dagblog - Comments for "Nelson Algren: The Great, Forgotten Progressive Writer That You Should Know"

Hi Colin--we have spent the

Michael Caplan — Wed, 09 Jan 2013 01:04:00 +0000

In reply to Nelson Algren: The Great, Forgotten Progressive Writer That You Should Know

Hi Colin--we have spent the last four years working on the ultimate (and so far, only) documentary on Nelson Algren and are excited to tell you that we will be finished by Fall of 2013. We hope you check us out and spread the word. Also, feel free to contact me via email if you want more information. The movie has been a labor of love, but well worth, as I know you understand. Algrenthemovie.com and Facebook.com/algrenthemovie.

It's funny, because Algren is

Michael Maiello — Sat, 05 Jan 2013 04:57:15 +0000

In reply to Very glad to hear you're

It's funny, because Algren is so deeply American... but this reminds me of Bertolt Brecht on Chicago. I don't have a passage to give you. It's more the mood of a production of The Resistable Rise of Arturo Ui that I saw once. You could also fit into that passage, of course, the rainy night of the first act of Glengarry Glen Ross. I know that some of the associations I've made in this thread are academically spurious. But this whole topic has made me think of a whole lot of things, especially about the written and dramatic arts and what they have meant and could mean now that so much had been disrupted.

Very glad to hear you're

Colin Asher — Sat, 05 Jan 2013 03:17:02 +0000

In reply to Thanks for sharing, Colin,

Very glad to hear you're enjoying City on the Make, it's a beautiful little book. It contains one of my favorite Algren passages:

By nights when the yellow salamanders of the EL bend all one way and the cold rain runs with the red-lit rain. By the way the city's million wires are burdened only by lightest snow; when chairs are stacked and glasses are turned and arc-lamps all are dimmed. By days when the wind bangs alley gates ajar and the sun goes by on the wind. By nights when the moon is an only child above the measured thunder of the cars, you may know Chicago's heart at last.

Thanks for sharing, Colin,

Michael Wolraich — Thu, 03 Jan 2013 19:46:49 +0000

In reply to Nelson Algren: The Great, Forgotten Progressive Writer That You Should Know

Thanks for sharing, Colin, and for making me aware of Algren. As I may have mentioned to you, I started reading Chicago: City on the Make aloud to my wife. Great stuff, and it works really well when read aloud.

If only...

Michael Maiello — Thu, 03 Jan 2013 18:41:39 +0000

In reply to I can see you doing elevator

If only...

I can see you doing elevator

PeraclesPlease — Thu, 03 Jan 2013 17:24:55 +0000

In reply to "The Day Of The Locust" was

I can see you doing elevator pitches at MGM...

"The Day Of The Locust" was

Michael Maiello — Thu, 03 Jan 2013 15:07:45 +0000

In reply to Haven't - some ideas for 2013

"The Day Of The Locust" was West's big Hoolywood novel. "Miss Lonelyhearts" is my favorite, though -- about a hardboiled guy who writes an advice column, it's bitterly funny.

I also think that people around here would love "A Cool Million," which is West's satiric send-up of Horatio Alger stories. It reads something like Voltaire as reinvisioned by the staff of Mad Magazine.

Haven't - some ideas for 2013

PeraclesPlease — Thu, 03 Jan 2013 14:25:04 +0000

In reply to Interesting. I know "The

Haven't - some ideas for 2013 reading, away from blogs & mass media anyone?

Two professions of frequent

Michael Maiello — Thu, 03 Jan 2013 13:26:01 +0000

In reply to There was something intensely

Two professions of frequent rejections and being misunderstood...

Yeah, a bit. Both were

Colin Asher — Thu, 03 Jan 2013 13:19:15 +0000

In reply to A bit like Jim Thompson -

Yeah, a bit. Both were considered literary figures in Europe, but thought of as pulp writers in the US (not for Algren's entire career, but certainly at the beginning). And they, obviously, shared some common thematic ground.