Denis Johnson
Denis Johnson photographed byOliver Mark, Berlin 2003
Born	Denis Hale Johnson[1] (1949-07-01)July 1, 1949 Munich,West Germany
Died	May 24, 2017(2017-05-24) (aged 67) Gualala, California, U.S.
Occupation	Novelist poet playwright
Education	University of Iowa (BA,MFA)
Period	1969–2017
Genre	Fiction,nonfiction
Notable works	Angels Jesus' Son Train Dreams Tree of Smoke
Notable awards	National Book Award; National Poetry Series award

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 theNational Book Award for Fiction.^[2] Johnson was twice shortlisted for thePulitzer Prize for Fiction.^[3] 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.^[4] His final work, a book of short stories titledThe Largesse of the Sea Maiden, was published posthumously in 2018.

Denis Johnson was born on July 1, 1949, inMunich, West Germany.^[1] Growing up, he also lived in thePhilippines, Japan, and the suburbs ofWashington, D.C.^[5][6] His father, Alfred Johnson, worked for theState Department as a liaison between theUSIA and theCIA.^[7][8] His mother, the former Vera Louise Childress, was a homemaker.^[1] He earned aB.A. in English (in 1971) from theUniversity of Iowa and anM.F.A. (in 1974) from theIowa Writers' Workshop,^[6] where he also returned to teach.^[5] While at the Writers' Workshop, Johnson took classes fromRaymond Carver.^[9]

Johnson published his first book, a collection of poetry titledThe Man Among Seals, in 1969 at the age of 19.^[5] He earned a measure of acclaim with the publication of his first novel,Angels, in 1983.^[8] He came to prominence in 1992 with the short story collectionJesus' Son, which included vignettes originally published inThe New Yorker,^[8] inspired byIsaac Babel's bookRed Cavalry.^[7] The first story "Car Crash While Hitchhiking" was published inThe Paris Review. In a 2006New York Times Book Review poll,Jesus' Son was voted one of the best works of American fiction published in the last 25 years.^[10] It has been variously described as: seminal, legendary, transcendent, a classic, and a masterpiece.^[11][12][13] It was adapted into the 1999film of the same name, which starredBilly Crudup. Johnson has acameo role in the film as a man who has been stabbed in the eye by his wife.^[14]

The Stars at Noon (1986), a spy thriller, follows an unnamed American woman during theNicaraguan Revolution of 1984.^[15] It was adapted into the 2022 filmStars at Noon by directorClaire Denis, starringJoe Alwyn andMargaret Qualley.^[16]

Tree of Smoke won the 2007National Book Award for Fiction^[17] and was a finalist for the 2008Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.^[18] It takes place during theVietnam 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 novelAngels, the latter novel set in the early 1980s.^[19]

Train Dreams, originally published as a story inThe Paris Review in 2002, was published as anovella in 2011 and was a finalist for the 2012Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. However, for the first time since 1977, the Pulitzer board did not award a prize for fiction that year.^[20]

Johnson's plays have been produced in San Francisco, Chicago, New York, and Seattle.^[21][22][23] He was the Resident Playwright of Campo Santo, the resident theater company atIntersection for the Arts in San Francisco.^[24] In 2006 and 2007, Johnson held the Mitte Chair in Creative Writing atTexas State University inSan Marcos,Texas.^[25] Johnson also occasionally taught at theMichener Center for Writers at theUniversity of Texas at Austin.^[26]

The final book he published while still alive was the novelThe Laughing Monsters, which he called a "literary thriller" set in Uganda, Sierra Leone, and Congo. It was released in 2014.^[27][28] Johnson's final work, a book of short stories titledThe Largesse of the Sea Maiden, was published posthumously in January 2018.^[29][4]

Johnson was twice divorced and lived with his third wife, Cindy Lee, inPhoenix, Arizona, at the time of his death.^[9] They also shared a home in Idaho.^[26] Johnson had three children, two of whom hehomeschooled; in October 1997, he wrote an article for the websiteSalon in defense of homeschooling.^[30]

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.^[5]

In his essay "Bikers for Jesus," Johnson described himself as "aChristian convert, but one of the airy, sophisticated kind."^[31][32]

Johnson died on May 24, 2017, fromliver cancer at his home inThe SeaRanch,^[11] a community nearGualala, California, at the age of 67.^[1][12][33]

