The Largesse of the Sea Maiden

Posted on 20 November 2018 by Denis Johnson

Twenty five years after Jesus Son, a haunting new collection of short stories on aging, mortality, and transcendence, from National Book Award winner and two time Pulitzer Prize finalist Denis Johnson The Largesse of the Sea Maiden is the long awaited new story collection from Denis Johnson It follows the groundbreaking, highly acclaimed Jesus Son Written in the same luminous prose, this collection finds Johnson in new territory, contemplating old age, mortality, the ghosts of the past, and the elusive and unexpected ways the mysteries of the universe assert themselves Finished shortly before Johnson s death in May 2017, this collection is the last word from a writer whose work will live on for many years to come Advance praise for The Largesse of the Sea Maiden An instant classic A masterpiece of deep humanity and astonishing prose It s filled with Johnson s unparalleled ability to inject humor, profundity, and beauty often all three into the dark and the mundane alike These characters have been pushed toward the edge through their searches for meaning or clawing just to hold onto life, Johnson is able to articulate what it means to be alive, and to have hope Publishers Weeklystarred review Praise for Denis Johnson Denis Johnson was the best American writer of the past twenty five years New Republic He was the kind of writer who comes along once in a generation, if that often a true original, in the same league as Melville and Whitman n 1 A true American artist a revelator for this still new century The New York Times The God I want to believe in has a voice and a sense of humor like Denis Johnson s Jonathan Franzen Nobody wrote with brutality and mercy, hilarity and grace What a genius he was Elizabeth McCracken Our most poetic American short story writer since Hemingway George Saunders Prose of amazing power and stylishness Philip Roth When Denis Johnson is justly praised for his voice, I always think, just the one He has an eerie symphony at his command Karen Russell His prose tiptoes a tightrope between peace and calamity Anthony Doerr His lonely spaces and stunned lives have a hair trigger fascination that is American to the core Don DeLillo Denis Johnson was and is, without question, significant and great Michael Cunningham Free Download eBook The Largesse of the Sea Maiden By Denis Johnson – kino-fada.fr The reason I wanted to read this collection is because of how much I enjoyed Denis Johnson s Train Dreams After finishing this collection of 5 stories, I initially rated it 3.5 stars feeling that some of the meaning had escaped me But as I m writing this and thinkingabout it and the writing, I have to give it 4 stars The writing is good and I liked three of the five stories so I ll comment briefly on those My favorite is the first story titled as the book Bill Whitman, an ad man The reason I wanted to read this collection is because of how much I enjoyed Denis Johnson s Train Dreams After finishing this collection of 5 stories, I initially rated it 3.5 stars feeling that some of the meaning had escaped me But as I m writing this and thinkingabout it and the writing, I have to give it 4 stars The writing is good and I liked three of the five storie...I m between 3 and 3.5 stars It doesn t matter The world keeps turning It s plain to you that at the time I write this, I m not dead But maybe by the time you read it Denis Johnson s last short story collection, The Largesse of the Sea Maiden , was published about eight months after he died from lung cancer at the age of 67 That fact certainly adds a feeling of melancholy to the collection, even when he isn t writing lines like the ones above It s also a fairly dark book about facing mort I m between 3 and 3.5 stars It doesn t matter The world keeps turning It s plain to you that at the time I write this, I m not dead But maybe by the time you read it Denis Johnson s last short story collection, The Largesse of the Sea Maiden , was published about eight months after he died from lung cancer at the age of 67 That fact certainly adds a feeling of melancholy to the collection, even when he isn t writing lines like the ones above It s also a fairly dark book about facing mortality and one s failures I first came upon Johnson s writing in the mid 1990s when I read his collection Jesus Son way back in the days before I wrote book reviews or counted how many books I read , and it has honestly stuck with me all these years later I forget at times what a phantasmagorical ride he often took you on, and that his stories had such surprising depth, even when they were a little bizarre, but his deft hand with imagery and word c...Another literary icon has passed, leaving us with this his offering Five stories, each longer than your usual shorts The first, the title story, concern a man who works in advertising, he is nearing retirement, and he tells us in short vignettes about his dead or disappeared acquaintances All these stories grapple with death in all its different permutations They oftentimes feature lives that have lost their way, their control of their future My favorite was triumph over the grave Where a Another literary icon has passed, leaving us with this his offering Five stories, each longer than your usual shorts The first, the title story, concern a man who works in advertising, he is nearing retirement, and he tells us in short vignettes about his dead or disappeared acquaintances All these stories grapple with death in all its different permutations They oftentimes feature lives that have lost their way, their control of their future My favorite was triumph over the grave Where a once successful author finds success doesn t guarantee happiness It is the most poignsnt story and the one that closest relates to the author I had thought I would love the last story with a character that has an obsession with Elvis, as I had an older cousin who was Elvis crazy Unfortunately it turned out to be the one I liked the ...Not only had I never read Denis Johnson