Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley door pickup 10am - 7pm 3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
612-822-4611

  • Open Daily: 10am - 10pm
    Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm

    3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
    612-822-4611

Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm
3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
612-822-4611
Soul of a Whore and Purvis: Two Plays in Verse

Soul of a Whore and Purvis: Two Plays in Verse

Johnson, Denis

Paperback

Plays

Publisher Price: $21.00

ISBN10: 0374277966
ISBN13: 9780374277963
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Published: Jun 5 2012
Pages: 240
Weight: 0.46
Height: 0.66 Width: 5.56 Depth: 8.26
Language: English

Two plays--hilarious and searing in equal measure--by one of our most essential and original authors

In his poetry, short stories, novels, and plays, the National Book Award-winning author Denis Johnson has explored the story of America--especially of the West, land of self-made men and self-perpetuating myths--with searing honesty and genuine sympathy. These two plays, written in verse at once hypnotic and clear, confirm his position as one of our great verbal stylists and a literary conscience for our times.

In Soul of a Whore, a lively cast of characters--faith healers, pimps, strippers, actual demons--converge, with unexpected hilarity, as Bess Cassandra awaits execution for the murder of her infant daughter. Purvis's seven reverse-chronological scenes catalog the fall and rise of Melvin Purvis, the G-man who brought down John Dillinger and Charles Arthur Pretty Boy Floyd. Johnson takes us from Washington's back rooms to a Midwestern cornfield, dramatizing the seductive allure of power and our own human capacity for both pettiness and grace.

In these furiously entertaining, occasionally terrifying works, Johnson chronicles and questions America's myths, heroes, and everyday realities with verve and elegance, revealing himself once again to be at the height of his linguistic and insightful powers.

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