{{Short description|Irish writer (1901–1984)}} {{About|the Irish writer|the American writer|Denis Johnson|those of a similar name|Dennis Johnson (disambiguation)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=June 2024}} {{Infobox writer |image = File:Denis_Johnston_68_adjusted.jpg |caption = Johnston in 1968 |birth_date = 18 June 1901 |death_date = {{death date and age|1984|8|8|1901|6|18|df=y}} |genre = {{hlist|Plays|[[war correspondence]]|literary criticism}} }} '''(William) Denis Johnston''' (18 June 1901 – 8 August 1984) was an [[Irish people|Irish]] writer. Born in [[Dublin]], he wrote mostly plays, but also works of literary criticism, a book-length biographical essay of [[Jonathan Swift]], a memoir and an eccentric work on cosmology and philosophy. He also worked as a [[war correspondent]], and as both a radio and television producer for the [[British Broadcasting Corporation|BBC]]. His first play, ''The Old Lady Says "No!"'', helped establish the worldwide reputation of the Dublin [[Gate Theatre]]; his second, ''The Moon in the Yellow River'', has been performed around the globe in numerous productions featuring such storied names as [[James Mason]], [[Jack Hawkins]], [[Claude Rains]], [[Barry Fitzgerald]], [[James Coco]] and [[Errol Flynn]]. Later plays dealt with the life of Swift, the [[Easter Rising]] of 1916, the pursuit of justice, and the fear of death. He wrote two opera libretti and a pageant.
== Early life == Johnston was the only child of [[William John Johnston]] from [[Magherafelt]], a barrister (later an Irish Supreme Court judge), and his wife, Kathleen (née King), a teacher and singer from Belfast.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Gageby |first=Patrick |date=2009 |title=Johnston, William John |url=https://www.dib.ie/biography/johnston-william-john-a9811 |access-date=2022-10-17 |website=Dictionary of Irish Biography |language=en}}</ref> They were [[Presbyterianism|Presbyterians]] and liberal [[Irish Home Rule movement|home rulers]].<ref name=":1">{{Cite book |last=Johnston |first=Jenifer |title=Culture in Ireland: Division or Diversity |publisher=The Institute of Irish Studies, Queens University Belfast |year=1991 |isbn=0853894132 |editor-last=Longley |editor-first=Edna |pages=(10-18) 11-12 |chapter=Keynote Addresses and Discussion: Jennifer Johnston}}</ref> Johnston was to see the family home in Dublin occupied by rebels during the 1916 Easter Rising.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last=Maume |first=Patrick |date=2009 |title=Johnston, (William) Denis |url=https://www.dib.ie/biography/johnston-william-denis-a4313 |access-date=2022-10-17 |website=Dictionary of Irish Biography |language=en}}</ref>
Johnston was educated at [[St Andrew's College, Dublin]] (1908–15, 1917–19), and [[Merchiston Castle School|Merchiston Castle School, Edinburgh]] (1915–16). In 1918, he attempted to join [[Sinn Féin]], offering to supply the party with weapons taken from his [[Officers' Training Corps|Officer Training Corps]]. In 1922, while reading history and law at [[Christ's College, Cambridge]] (1919–23) he tried to enlist in the [[Irish Civil War|civil-war]] [[National Army (Ireland)|Free State army]]. His time at Cambridge was a success: in addition to graduating with [[Master of Arts (Oxford, Cambridge and Dublin)|MA (Cantab.)]] and [[Master of Laws|LLM]] degrees, he was also elected President of the [[Cambridge Union]] in 1921. He went on to study at the [[Harvard Law School]] (1923–4) and entered [[King's Inns|King's Inns (Dublin)]] and the [[Inner Temple|Inner Temple (London)]].<ref name=":0" />
In London, developing his interest in the theatre, Johnston abandoned plans for a legal and political career.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" />
==Career== Johnston was a protégé of [[Yeats]] and [[George Bernard Shaw|Shaw]], and had a stormy friendship with [[Seán O'Casey]]. He was a pioneer of television and war reporting. He worked as a lawyer in the 1920s and '30s before joining the BBC as a writer and producer, first in radio and then in the fledgling television service. His broadcast dramatic work included both original plays and adaptations of the work of many different writers.
