Bøker av Denis Johnson

A classic of Twentieth-Century American Literature from one of America's greatest living writers.

"A terrifying book, a mixture of poetry and obscenity. . . [the characters] are people who can't be ignored. Mr. Johnson has written a dazzling and savage first novel."--Alice Hoffman, New York Times Book ReviewThe most critically acclaimed, and first, of Denis Johnson's novels, Angels puts Jamie Mays--a runaway wife toting along two kids--and Bill Houston--ex-Navy man, ex-husband, ex-con--on a Greyhound Bus for a dark, wild ride cross country. Driven by restless souls, bad booze, and desperate needs, Jamie and Bill bounce from bus stations to cheap hotels as they ply the strange, fascinating, and dangerous fringe of American life. Their tickets may say Phoenix, but their inescapable destination is a last stop marked by stunning violence and mind-shattering surprise.Denis Johnson, known for his portraits of America's dispossessed, sets off literary pyrotechnics on this highway odyssey, lighting the trek with wit and a personal metaphysics that defiantly takes on the world.

"Johnson writes with a fervor that can only be described as religious. Seek is scary and beautiful and ecstatic and uncontrolled...he elevates the mundane to the sublime; he boils things down to their essence. He's simply one of the few writers around whose sentences make you shudder." --Adrienne Miller, EsquirePart political disquisition, part travel journal, part self-exploration, Seek is a collection of essays and articles in which Denis Johnson essentially takes on the world. And not an obliging, easygoing world either; but rather one in which horror and beauty exist in such proximity that they might well be interchangeable. Where violence and poverty and moral transgression go unchecked, even unnoticed. A world of such wild, rocketing energy that, grasping it, anything at all is possible.Whether traveling through war-ravaged Liberia, mingling with the crowds at a Christian Biker rally, exploring his own authority issues through the lens of this nation's militia groups, or attempting to unearth his inner resources while mining for gold in the wilds of Alaska, Johnson writes with a mixture of humility and humorous candor that is everywhere present.With the breathtaking and often haunting lyricism for which his work is renowned, Johnson considers in these pieces our need for transcendence. And, as readers of his previous work know, Johnson's path to consecration frequently requires a limning of the darkest abyss. If the path to knowledge lies in experience, Seek is a fascinating record of Johnson's profoundly moving pilgrimage.

A reissuing of National Book Award winner Denis Johnson's first two collections of poems

An epic in miniature: a gripping tale of a man's disintegration and his country's transformation, from the National Book Award-winning author of Tree of Smoke.

Ten stories narrated by a recovering alcoholic and heroin addict whose dependencies have led him to petty crime, cruelty, betrayal, and loss.

Hailed by the New York Times as "wildly ambitious" and "the sort of book that a young Herman Melville might have written had he lived today and studied such disparate works as the Bible, 'The Wasteland,' Fahrenheit 451, and Dog Soldiers, screened Star Wars and Apocalypse Now several times, dropped a lot of acid and listened to hours of Jimi Hendrix and the Rolling Stones," Fiskadoro is a stunning novel of an all-too-possible tomorrow. Deeply moving and provacative, Fiskadoro brilliantly presents the sweeping and heartbreaking tale of the survivors of a devastating nuclear war and their attempts to breaking tale of the survivors of a devastating nuclear war and their attempts to salvage remnants of the old world and rebuild their culture.

The Largesse of the Sea Maiden is the long-awaited new story collection from Denis Johnson, author of the groundbreaking, highly acclaimed Jesus' Son.

Raymond Carver said of The Incognito Lounge, Denis Johnsons third and most widely acclaimed book of verse: The subject matter is harrowingly convincing, is nothing less than a close examination of the darker side of human conduct. Why do we act this way? Johnson asks. How should we act? His best poems are examples of what the finest poetry can do: bring us closer to ourselves and at the same time put us in touch with something larger.

He must find Michael Adriko - maverick, warrior, and the man who has saved Nair's life three times and risked it many more. But on this new level - espionage, state secrets, treason - their loyalties will be tested to the limit.

And they wait - for the Cubans to come, for the Quarantine to be lifted, for the god Quetzalcoatl, the god Bob Marley, the god Jesus to return and build their kingdoms. From the author of

Jimmy Luntz owes money to a man called Juarez. Trouble is, Juarez isn't the most patient of men. And when he gets bored of waiting, he sends someone round to collect. Luntz doesn't actually plan to shoot the guy, but the way he sees it, it's shoot or be shot. Either way, though, Luntz is out of his league, and he knows it: nobody messes with Juarez -- or, at least, nobody messes with Juarez and lives to tell the tale. Against all the odds, however, it seems that somebody up there is looking out for Luntz, if only he can keep his cool. A story of mistaken identity, blackmail and murder, of bent judges, wronged alcoholics and colostomy bags, Nobody Move is No Country for Old Men as written by Denis Johnson. Praise for Denis Johnson's previous novel, Tree of Smoke, which won the US National Book Award 2007: 'A Catch-22 for our times' Alan Warner, Observer 'A heart-stopping reminder of what fiction can do' Sunday Telegraph

Tree of Smoke - the name given to a 'psy op' that might or might not be hypothetical and might or might not be officially sanctioned - is Denis Johnson's most gripping, visionary and ambitious work to date. Set in south-east Asia and the US, and spanning two decades, it ostensibly tells the story of Skip Sands, a CIA spy who may or may not be engaged in psychological operations against the Viet Cong -- but also takes the reader on a surreal yet vivid journey, dipping in and out of characters' lives to reveal fundamental truths at the heart of the human condition. 'A Catch-22 for our times' Alan Warner, Books of the Year, Observer 'The God I want to believe in has a voice and a sense of humour like Denis Johnson's' Jonathan Franzen 'An epic of drenched sensuality and absurdly chewable dialogue, as though Don DeLillo and Joseph Heller had collaborated on a Vietnam war novel' Steven Poole, Books of the Year, New Statesman

Part political inquiry, part travel journal, part-self exploration, "Seek" is a collection of essays by an award-winning novelist out to explore himself and his life in the company of those who live on the edges of society. His travels take him from hippy conventions to war-torn Liberia

Michael Reed is a man going through the motions, numbed by the death of his wife and child. But when events force him to act as if he cares, he begins to find people who - against all expectation - help him through his private labyrinth.

Provincetown, Cape Cod: the last outpost of civilisation, the end of the earth. In the confused aftermath of a failed suicide attempt, Leonard English - pursuing a vague vision of redemption and an even vaguer offer of employment - finds himself in a Cape resort populated by religious zealots and promiscuous transvestites.

Jamie has ditched her husband and is running away with her two baby girls. Bill is dreaming of making it big in a life of crime. They meet on a Greyhound bus and decide to team up.