Nelson Algren: A Collection of Critical EssaysRobert Ward
Emanating from a 2000 symposium at Leeds University, this brief but useful collection offers materials that will help readers reevaluate the work of this 20th-century American novelist. Ward (St. Martin’s College, Lancaster, UK) includes essays on Algren and his time and essays that apply literary theory judiciously; in the latter category are Stephen Hardman’s “A World of Ruins: Nelson Algren and Walter Benjamin’s Destructive Character” and Philip McGowan’s “Nelson Algren and Carnival in 1930s America.” Especially interesting is Bill Savage’s look at Algren and the paperback revolution. Those wishing to pursue archival research will appreciate Elva Griffith’s survey of the manuscript material available at the Ohio State University Libraries. The book includes an index of names (not of Algren’s titles) but no bibliography, so readers will have to glean significant references from the notes. The book may not convert anyone to Algren’s fiction, but it gives him a due as an important proletarian and realist. Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty.
B. Almon, University of Alberta
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