"Passionate in his radical scepticism and loathing of what he saw as the pernicious influence of the Roman Catholic Church",<ref>{{Cite web |last=O'Kelly |first=Emer |date=2002 |title=A life twice lived but only half-covered |url=https://www.independent.ie/woman/celeb-news/a-life-twice-lived-but-only-half-covered-26239289.html |access-date=2022-10-17 |website=independent |language=en}}</ref> at the end of 1933, Johnston joined the trade unionist [[John Swift (trade unionist)|John Swift]], the Dublin novelist [[Mary Manning (writer)|Mary Manning]], and fellow northerner, the socialist [[Jack White (trade unionist)|Jack White]], in forming The Secular Society of Ireland.<ref name=":7">{{Cite web |last=Donal |date=2015-11-30 |title=The Secular Society of Ireland: Divorce, Birth Control and other tricky issues in 1930s Dublin. |url=https://comeheretome.com/2015/11/30/the-secular-society-of-ireland-divorce-birth-control-and-other-tricky-issues-in-1930s-dublin/ |access-date=2022-10-17 |website=Come Here To Me! |language=en}}</ref> "Convinced that clerical domination in the community is harmful to advance", the society sought "to establish in this country complete freedom of thought, speech and publication, liberty for mind, in the widest toleration compatible with orderly progress and rational conduct". Among other things it aimed to terminate ”the clerically-dictated ban on divorce”, “the Censorship of Publications Act” and “the system of clerical management, and consequent sectarian teaching, in schools.”<ref name=":8">{{Cite news |date=17 January 1934 |title=Anti-Clerical Organise: Stated Aims of New Dublin Society |work=Irish Press |url=https://comeheretome.com/2015/11/30/the-secular-society-of-ireland-divorce-birth-control-and-other-tricky-issues-in-1930s-dublin/ |access-date=17 October 2022}}</ref>
This was at a time of heightened clerical militancy and as soon the meeting place of the Society (from which it distributed the British journal ''[[The Freethinker (journal)|The Freethinker]]'') was exposed, it had to shift to private houses outside of Dublin. In 1936 Johnson and the other members wound the society up and donated the proceeds to the government of the beleaguered [[Second Spanish Republic|Spanish Republic]].<ref name=":7" /> Johnston had become a recognised man of the left: in 1930 he had joined the Irish Friends of [[Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic|Soviet Russia]], and though never a [[Communist Party of Ireland|party member]], until as late as the 1950s he professed faith in a communist future.<ref name=":0" />
During the [[Second World War]] he served as a BBC war correspondent, reporting from [[El Alamein]], through the [[Italian campaign (World War II)|Italian campaign]],<ref>{{Cite web |title=WAR CORRESPONDENTS IN ITALY, 1944-1945 |url=https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205259814 |access-date=2022-10-17 |website=Imperial War Museums |language=en}}</ref> to [[Buchenwald]] and Hitler's [[Berghof (residence)|Berghof]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=VE Day: Denis Johnston reports from Bavaria |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/videos/c2lele0gpljo |access-date=2022-10-17 |website=BBC Archive |language=en}}</ref> For this he was awarded an [[Order of the British Empire|OBE]], a [[Mentioned in Despatches|Mention in Despatches]], and the Yugoslav Partisans Medal. He then became Director of Programmes for the television service.
Johnston later moved to the United States and taught at [[Mount Holyoke College]], [[Smith College]] and other universities. He kept extensive diaries throughout his life, now deposited in the [[Trinity College Library, Dublin|Library]] of [[Trinity College Dublin]], and these together with his many articles and essays give a distinctive picture of his times and the people he knew. Another archive of his work is held at the library of [[Ulster University at Coleraine]]. He received honorary degrees from the [[University of Ulster]] and [[Mount Holyoke College]] and was a member of [[Aosdána]].
