The Incognito Lounge

by Denis Johnson

Overview

Raymond Carver said of The Incognito Lounge, Denis Johnson’s third and most widely acclaimed book of verse: The subject matter is harrowingly convincing, is nothing less than a close examination of the darker side of human conduct. Why do we act this way? Johnson asks. How should we act? His best poems are examples of what the finest poetry can do: bring us closer to ourselves and at the same time put us in touch with something larger.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780887484735
Publisher:	Carnegie-Mellon University Press
Publication date:	01/01/2007
Series:	Carnegie Mellon Classic Contemporary Series: Poetry
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	80
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 9.25(h) x 0.40(d)

About the Author

The Incognito Lounge was DENIS JOHNSON's third published book of verse. His poems have been collected in the Throne of the Third Heaven of the Nations Millenium General Assembly. He is also the author of novels and collections of essays, short stories, and plays. Among his many awards are fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Fund, The Whiting Foundation, and the Lannan Foundation.

Table of Contents

ONE The Incognito Lounge • White, White Collars • Enough • Night • Heat • The Boarding • The Song • The White Fires of Venus TWO Nude • Vespers • The Story • Surreptitious Kissing • From a Berkeley Notebook • On the Olympic Peninsula • A Woman • Now THREE Ten Months After Turning Thirty • In a Light of Other Lives • For Jane • Sway • The Circle • The Woman in the Moon • The Flames FOUR Minutes • The Coming of Age • You • Poem • Radio • Tomorrow • The Confession of St. Jim-Ralph • Passengers

What People are Saying About This

Raymond Carver

"Denis Johnson's poems are driven by a ravening desire to make sense out of the life lived. The subject matter is harrowingly convincing, is nothing less than a close examination of the darker side of human conduct. why do we act this way? Johnson asks. How should we act? The best poems from The Incognito Lounge are examples of what the finest poetry can do—bring us closer to ourselves and at the same time put us in touch with something larger. I'm unabashedly reminded of Whitman's remark about his own work—'Who touches this book touches a man.'"

David St. John

"In this marvelous, troubling book, Denis Johnson speaks-with passion and wit-for every hushed or broken voice in America's cities of night. These are searing, unforgettable poems."