W's review
Tree of Smoke: A Novel by Denis Johnson
First of all, TREE OF SMOKE is to JESUS' SON as DUBLINERS is to ULYSSES. Compare a writer messing around with his experience and craft and an author who has come under the full blown power of his pen. One can also say TREE OF SMOKE is about Vietnam in the same way MOBY DICK is about whaling. I will wait until a second reading, but we may have our first great American novel since Faulkner and, in a certain sense, Dreiser.
“Tree of Smoke” is a more literal translation of the Hebrew be’ayammu, more frequently translated as “column” or “pillar”: e.g., “a pillar of fire by day, and a pillar of fire by night,” or a column of cloud by day and a column of fire by night (Exodus 13:21). It appears after Moses leads his ‘ibri (Hebrews, the marginal) through the sea and out of the slavery of Egypt. It leads them through their forty years of wandering the desert. Some scripture scholars speculate that the pillar of fire/cloud was a volcano in the southern part of the Sinai,...more
“Tree of Smoke” is a more literal translation of the Hebrew be’ayammu, more frequently translated as “column” or “pillar”: e.g., “a pillar of fire by day, and a pillar of fire by night,” or a column of cloud by day and a column of fire by night (Exodus 13:21). It appears after Moses leads his ‘ibri (Hebrews, the marginal) through the sea and out of the slavery of Egypt. It leads them through their forty years of wandering the desert. Some scripture scholars speculate that the pillar of fire/cloud was a volcano in the southern part of the Sinai,...more
TREE OF SMOKE is to JESUS' SON as DUBLINERS is to ULYSSES - terrific way of relating Denis Johnson's acclaimed book of short stories to his acclaimed novel. Thank you for an insightful review.