Denis and actress [[Shelah Richards]] were the parents of [[Jennifer Johnston (novelist)|Jennifer Johnston]], a respected novelist and playwright, and a son, Micheal.<ref>{{cite web|author= |url=https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/books/a-shaper-of-sophisticated-stories-1.1266817 |title=A shaper of sophisticated stories |publisher=Irishtimes.com |date=2010-01-09 |accessdate=2016-07-16}}</ref> His second wife was the actress [[Betty Chancellor]], with whom he had two sons, Jeremy and Rory.<ref name="Clarke">{{cite book |last1=Clarke|first1=Frances|editor1-last=McGuire |editor1-first=James |editor2-last=Quinn |editor2-first=James |title=Dictionary of Irish Biography |date=2009 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Cambridge |chapter=Chancellor, (Lilias) Betty}}</ref>
==Critical acclaim==
[[File:Denis_Johnston_1930.jpg|thumb|right|Denis Johnston c. 1930]] [[Hilton Edwards]], who first directed ''The Old Lady Says "No!"'', said that the script "read like a railway guide and played like ''Tristan and Isolde''."<ref>Ronsley, Joseph, ed., ''Denis Johnston: a retrospective.'' Irish Literary Studies No. 8, Colin Smythe, Barnes & Noble Books, 1981, p. 5</ref>
Reviewing ''The Moon in the Yellow River'' in ''[[The New York Times]]'', [[Brooks Atkinson]] wrote "Mr Johnston does not explain; he irradiates."<ref>{{cite news |work=The New York Times |title=The Moon in the Yellow River |date=13 March 1932 |page=sec. 8 p.1}}</ref> Set in 1927 during an attempt by the [[Irish Republican Army|IRA]] to destroy an [[Irish Free State]] government power plant, a later ''New York Times'' review of the play's 1961 revival noted an "exhilaratingly mad, comic strain.".<ref>Howard Taubman, "The Theatre: Irish Irony; Johnston's 'Moon in the Yellow River' Revived." ''New York Times.'' February 7, 1961</ref> But acclaim was not universal. Irish writer and broadcaster (and later member of the [[Seanad Éireann|Irish Senate]]) [[Denis Ireland]] remarked that the play's success in London was "natural enough" for "it fulfils the first law of [[Anglo-Irish]] literature: it makes the native Irish appear a race of congenital idiots."<ref>Denis Ireland (1936) ''From the Irish Shore: Notes on My Life and Times'' (London Rich & Cowan). p. 209</ref>
Johnston's war memoir ''Nine Rivers from Jordan'' reached The ''New York Times''<nowiki>'</nowiki> Best Seller list and was cited in the ''[[World Book Encyclopedia]]'''s 1950s article on World War II under "Books to Read", along with Churchill, Eisenhower et al.<ref>World Book Encyclopedia, Field Enterprises Educational Corporation, 1959, Vol. 18 p. 8927</ref> Joseph Ronsley cites an unnamed former CBS Viet Nam correspondent who called the book the "Bible", carrying it with him constantly, "reading it over and over in the field during his tour of duty."<ref>Ronsley op. cit., p. vii</ref>
In a profile in the ''[[The New Yorker|New Yorker]]'' in 1938, [[Clifford Odets]] is quoted as saying that the only playwrights he admired were [[John Howard Lawson]], Sean O’Casey, and Denis Johnston.<ref>New Yorker Jan. 22 1938 p. 27</ref>
Johnston's tribute to Dublin, "Strumpet city in the sunset," from the closing speech of ''The Old Lady says "No!"'', has achieved its own fame. [[James Plunkett]] titled his epic novel of Dublin before the First World War ''[[Strumpet City]]''. A travel guide written by Harvard students in introducing Dublin made a classic misattribution: "James Joyce loved his 'Strumpet city in the sunset'".<ref>''Let’s Go Britain and Ireland''. E.P. Dutton 1978</ref>
The Denis Johnston Playwriting Prize is awarded annually by [[Smith College]] Department of Theatre for the best play, screenplay or musical written by an undergraduate at Smith, Mount Holyoke, Amherst and Hampshire Colleges and the University of Massachusetts Amherst. The prize was endowed by his former student at Smith, [[Carol Sobieski]].