before this, but I d never even heard his name before How s that possible, to live my life, talking books with whoever is willing, not to know of this exceptional writer This collection is comprised of five sizeable short stories, written in a style that is conversational, meandering, unsentimental and poetic These stories touch on the tricky business of living and dying, relationships, the absurdity, randomness and beauty of life, our unknowing and unkn Not only had I never read Denis Johnson before this, but I d never even heard his name before How s that possible, to live my life, talking books with whoever is willing, not to know of this exceptional writer This collection is comprised of five sizeable short stories, written in a style that is conversational, meandering, unsentimental and poetic These stories touch on the tricky business of living and dying, relationships, the absurdity, randomness and beauty of life, our unknowing and unknowable selves, addiction, amon...Denis Johnson s Sirenic Stories, Visionary Tumulus at SeaOnce in a while, I know my lexicon is insufficient to give a book all due accolades That, or I m speechless from its hypnotic effect, or I m worried I don t have time to write a review succinct enough that a potential reader will read it and be persuaded...The reason I wanted to read this collection is because of how much I enjoyed Denis Johnson s Train Dreams After finishing this collection of 5 stories, I initially rated it 3.5 stars feeling that some of the meaning had escaped me But as I m writing this and thinkingabout it and the writing, I have to give it 4 stars The writing is good and I liked three of the five stories so I ll comment briefly on those My favorite is the first story titled as the book Bill Whitman, an ad man The reason I wanted to read this collection is because of how much I enjoyed Denis Johnson s Train Dreams After finishing this collection of 5 stories, I initially rated it 3.5 stars feeling that some of the meaning had escaped me But as I m writing this and thinkingabout it and the writing, I have to give it 4 stars The writing is good and I liked three of the five stories so I ll comment briefly on those My favorite is the first story titled as the book Bill Whitman, an ad man gives us a series of vignettes, depicting events and people in his life reflecting on marriage, divorce, death , careers I especially enjoyed the discussion with a circle of friends who discuss the loudest sounds they remember or the most silent thing This is not a typical conversation I could imagine being a part of but wow the responses were thought provoking and fascinating A focus on ...This posthumous story collection by Denis Johnson is my first time reading him, but it won t be the last Most of the people who haveexperience in the group where we are discussing this prefer collections like Jesus Son, but I ll have to wait to weigh in on the comparison.I chose the audio for this collection because of the narrators, so I will discuss both the story and the narrator Overall, the stories are manly manly stories, but often about lessons learned, lives lived, endings and g This posthumous story collection by Denis Johnson is my first time reading him, but it won t be the last Most of the people who haveexperience in the...I d never read any Denis Johnson before this, though of course I knew of his work I thought I had endless days to finally show my appreciation.A GR friend describes the eponymous first story as if watching a magician at work That story is actually a set of very short stories, each so well conceived and trimmed of fat that worlds are conveyed in a sentence Perhaps he could have been a lyricist another GR friend says he was a poet first and foremost Yes Both these GR friends cite that firs I d never read any Denis Johnson before this, though of course I knew of his work I thought I had endless days to finally show my appreciation.A GR friend describes the eponymous first story as if watching a magician at work That story is actually a set of very short stories, each so well conceived and trimmed of fat that worlds are conveyed in a sentence Perhaps he could have been a lyricist another GR friend says he was a poet first and foremost Yes Both these GR friends cite that first story along with Triumph Over Grave, the penultimate story in this collection, as their favorites So it is with me These two stories are worth seeking out the collection to read Probably you will not get a better idea of the art and the man than these What have you been doing with yourself out here one character asks another who is naked beneath his open lab coat Thangdoodlin , the other man replies from Triumph...The thing is, if, like me, you have read nearly all of Johnson s novels, there is something about his writing that means you feel like you know him I know that s not true and I know that the him I know probably isn t Johnson in truth, but the honesty and rawness of what he writes makes you feel that way.This means that reading a book of short stories published posthumously he died in May 2017 turns into a very emotional experience Especially when that book talks a lot about death And even The thing is, if, like me, you have rea...What an amazing gift it must be to take instances of everyday life and infuse them with lyricism and meaning.Denis Johnson, in this posthumous collection, expands on this head on in a story that is appropriately titled, Triumph Over The Grave His narrator confides, Writing It is easy work Whatever happens to you, you put it on a page, work it into a shape, cast it in a light For those who have ever tried their hand at writing I count myself among them it s evident that writing is anything What an amazing gift it must be to take instances of everyday life and infuse them with lyricism and meaning.Denis Johnson, in this posthumous collection, expands on this head on in a story that is appropriately titled, Triumph Over The Grave His narrator confides, Writing It is easy work Whatever happ...

English
20 November 2018

Denis Johnson