Denis Johnson

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Denis Hale Johnson (born July 1, 1949 in Munich - † May 24, 2017 in Sea Ranch , Sonoma County , California ) was an American writer . He is considered to be one of the most important writers in contemporary American literature.

Life

The son of an American intelligence officer spent his childhood in Tokyo , Manila ( Philippines ) and Washington. Most recently, Johnson lived in northern Idaho . Among other things, he wrote for The Paris Review and the New Yorker Reisereportagen.

Johnson first experienced drugs at the age of fourteen, then living in the Philippines and began his first alcohol withdrawal regimen at age 21. Occasional heroin consumption followed, but above all his alcohol addiction continued to affect him . He himself said that, among other things, he was afraid of not being able to write any more texts if he had had a boring and sober lifestyle.

Johnson was divorced twice and was married to Cindy Lee for the third time. He had three children.

Denis Johnson died in May 2017 at the age of 67 of complications from liver cancer at Sea Ranch near Gualala , California.

plant

In 1969 Johnson's first volume of poetry was published.

In 1983 he published his first novel, Angels , which earned him the admiration and patronage of Don DeLillo, among other things . Document is missing! David Foster Wallace called Angels "an all American book with great, really great prose."

The author made his breakthrough in 1992 with the short story book Jesus' Son . In 1999 this was adapted for film.

In 2006 three reports appeared in German under the title In der Hölle. Look into the abyss of the world . These were taken from the volume Seek: Reports from the Edges of America and Beyond . The texts are reports from Liberia and Somalia, which were commissioned by the New Yorker .

In 2007 Johnson received the National Book Award for his novel Tree of Smoke . In 2014 he was accepted into the American Academy of Arts and Letters .

Denis Johnson's works were initially published in German by Alexander Fest Verlag . Since its dissolution in 2002, the works have been published - partly in a new translation - by Rowohlt Verlag . The title In Hell. Views into the Abyss of the World was first published in 2006 by Tropen Verlag .

Bibliography (selection)

  • 1969 The Man Among the Seals (poems)
  • 1976 Inner Weather (poems)
  • 1982 The Incognito Lounge (poems)
  • 1983 Angels (novel)
  • 1985 Fiskadoro (novel)
    • Fiskadoro, German by Ute Spengler; Limes, Frankfurt am Main / Berlin 1990, ISBN 3-8090-2288-8 .
  • 1986 The Stars at Noon (novel)
  • 1987 The Veil (poems)
  • 1991 Resuscitation of a Hanged Man (novel)
  • 1992 Jesus' Son (short stories)
    • Jesus' Son, German by Herbert Genzmer, Suhrkamp, ​​Frankfurt am Main 1995, ISBN 3-518-11972-9 .
    • also as audio book (selection), read by Christian Brückner; Director: Waltraut Brückner. Parlando, Berlin 2006, ISBN 3-935125-54-2 .
  • 1996 Already Dead: A California Gothic
    • Already dead, German by Bettina Abarbanell and Fritz Mergel, Fest, Berlin 2000, ISBN 3-8286-0121-9 .
  • 2000 The Name of the World (novel)
    • The name of the world, German by Thomas Überhoff; Rowohlt, Reinbek near Hamburg 2007, ISBN 3-498-03230-5 .
    • also as an audio book: read by Christian Brückner; Director: Waltraut Brückner. Parlando, Berlin 2007, ISBN 3-935125-76-3 .
  • 2001 Seek: Reports from the Edges of America and Beyond (Reports)
    • In hell. Look into the abyss of the world, German by Bettina Abarbanell; Tropen, Berlin 2006, ISBN 3-932170-90-3 .
  • 2003 Train Dreams (novella)
    • Train Dreams, German by Bettina Abarbanell; Mare, Hamburg 2004, ISBN 3-936384-15-0
    • also as an audio book: read by Christian Brückner; Director: Waltraut Brückner. Parlando, Berlin 2004, ISBN 3-935125-37-2 .
  • 2007 Tree of Smoke (novel)
    • A straight smoke, German by Bettina Abarbanell and Robin Detje; Rowohlt, Reinbek near Hamburg 2008, ISBN 978-3-498-03222-7 .
  • 2009 Nobody Move (novel)
    • No movement !, German by Bettina Abarbanell; Rowohlt, Reinbek near Hamburg 2010, ISBN 3-498-03234-8 .
  • 2014 The Laughing Monsters (novel)
    • The laughing monsters . Translation of Bettina Abarbanell. Rowohlt, Reinbek near Hamburg 2017, ISBN 978-3-498-03342-2 .
  • 2018 The Largesse of the Sea Maiden (stories from the estate)
    • The Mermaid's Generosity and Other Tales. Translated from the English by Bettina Abarbanell. Rowohlt, Reinbek near Hamburg 2018, ISBN 978-3-498-07399-2 .

e-books

  • 2017 Five executions and a barbecue , German by Bettina Abarbanell; Rowohlt Rotation, ISBN 978-3-644-00080-3 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Jan Brandt: Walk through fire in harmony. in: Die Zeit No. 23/2017, p. 41
  2. ↑ Michael Scott Moore: Denis Johnson - Poet of the Fallen World. In: SF Weekly. Radio Free Mike, February 2003, archived from the original on July 16, 2007 ; accessed on May 27, 2017 (English).
  3. ↑ Denis Johnson, Author of 'Jesus' Son,' Dead at 67. In: The New York Times . The New York Times Company, May 26, 2017, accessed May 27, 2017 .
  4. ↑ David Foster Wallace : Overlooked: Five badly underestimated novels from the USA> 1960, in: ders., The fun of the thing. All essays. Cologne 2018. p. 345.
personal data
SURNAME Johnson, Denis
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Johnson, Denis Hale (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American writer
DATE OF BIRTH July 1, 1949
PLACE OF BIRTH Munich , Bavaria , Germany
DATE OF DEATH May 24, 2017
Place of death Sea Ranch , Sonoma County , California , United States