==Works==
'''Stage plays'''
Synopses of the plays can be found at [https://www.irishplayography.com/search-simple.aspx?playtitle=&authorfirstnames=Denis&authorsurname=Johnston&includeirishlanguage=true Denis Johnston] on ''Irish Playography''. *''The Old Lady Says "No!"'' (1929) *''The Moon in the Yellow River'' (1931) *''A Bride for the Unicorn'' (1933) *''Storm Song'' (1934) *''Blind Man's Buff'' (1936) (with [[Ernst Toller]]) *''The Golden Cuckoo'' (1939) *''The Dreaming Dust'' (1940) *''A Fourth for Bridge'' (1948) *'' 'Strange Occurrence on Ireland's Eye' '' (1956) *''Tain Bo Cuailgne – Pageant of Cuchulainn'' (1956) *''The Scythe and the Sunset'' (1958)
'''Biography''' *''In Search of Swift'' (1959) *''John Millington Synge'' (Columbia University Press 1965)
'''Autobiography''' *''Nine Rivers from Jordan'' (1953) *''Orders and Desecrations'' (1992) (ed. Rory Johnston)
'''Non-fiction''' *''The Brazen Horn'' (1976)
'''Opera libretti''' *''[[Six Characters in Search of an Author (opera)|Six Characters in Search of an Author]]'' (1957) [[File:Marlene Denis Johnston.jpg|thumb|300px|Denis Johnston from ''The True Story of Lili Marlene'']] *''[[Nine Rivers from Jordan]]'' (1968)
'''Adaptations for the stage''' *''Six Characters in Search of an Author'' (1950) (translation from [[Luigi Pirandello|Pirandello]]) *''Finnegans Wake'' (1959) (from [[James Joyce|Joyce]])
'''Films''' *''[[Guests of the Nation]]'' (1935) (director) *''[[Riders to the Sea]]'' (1935) (acted the part of Michael) *''[[Ourselves Alone (film)|Ourselves Alone]]'' (1936) *''The True Story of Lilli Marlene'' (1944)
==Bibliography== *Adams, Bernard. ''Denis Johnston: A Life''. Lilliput Press, 2002. *Barnett, Gene A. ''Denis Johnston''. Twayne's English Authors Series No. 230. G.K. Hall & Co., 1978. *Ferrar, Harold. ''Denis Johnston's Irish Theatre''. Dolmen Press, 1973. *Igoe, Vivien. ''A Literary Guide to Dublin''. Methuen, 1994. *Johnston, Denis. ''The Dramatic Works of Denis Johnston'' (3 vols.). Colin Smythe, 1979. *Ronsley, Joseph, ed., ''Denis Johnston: a retrospective.'' Irish Literary Studies No. 8, Colin Smythe, Barnes & Noble Books, 1981.
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== * [https://www.tcd.ie/library/research-collections/named-collections/j.php#Johnston The Johnston Collection] at the [[Library of Trinity College Dublin]] * [https://voyager.library.uvic.ca/vwebv/holdingsInfo?bibId=2018197 Denis Johnston fonds] at University of Victoria, Special Collections * {{IMDb name|id=0426601}} Includes details on the plays broadcast on TV and production photos. * [https://web.archive.org/web/20091004162946/http://www.irishwriters-online.com/denisjohnston.html Denis Johnston at Irish Writers Online] * [https://www.irishplayography.com/search-simple.aspx?playtitle=&authorfirstnames=Denis&authorsurname=Johnston&includeirishlanguage=true Denis Johnston] on ''Irish Playography'' * [http://www.ricorso.net/rx/az-data/authors/j/Johnston_D/life.htm Biography] on ''Ricorso'' * Denis Johnston in ''Dictionary of Irish Biography'' [https://www.dib.ie/biography/johnston-william-denis-a4313]
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Johnston, Denis}} [[Category:1901 births]] [[Category:1984 deaths]] [[Category:20th-century Irish dramatists and playwrights]] [[Category:20th-century Irish male writers]] [[Category:20th-century Irish biographers]] [[Category:20th-century Irish memoirists]] [[Category:Irish male dramatists and playwrights]] [[Category:Irish emigrants to the United States]] [[Category:Smith College faculty]] [[Category:Mount Holyoke College faculty]] [[Category:Officers of the Order of the British Empire]] [[Category:Burials at St Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin]] [[Category:People educated at Merchiston Castle School]] [[Category:People educated at St Andrew's College, Dublin]] [[Category:Alumni of Christ's College, Cambridge]] [[Category:American opera librettists]] [[Category:Aosdána members]] [[Category:People from Donnybrook, Dublin]] [[Category:Irish war correspondents]]