunner called "hoy horse", see Denis Johnson (inventor).
| Denis Johnson | |
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| Born | 1949 Munich, Germany[citation needed] |
| Occupation | Novelist |
| Nationality | American |
| Writing period | 1969-present |
| Genres | Fiction |
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Denis Johnson (born 1949 in Munich, West Germany) is an American author who is best known for his short story collection Jesus' Son (1992) and his novel Tree of Smoke (2007), which won the National Book Award.
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[edit] Biography
Johnson holds an MFA degree from the University of Iowa[citation needed]. He received a Whiting Writer’s Award in 1986 and a Lannan Fellowship in Fiction in 1993.
Johnson first came to prominence after the publication of his short story collection Jesus' Son (1992), which was adapted into the 1999 film of the same name, which was named one of the top ten films of the year by The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, and Roger Ebert[citation needed]. Johnson has a cameo role in the film as a man who has been stabbed in the eye by his wife[citation needed].
In 2006-2007, Johnson held the Mitte Chair in Creative Writing at Texas State University in San Marcos, Texas[citation needed].
[edit] Personal life
Johnson is twice divorced and lives with his third wife, Cindy Lee, in Arizona and Idaho.[3][4] Johnson has three children, two of whom he homeschooled; in October, 1997 he wrote an article for Salon.com in defense of homeschooling.[5]
[edit] Awards
In 1981, he won the National Poetry Series, for The Incognito Lounge: And Other Poems.
In 2002, Johnson won the Aga Khan Prize for Fiction from The Paris Review for Train Dreams.
In 2007, Johnson published Tree of Smoke, his first full-length novel in nine years, which won a National Book Award and was a Pulitzer Prize finalist.[6][7]
[edit] Works
[edit] Poetry collections
- The Man Amongst the Seals: poems. Stone Wall Press. 1969.
- Inner Weather Graywolf Press, 1976
- The Incognito Lounge. Random House. 1982. ISBN 9780394523477.
- The Veil: poems. Knopf. 1987. ISBN 9780394743431.
- The Throne of the Third Heaven of the Nations Millennium General Assembly: Poems Collected and New
[edit] Novels
- Angels (novel). HarperCollins. 1981. ISBN 9780060988821. http://books.google.com/books?id=XJkkcbRPsEsC&printsec=frontcover&dq=denis+johnson&lr=#v=onepage&q=&f=false. (reprint 2002)
- Fiskadoro. HarperCollins. 1985. ISBN 9780060976095. http://books.google.com/books?id=YSTe7qSIA0wC&printsec=frontcover&dq=denis+johnson&lr=#v=onepage&q=&f=false. (reprint 1995)
- The Stars at Noon. HarperCollins. 1986. ISBN 9780060976101. http://books.google.com/books?id=ZGD0gNrVW4oC&printsec=frontcover&dq=denis+johnson&lr=#v=onepage&q=&f=false. (reprint 1995)
- Resuscitation of a Hanged Man. HarperCollins. 2001. ISBN 9780060934668. http://books.google.com/books?id=DsNpKC9LvbEC&printsec=frontcover&dq=denis+johnson&lr=#v=onepage&q=&f=false.
- Already Dead: A California Gothic. HarperCollins. 1998. ISBN 9780060929091. http://books.google.com/books?id=ITM6jdISSQAC&printsec=frontcover&dq=denis+johnson&lr=#v=onepage&q=&f=false.
- The Name of the World. HarperCollins. 2001. ISBN 9780060929657. (novella, 2000)
- Train Dreams (novella, 2002)
- Tree of Smoke. Macmillan. 2007. ISBN 9780374279127. http://books.google.com/books?id=8RH1W79w8OgC&printsec=frontcover&dq=denis+johnson&lr=#v=onepage&q=&f=false.
- Nobody Move. Macmillan. 2009. ISBN 9780374222901. http://books.google.com/books?id=TsP1IB5vLvYC&printsec=frontcover&dq=denis+johnson&lr=#v=onepage&q=&f=false.
[edit] Short story collection
- Jesus' Son. Macmillan. 1992. ISBN 9780312428747. http://books.google.com/books?id=2mHjQrFUjbcC&printsec=frontcover&dq=denis+johnson&lr=#v=onepage&q=&f=false. (reprint 2009)
[edit] Plays
Johnson's plays have been produced in San Francisco, Chicago, New York, and Seattle. He is the Resident Playwright of Campo Santo, the resident theater company at Intersection for the Arts in San Francisco.
- Hellhound on my Trail
- Shoppers Carried by Escalators into the Flames
- Soul of a Whore
- AB Survival in the United States
- Purvis
- Des Moines (To be produced by Intersection for the Arts October 19 and 20, 2007)
- Everything Has Been Arranged (An adaptation of Johnson's story Small Boys Unit, to be produced as part of Intersection for the Arts New Works Festival December 6-8, 2007)
[edit] Non-fiction
[edit] References
- ^ "What Authors Influenced You?", Authorsontheweb.com. Retrieved on 2007-07-10.
- ^ "Scott Snyder", litpark, 2006-08-31. Retrieved on 2007-12-28.
- ^ Writers' Workshop - The University of Iowa
- ^ Moore, Michael Scott. "Poet of the Fallen World: How an S.F. theater troupe helped turn a reclusive novelist into a full-fledged playwright" (reprint), SF Weekly, February 2003. Retrieved on 2008-06-11.
- ^ School is Out. Salon.com
- ^ Thompson, Bob (2007-11-15), Johnson's 'Tree of Smoke' Wins National Book Award, Washington Post, http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/11/14/AR2007111402806.html, retrieved 2007-11-15
- ^ Sisario, Ben. "Arts, Briefly: Channeling Noir, Dickens-Style," The New York Times, 2008-06-11. Retrieved on 2008-06-11.
[edit] External links
- Works by or about Denis Johnson in libraries (WorldCat catalog)
- Interview with Denis Johnson
- 'Homeless and High', a short piece by Denis Johnson (Link to Internet_Archive#Wayback_Machine as the original New Yorker page no longer exists).
- Intersection for the Arts, San Francisco
- Review of Tree of Smoke, by Alec Michod in The Believer
