Vietnam War novel wins US National Book Award

international | arts and media | news report Thursday November 22, 2007 19:03 by J.M. Potter janet.potter at gmail dot com

A recap of the 2007 US National Book Awards.

J.M. Potter

DUBLIN, November 22 -- Denis Johnson was given the 2007 National Book Award for fiction for his Vietnam war novel Tree of Smoke.

The novelist, playwright, and poet was heavily favored to win this year's award. Tree of Smoke is his eighth novel. It follows several intersecting stories of American and Vietnamese soldiers who are connected to a secret CIA operation code-named “Tree of Smoke.”

The other fiction finalists were Mischa Berlinski for his novel Fieldwork, Lydia Davis for her story collection Varieties of Disturbance, Joshua Ferris for his novel Then We Came to the End, and Jim Shepard for his story collection Like You'd Understand, Anyway. Both Ferris and Berlinski were nominated for first novels.

Johnson was unable to attend the black-tie ceremony held at the Marriott Marquis Hotel in New York City last Wednesday, November 14. His wife, Cindy Lee Johnson, accepted the award on his behalf and explained that he was on assignment in Iraq. She read a statement of thanks he had given her in an envelope marked “just in case.” In this statement, he wrote that he was “very sorry to miss this one chance to dress up in a tuxedo in front of so many representatives of the world of literature and say thank you.”

Johnson, 58, was born in Munich, Germany, and raised in Tokyo, Manila, and Washington. He has received many awards for his work, including a Lannan Fellowship in Fiction and a Whiting Writer’s Award. He has published several books, including Seek: Reports from the Edges of America and Beyond (2001), The Name of the World (2000), Already Dead: A California Gothic (1997), Jesus’ Son (1992), Resuscitation of a Hanged Man (1991), The Stars at Noon (1986), Fiskadoro (1985), and Angels (1983). His works of poetry include The Throne of the Third Heaven of the Nations Millennium General Assembly: Poems, Collected and New (1995), The Veil (1987), and The Incognito Lounge (1982). He has also written and produced several plays.

Johnson's work has been consistently praised by critics and fellow writers since the publication of his first novel in 1983. It wasn't until the 1992 publication of Jesus Son, a story collection based loosely on the years Johnson lost to drugs and alcohol, that he gained a broader public readership.

Brian Foley, events director at Brookline Booksmith in Brookline MA, said the day before the ceremony that he fully expected Johnson to win, calling Tree of Smoke “an encompassing life work.” The novel has been a critics' favorite since its September release. In his Washington Post Book World review, Bob Thompson wrote, “To write a fat novel about the Vietnam War nearly 35 years after it ended is an act of literary bravado. To do so as brilliantly as Denis Johnson has in Tree of Smoke is positively a miracle.”

The book has not appeared on any bestseller lists, as is common for literary fiction. Megan Sullivan, head book buyer at Harvard Book Store in Cambridge, MA, said the book had been selling well at her famously high-brow store. She reported that the sales of The Echo Maker by Richard Powers, winner of the fiction award last year, increased dramatically after the announcement.

Winners in other categories included New York Times reporter Tim Weiner, who won the non-fiction award for Legacy of Ashes: The History of the CIA. Long-time adult novelist Sherman Alexie won the young people's literature award for The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian. Robert Hass won the poetry award for Time and Materials.

The National Book Foundation also presented two honorary awards at the ceremony. Joan Didion, essayist and winner of the non-fiction award in 2005 for The Year of Magical Thinking, was given the Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters. Terry Gross, host and executive producer of National Public Radio's “Fresh Air,” a daily interview program, accepted the Literarian Award for Outstanding Service to the American Literary Community.

The National Book Awards have been given annually since 1950. In mid-October five finalists are chosen in each category by a panel of five writers who work in the genre. The panel meets on the morning of the awards ceremony to decide the winner. Winners receive $10,000 and a bronze statue.