Soul of a Whore and Purvis

Denis Johnson has always relied on the perverse trajectory of American life to create stories teeming with vagrants, vagabonds, and wanderers. Less than a year after his 2002 novella Train Dreams found a new home in publishing and was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize, Johnson has delivered his latest contribution to the literary landscape, Soul of a Whore and Purvis, two plays written in verse. Johnson is no stranger to experimenting with language and metaphors written for the stage, however, both Soul of a Whore and Purvis resonate a newfound sense of elegance in his dialogue and linguistic manipulation.

Soul of a Whore, which is strikingly reminiscent of Johnson's fiction, follows the life of Bill Jenks, a corrupt preacher with the ability to expel and bargain with demons. Jenks' mysterious powers are eventually called upon to help save the life of Bess Cassandra, a prisoner awaiting execution for the murder of her daughter. The play details the classic Johnsonian themes of hell and God's role in the lives of anti-heroes, and it is up to Johnson's tarnished characters to preserve whatever morals and beliefs they have in the face of evil. Throughout the supernatural chaos runs a searing debate about capital punishment and the fine line that exists between reality and hellish nightmares.

Purvis, which is much less dramatic than Soul of a Whore, but perhaps more commanding in its playful dialogue, follows the rise and fall of real life FBI agent Melvin Purvis, in a non-linear pattern, from his controversial death in 1960, to his relations with J. Edgar Hoover, to the beginning of his pursuit of John Dillinger and other infamous gangsters in the early 1930's. Johnson's historical figures overflow with life and through them Johnson is not afraid to explore the warped morality behind Purvis' violent execution of America's most wanted public enemies, as well as the penetrating question of suicide or accident that is associated with his death.

In each play Johnson writes in blank verse and relies on heavy dialogue that is rich in metaphorical grandeur and impassioned honesty, once again shedding a harrowing light on the lives of violent, dispossessed characters.