The Largesse of the Sea Maiden

The Largesse of the Sea Maiden: Stories is a 2018 short story collection by Denis Johnson. It was published posthumously on January 16, 2018 by Random House. It consists of five short stories, three of which were previously published in The New Yorker and Playboy. Johnson finished the collection a few weeks before his death in May 2017.[1]

The Largesse of the Sea Maiden: Stories

First edition cover
Author	Denis Johnson
Audio read by	Nick Offerman Michael Shannon Dermot Mulroney Will Patton Liev Schreiber
Cover artist	Debbie Glasserman
Country	United States
Language	English
Publisher	Random House
Publication date	January 16, 2018
Media type	Print (hardcover and paperback)
Pages	224
ISBN	978-0-8129-8863-5
Dewey Decimal	813/.54
LC Class	PS3560.O3745 A6 2018

The book was a finalist for the 2018 National Book Critics Circle Award for Fiction.[2][3]

Contents

Title	Originally published in
"The Largesse of the Sea Maiden"	March 3, 2014 issue of The New Yorker[4]
"The Starlight on Idaho"	February 2007 issue of Playboy[5]
"Strangler Bob"	October 23, 2017 issue of The New Yorker[6]
"Triumph Over the Grave"
"Doppelgänger, Poltergeist"

Audiobook

For the audiobook, the five stories were individually read by five notable actors. "The Largesse of the Sea Maiden" is read by Nick Offerman, "The Starlight on Idaho" by Michael Shannon, "Strangler Bob" by Dermot Mulroney, "Triumph Over the Grave" by Will Patton, and "Doppelgänger, Poltergeist" by Liev Schreiber.[7][8]

Reception

At the review aggregator website Book Marks, which assigns individual ratings to book reviews from mainstream literary critics, the collection received a cumulative "Rave" rating based on 38 reviews: 31 "Rave" reviews, 6 "Positive" reviews, and 1 "Mixed" review.[9]

Publishers Weekly gave the collection a rave review, deeming it "an instant classic" and calling it "a masterpiece of deep humanity and astonishing prose."[10]

Maureen Corrigan of NPR praised the collection, singling out "The Largesse of the Sea Maiden" and "Doppelgänger, Poltergeist" as "out-of-this-world" and concluding that the collection "contains the kind of work every writer would like to go out on: fresh, profound and singular. It affirms literature's promise to believers, the gift of eternal voice."[11]

References

1. Smallwood, Christine (September 15, 2017). "What Do Artists' Final Works Say About Their Lives?". The New York Times. Retrieved October 13, 2019.
2. Schaub, Michael (January 22, 2019). "Zadie Smith, Rachel Kushner among nominees for 2019 National Book Critics Circle Awards". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved October 13, 2019.
3. van Koeverden, Jane (January 23, 2019). "Anna Burns, Rachel Kushner, Terrance Hayes up for National Book Critics Circle Awards". CBC. Retrieved October 13, 2019.
4. Johnson, Denis (February 23, 2014). "The Largesse of the Sea Maiden". The New Yorker. Retrieved October 13, 2019.
5. "Denis Johnson's New Novel to Be Serialized in Playboy". Poets & Writers. June 11, 2008. Retrieved October 13, 2019.
6. Johnson, Denis (October 16, 2017). "Strangler Bob". The New Yorker. Retrieved October 13, 2019.
7. "The Largesse of the Sea Maiden by Denis Johnson". Penguin Random House Audio. Retrieved October 13, 2019.
8. Canfield, David (January 2, 2018). "Listen to Nick Offerman beautifully read from Denis Johnson's final book". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved October 13, 2019.
9. "Inland". Book Marks. Retrieved May 7, 2020.
10. "Fiction Book Review: The Largesse of the Sea Maiden by Denis Johnson". Publishers Weekly. September 4, 2017. Retrieved October 13, 2019.
11. Corrigan, Maureen (January 9, 2018). "Posthumously Published 'Sea Maiden' Affirms Denis Johnson's Eternal Voice". NPR. Retrieved October 13, 2019.