{"product_id":"shoppers-two-plays-by-denis-johnson-9780060934408","title":"Shoppers: Two Plays by Denis Johnson","description":"\u003cp\u003e\"Perfection is not the basis of what I'm talking about,\" says a member of the Cassandra family, which forms the center of Denis Johnson's plays, \u003cem\u003eHellhound on My Trail and Shoppers Carried by Escalators Into the Flames\u003c\/em\u003e. The character could be speaking for his creator, because human imperfection is one of Denis Johnson's specialties -- in his critically acclaimed novels, short stories, and nonfiction, and, now, in two brilliant new plays.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThese two works present a dramatized field guide to some of the more dysfunctional and dysphoric inhabitants of the American West: a sexual-misconduct investigator who misconducts herself sexually; a renegade Jehovah's Witness who supports his splinter Jehovean group by dealing drugs; the Cassandra Brothers and their father and their grandmother, thrown together at a family reunion\/wedding\/melee at their shabby homestead in Ukiah, California.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWhen \u003cem\u003eShoppers Carried by Escalators Into the Flames \u003c\/em\u003ewas performed in San Francisco in 2001, the \u003cem\u003eChronicle \u003c\/em\u003esaid, \"There's an enormous appeal in Johnson's bleak-comic vision of a semi-mythic American West.\" That appeal derives from the author's perfect vision of imperfection, embodied with such energy and courage in these marvelous pieces of theatre.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eJohnson, Denis:\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e - Denis Johnson is the author of \u003cem\u003eThe Name of the World, Already Dead, Jesus' Son, Resuscitation of a Hanged Man, Fiskadoro, The Stars at Noon, \u003c\/em\u003e and \u003cem\u003eAngels.\u003c\/em\u003e His poetry has been collected in the volume \u003cem\u003eThe Throne of the Third Heaven of the Nations Millennium General Assembly.\u003c\/em\u003e He is the recipient of a Lannan Fellowship and a Whiting Writer's Award, among many other honors for his work. He lives in northern Idaho.","brand":"Harper Perennial","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51635290374418,"sku":"9780060934408","price":11.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_c26caa04-e549-4e91-90d2-3ea5d13c9006.jpg?v=1759228246","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/shoppers-two-plays-by-denis-johnson-9780060934408","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}