Denis Johnson Archives - The Vintage Contemporaries Bibliography

Denis Johnson – The Stars at Noon (1988)

Bibliographical Description

88.01.W043: Johnson – The Stars at Noon

96 leaves, pp. [8] 1–4 5-19 20–22 23-61 62–64 65-77 78–80 81-97 98–102 103-181 [3] [only odd-numbered pages numbered from 5-19, 23-61, 65-77, 81-97, 103-181]

First Vintage Contemporaries Edition, January 1988

Contents: π1a author photo with blurbs, π1b ‘ALSO BY DENIS JOHNSON’, π2a half-title, π2b blank, π3a title, π3b imprint, π4a epigraph, π4b blank, 1-181 The Stars At Noon: 1-98 ‘ONE’, 99-181 ‘TWO’; χ1b about the author, χ2a Vintage Contemporaries order form, χ2b Vintage Contemporaries list.

Cover design by Lorraine Louie; cover illustration by Rick Lovell; interior author photo by Jerry Bauer.

Copies: JDP 1.1

Blurbs

(front cover) A daring novel…Denis Johnson is one of our most inventive, unpredictable novelists. – The New York Times Book Review
Set in Nicaragua in 1984, The Stars at Noon is a story of passion, fear, and betrayal told in the voice of an American woman whose mission in Central America is as shadowy as her surroundings. Is she a reporter for an American magazine, as she sometimes claims, or a contact person for Eyes for Peace? And who is the rough English businessman with whom she becomes involved? As the two foreigners become entangled in increasingly sinister plots, Denis Johnson masterfully dramatizes a powerful vision of spiritual bereavement and corruption.
Ambitious and haunting…It is as if one is reading a Graham Greene novel through a surreal haze….Johnson’s prose conjures up a world that is as tangible as it is magical. He is an utterly brilliant and original talent—a novelist who reminds us just how wonderful fiction can be when a writer with enormous gifts and intelligence takes large risks. – Philadelphia Inquirer
Denis Johnson is uncommonly adept at capturing the anguished futility of people to escape from their own worst enemy—themselves….His prose can only serve to bolster his reputation as a first-rate stylist. – Baltimore Sun
A powerful tale…Johnson reminds us that political ideals have little to do with the shifting alliances and rhetoric by which we define our allies and enemies. – San Francisco Chronicle

Denis Johnson – Fiskadoro (1986)

Bibliographical Description

86.04.W020: Johnson – Fiskadoro

First Vintage Books Edition, April 1986

120 leaves, pp. [10] 1–4 5-113 114–116 117-155 156–158 159-221 [9] [only odd-numbered pages numbered from 5-113, 117-155, 159-221]

Contents: π1a blurbs and author photo, π1b “ALSO BY DENIS JOHNSON”, π2a title, π2b imprint, π3a dedication, π3b blank, π4a epigraph, π4b blanks, π5a acknowledgments, π5b blank, 1 fly-title, 2 blank, 3-221 Fiskadoro, χ1b blank, χ2a about the author, χ2b blank, χ3a Vintage Contemporaries order form, χ3b Vintage Contemporaries list, χ4a blank, χ4b blank, χ5a blank, χ5b blank.

Cover design by Lorraine Louie; cover illustration by Rick Lovell; interior author photo by Vincent McGroary.

Copies: JDP 1.1 (presumed)

Blurbs

(front cover) A leap of the imagination…stunningly delivered. – front page, The Los Angeles Times Book Review
A mythical story…a coming-of-nuclear-age tale, the making of a new man from the ashes of the old world…a key to the conundrum at the center of the world. – The Philadelphia Inquirer
A marvelous book, beautifully written and constantly entertaining…With it Johnson firmly establishes his place as one of our very best contemporary writers. He is a wonderful storyteller, and if at times Fiskadoro seems a mixture of Samuel Beckett, Phillip K. Dick and Road Warrior, that is only to his credit. – The Washington Post
Haunting…an eerie and powerful visionary novel. – The Boston Globe
Wildly ambitious…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 Waste Land, ‘ 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….Its strange, hallucinatory vision of America and modern history is never less than compelling. – The New York Times
Johnson, a poet and the author of an earlier novel, Angels, is a compelling storyteller who makes his nightmare scenario rich and sensuous, frightening and then grimly hopeful. – People