The Largesse of the Sea Maiden

2018 | Fiction & Poetry

Twenty-five years ago, Denis Johnson's Jesus' Son was published, ‘a work of spare beauty and almost religious intensity’ (Entertainment Weekly), which remains a touchstone today, ardently beloved by readers and writers alike. Included in The New York Times's list of the ‘25 Best Books of the Last 25 Years’ (alongside Toni Morrison's Beloved and Philip Roth's American Pastoral), it is routinely described in the press as the single most important and influential book of short stories in a generation.

Shortly before his death in May 2017, Johnson completed The Largesse of the Sea Maiden. After years of novels and plays in a very different mode, Johnson's new collection is a return to the short story form that first catapulted him to the highest pedestal of American writers. Though the subject matter – middle-aged life and the elusive and unexpected ways the mysteries of the universe assert themselves – finds him in new territory, the style is pure, vintage, inimitable Johnson.

Taken together, the stories in this powerful and deeply felt collection are Denis Johnson at his absolute best, the highest-calibre work of an American master.

Denis Johnson (Author)