Last I heard, poet, short story writer and novelist, Denis Johnson, was still living in northern Idaho, somewhere near Sandpoint. Johnson has published seven books of fiction, three books of poetry and one book of reportage. In a career that stressed going his own way, Johnson is probably best known for a book of short stories I feel are the best modern American short stories, to be compared only to Richard Ford's Montana-located Rock Springs. Johnson's epical little book, made into an OK movie starring Billy Crudup, is of course, "Jesus' Son." Published in 1992, "Jesus' Son" is a series of inter-related stories presenting a unique view of modern America.
The title of the book comes from Lou Reed's song "Heroin," a powerful 20-minute story of its own. And there are some drugs in the stories, but then it is about modern America.
Johnson writes like no one else. Rather than try and convince you with mere verbiage, here's the first graph of the first story, "Car Crash While Hitchhiking."
"A salesman who shared his liquor and steered while sleeping... A Cherokee filled with bourbon... A VW no more than a bubble of hashish fumes, captained by a college student...And a family from Marshalltown who headonned and killed forever a man driving west out of Bethany, Missouri..."
But don't take my word for it. Mary Gaitskill, a well-regarded novelist and short story writer said: "Intense, vicious and beautiful, these stories are fraught with a cutting wit...Denis Johnson is an exquisite writer."
And he didn't stop in 1992. His latest published novel, "Tree of Smoke" (2007), won The National Book Award, not something given to mere literary outlaws. Johnson somehow bridges the gap between craft and vision, so highly prized by academia, where much great literature is kept barely alive, and the ability to tell a damned good, damned hardheaded story, as varied and so much deeper than say the stories on "Lost" or "Law and Order," to name two decent but not brilliant popular entertainments of recent years.
Johnson is an artist and an entertainer and "Tree of Smoke" is the capstone to a brilliant writing career.
Once again, you don't have to believe me. Jonathan Franzen, a fine and popular novelist in his own right, said about Johnson and his latest novel, "The God I want to believe in has a voice and a sense of humor like Denis Johnson's."
"Tree of Smoke" is the last Vietnam novel you need to read and it was worth the wait. It can easily take its place next to the best novels from our "dirty little war" in Southeast Asia, Kent Anderson's "Sympathy for the Devil" and Tim O'Brien's brilliant, "The Things They Carried."
Johnson's novels and short stories are available at all major book stores. You don't have to read him to defend our area against charges of literary vapidness. But your life will be broadened and enriched if you give him a try.
"Jesus' Son" and "Tree of Smoke" are the places to begin. I envy you if you've never read him before. He's very good. In fact, he's the Northwest's best.[[In-content Ad]]
