Jesus' Son is a collection of linked short stories by American author Denis Johnson

Denis Johnson

Denis Hale Johnson is an American author who is known for his short-story collection Jesus' Son and his novel Tree of Smoke , which won the National Book Award. He also writes plays, poetry and non-fiction.- Biography :...

.

It was published in 1992 to great critical acclaim and continues to influence many contemporary writers. It is often cited as an example of the "Dirty Realist" style of American literary fiction.

Subject Matter

The book takes its title from the Velvet Underground song "Heroin," and concerns the exploits of several desperate characters living in rural America, as they engage in drug use, petty crime and even murder, presumably in the late twentieth century. The stories are linked by shared locations (such as a dive bar in small-town Iowa

Iowa

Iowa is a state located in the Midwestern United States, an area often referred to as the "American Heartland". It derives its name from the Ioway people, one of the many American Indian tribes that occupied the state at the time of European exploration. Iowa was a part of the French colony of New...

) and repeated imagery. They are all narrated by troubled young men, who may in fact be a single troubled young man.

The book is famous for its seemingly chaotic narrative style, which mirrors the mental states of its troubled narrators. "Car Crash while Hitchhiking" features a mentally-addled narrator who claims to have extra sensory perception, which allows him to experience in the present a deadly car crash that won't happen until much later in the narrative. Despite his foreknowledge, he enters the car he claims to know will inevitably crash. "Emergency" is narrated from the perspective of a hospital janitor driving around under the influence of hallucinogens as he kills several baby rabbits and helps to save a man who's been stabbed in the eye by his wife. The book ends on a more hopeful note as the final narrator enters a recovery program and begins to hold down a stable job.

Impact

Jesus' Son was Johnson's first published short story collection, and it brought him a great deal of attention. He would later win the National Book Award

National Book Award

The National Book Awards are a set of American literary awards. Started in 1950, the Awards are presented annually to American authors for literature published in the current year. In 1989 the National Book Foundation, a nonprofit organization which now oversees and manages the National Book...

 for his Vietnam-era novel Tree of Smoke

Tree of Smoke

Tree of Smoke is a 2007 novel by American author Denis Johnson which won the National Book Award for fiction and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. It is about a man named Skip Sands who joins the CIA in 1965, and begins working in Vietnam during the American involvement there. The time frame...

. Jesus' Son is often cited as an influential example of the Dirty Realist style of fiction created by Raymond Carver

Raymond Carver

Raymond Clevie Carver, Jr. was an American short story writer and poet. Carver is considered a major American writer of the late 20th century and also a major force in the revitalization of the short story in the 1980s....

 and others, a type of writing that proliferated in American fiction writing programs at the turn of the millennium.

Film adaptation

In 1999, the book was adapted into a film of the same name starring Billy Crudup

Billy Crudup

William Gaither "Billy" Crudup is an American actor of film and stage. He is well known for his roles as guitarist Russell Hammond in Almost Famous, Will Bloom in Big Fish, and Ashitaka in Princess Mononoke. He also starred in the 2007 romantic comedy film Dedication, alongside Mandy Moore...

, Samantha Morton

Samantha Morton

Samantha Jane Morton is an English actress and film director. She began her performing career with guest roles in television shows such as Soldier Soldier and Boon before making her film debut in the 1997 drama film This Is the Sea, playing the character of Hazel Stokes...

, Denis Leary

Denis Leary

Denis Colin Leary is an Irish-American actor, comedian, writer and director. Leary is known for his biting, fast paced comedic style and chain smoking...

, Jack Black

Jack Black

Jack Black , is an American actor and musician, notably of Tenacious D.Jack Black may also refer to:* Jack Black , late 19th - early 20th Century author and hobo* Jack Black , drummer for 1970s UK punk band The Boys...

, Dennis Hopper

Dennis Hopper

Dennis Lee Hopper was an American actor, filmmaker and artist. As a young man, Hopper became interested in acting and eventually became a student of the Actors' Studio. He made his first television appearance in 1954 and appeared in two films featuring James Dean, Rebel Without a Cause and Giant...

 and Holly Hunter

Holly Hunter

Holly Hunter is an American actress. Hunter starred in The Piano for which she won the Academy Award for Best Actress. She has also been nominated for Oscars for her roles in Broadcast News, The Firm, and Thirteen...

. It was directed by Allison Maclean

Allison MacLean

Allison MacLean was a Canadian ice dancer. Her partner was Konrad Schaub. The two began skating together in 1981. They worked their way up the Canadian categories from Juvenile to Senior. In 1988, they represented Canada at Junior Worlds in Brisbane, Australia, finishing 4th...

and was received well by critics. It represents a rare attempt at turning a collection of short stories into a single, feature-length film. Johnson appears in the film briefly, playing the role of a man stabbed in the eye by his wife.

List of short stories included in "Jesus' Son:"

• "Car Crash While Hitchhiking"
• "Two Men"
• "Out on Bail"
• "Dundun"
• "Work"
• "Emergency"
• "Dirty Wedding"
• "The Other Man"
• "Happy Hour"
• "Steady Hands at Seattle General"
• "Beverly Home"