• 1981 –National Poetry Series award (selected byMark Strand),^[34] forThe Incognito Lounge^[35]
• 1983 –The Frost Place poet in residence^[36]
• 1986 –Guggenheim Fellowship^[37]
• 1986 –Whiting Award^[38]
• 1993 –Lannan Fellowship in Fiction^[39]
• 2002 –Aga Khan Prize for Fiction fromThe Paris Review, forTrain Dreams^[40]
• 2007 –National Book Award, forTree of Smoke^[17][41]
• 2008 –Pulitzer Prize for Fiction finalist, forTree of Smoke^[18]
• 2012 – Pulitzer Prize for Fiction finalist, forTrain Dreams^[20]
• 2017 –Library of Congress Prize for American Fiction (awarded posthumously)^[42]

• 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 9780060187378
• 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 inThe Paris Review [2002] and inEurope [2004]^[6]
• The Laughing Monsters (FSG, 2014)ISBN 9780374280598

• Jesus' Son (FSG, 1992)ISBN 9780374178925
• The Largesse of the Sea Maiden (Penguin/Random House, 2018)ISBN 9780812988635

• The Man Among the Seals: Poems (Stone Wall Press, 1969)ISBN 9780887486272
• Inner Weather (Graywolf Press, 1976)
• The Incognito Lounge and Other Poems (Random House, 1982)ISBN 9780394523477
• The Veil (Alfred A. Knopf, 1987)ISBN 9780394743431
• 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)^[43]
• "The Trees Leaning into One Another, Green and Horrible" (Ploughshares 36.4, 2010, p. 59)^[44]

• Hellhound on My Trail: A Drama in Three Parts (2000)
• Shoppers: Two Plays (Harper, 2002)ISBN 9780060934408- includesHellhound on My Trail
• Psychos Never Dream, Campo Santo Theater, San Francisco (2004)^[45]
• Des Moines, San Francisco premiere in October 2007^[46]
  • Des Moines, New York premiere in November 2022^[47]
• Soul of a Whore and Purvis: Two Plays in Verse (FSG, 2012)ISBN 9780374277963

• The Prom (1990) (directed bySteven Shainberg)^[48]
• Hit Me (1996) (directed bySteven Shainberg, adapted from the novelA Swell-Looking Babe byJim Thompson)^[48]

• (contributor)One Man By Himself: Portraits of John Serl (Hard Press, 1995)ISBN 9789110224940
• "The Civil War in Hell".Esquire. December 1, 1990. RetrievedJuly 22, 2017.
• "The Militia in Me".Esquire. July 1, 1995. RetrievedJuly 22, 2017.
• "Change your life FOREVER: God's Warriors in the Third Millennium".Salon. March 22, 1996. Archived fromthe original on August 24, 2000. RetrievedJuly 22, 2017.
• "School is out".Salon. October 1, 1996.Archived from the original on January 20, 2013. RetrievedJuly 8, 2017.
• "Hippies".Paris Review. June 1, 2000.Archived from the original on July 22, 2017. RetrievedJuly 22, 2017.
• "The small boys' unit".Harpers. October 1, 2000. RetrievedJuly 22, 2017.
• Seek: Reports from the Edges of America & Beyond (essays) (HarperCollins, 2001)ISBN 9780060187361

• Denis Johnson Papers at theHarry Ransom Center
• Denis Johnson at theInternet Speculative Fiction Database
• Intersection for the Arts, San Francisco
• KCRW Bookworm Interview
• Profile at The Whiting Foundation
• Denis Johnson profile and poems at Academy of American Poets
• Denis Johnson atLibrary of Congress Authorities — with 25 catalog records

• 1949 births
• 2017 deaths
• 20th-century American dramatists and playwrights
• 20th-century American novelists
• 20th-century American poets
• 20th-century American short story writers
• 20th-century American male writers
• 21st-century American dramatists and playwrights
• 21st-century American novelists
• 21st-century American poets
• 21st-century American short story writers
• 21st-century American male writers
• American male dramatists and playwrights
• American male novelists
• American male poets
• American male short story writers
• Deaths from liver cancer in California
• Iowa Writers' Workshop alumni
• National Book Award winners
• PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction winners
• American postmodern writers
• The New Yorker people
• O. Henry Award winners

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