Train Dreams
| Denis Johnson | |
|---|---|
| Born | Denis Hale Johnson July 1, 1949 Munich, West Germany |
| Died | May 24, 2017 (aged 67) Gualala, California, United States |
| Occupation | Novelist, poet, playwright |
| Nationality | American |
| Period | 1969–2017 |
| Genre | Fiction, non-fiction |
| 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 writer best known for his short story collection Jesus' Son (1992) and his novel Tree of Smoke (2007), which won the National Book Award for Fiction. He also wrote plays, poetry, journalism, and non-fiction.
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. 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 BA in English (in 1971) from the University of Iowa and an MFA (in 1974) from the Iowa Writers' Workshop, where he also returned to teach. While at the Writers' Workshop, Johnson took classes from Raymond Carver.
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. 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.
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