The Dark Secrets of Denis Johnson’s ‘Train Dreams’

 

 

"Yet, the details of Johnson’s life have been unusually hard to track down. He rarely spoke to reporters; was never profiled at length by a major magazine; never gave an interview to The Paris Review, which would be obligatory for a writer of his stature. He didn’t even show up to the ceremony to receive the 2007 National Book Award for “Tree of Smoke.” The writer Chris Offutt told me that he preferred it that way. “He had the idea of creating a legend about himself, and he would say that sometimes: ‘Keep the legend alive.’”"

read article by Wyatt Williams