With its depictions of the downtrodden prostitutes, and hustlers of Perdido Street in the old French Quarter of 1930s New Orleans, A Walk On The Wild Side has found a place in the imaginations of all the generations that have followed since. As Algren admitted, it "wasn't written until long after it had been walked...I found my way to the streets on the other side of the Southern Pacific station, where the big jukes were singing something called Walking The Wild Side of Life. I've stayed pretty much on that side of the curb ever since."
He continues: "The book asks why lost people sometimes develop into greater human beings than those who have never been lost in their whole lives. Why men who have suffered at the hands of other men are the natural believers in humanity, while those whose part has been simply to acquire, to take all and give nothing, are the most contemptuous of mankind."
Topic:
A Walk on the Wild Side, by Nelson Algren (1 of 16), Read 51
times, 1 File Attachment
Conf:
Reading List
From:
Dale Short dshort@bham.rr.com
Date:
Friday, February 15, 2002 12:12 PM
When some of you guys
reported problems finding a copy of A WALK ON THE WILD
SIDE, I was reminded of this section from the foreword in
my copy by Russell Banks (a fine piece of writing, which I'd
say is in itself almost worth the price of admission):
It shouldn't surprise me that Nelson Algren, clearly one of the
best novelists of his time, is not much read these days. It's
the "kill the messenger" syndrome, I suppose, for the news
that Algren's work brings us is not good news: if the world he
describes is at all like our own, then it's not morning in
America, and it hasn't been for a long, long time...
Which may be the reason we'd rather leave Algren unread on
the shelf, him and the writers he springs from: Theodore
Dreiser, Upton Sinclair, Frank Norris, Richard Wright,
Sherwood Anderson. We want to think them irrelevant,
because if they're not, if the truth they have to tell about
America still holds, then we're in deep trouble, friend, so we
better kill the messenger.
Having never read any Algren myself, I guess I was
expecting a sort of urban version of THE GRAPES OF
WRATH...spare, gritty, intense narratives about the
disenfranchised, told in traditional episodic form, i.e. scene
by scene.
What I found in WILD SIDE, though, absolutely blew my
mind. First and foremost, to me, the story is a VOICE. A
loud, boisterous, hilarious, outrageous, apocalyptic,
cynical, loving, and authentically American voice with such
power and control that I can't get enough distance to
dissect it technically and figure out how he does what he
does. It's less like a traditional narrative than a force of
nature, and, as Banks observes elsewhere in his foreword,
Algren is kin in some ways to Twain and Wright and Crane
in that regard.
To me, the style is somewhere between a Bunyan-esque
tall tale and a jazz or blues riff, and I'm especially struck by
his clear love and respect for the poor immigrants with
shady pasts who came over from the British isles (in other
words, my family), though he cuts them little slack for their
foibles and failures.
Anyway, to boil it down, I'm in love with this writer and this
book and look forward to hearing you folks' comments.
Onward!
>>Dale in Ala.
NALGREN.JPG (13KB)
Algren
Topic:
A Walk on the Wild Side, by Nelson Algren (2 of 16), Read 47
times
Conf:
Reading List
From:
R Bavetta rbavetta@prodigy.net
Date:
Friday, February 15, 2002 01:06 PM
I was expecting something like William Burroughs, not this
long, loopy, almost poetic panegyric to the underclass. At
times I was blown away. At times I wanted to put a plug in
his mouth. Enough already.
But what a reading experience. Amazing.
Ruth
"Writing is like prostitution. First you do it for the love of it,
then you do it for a few friends, then you do it for money."
Moliere
Topic:
A Walk on the Wild Side, by Nelson Algren (3 of 16), Read 46
times
Conf:
Reading List
From:
Candy Minx candyminx@hotmail.com
Date:
Friday, February 15, 2002 01:27 PM
I like that Dale, he is a force of nature. Banks says how
"theres a combination of layered and compressed
writing(a truly rare combination of virtues; writers usually
have one or the other)that reminds me of Eudora Welty
and William Kennedy at their best." I agree with him on
this. It is rare to find a writer with the expertise in this kind
of combination. Its like cooks, they are either bakers or
savoury-unusual that a cook can do both well. I think we
have seen a trend of the compressed in fiction/poetry for
so long...it is mind blowing to read a writer like Algren
today. He is everything that contemporary philosophy/and
product about writing has not offered.
******
First page:
"He's just a pore lonesome wife-left feller," the more
understanding said of Fitz Linkhorn, "losin' his old lady is
what crazed him.
"That man is so contrary," the less understanding said, "if
you throwed him in the river he'd float upstream."
For what had embittered him Fitz had no name. Yet he felt
that every daybreak duped him into waking and every
evening conned him into sleep. The feeling of having been
cheated-of having been cheated- that was it. Nobody
knew why or by whom.
But only that all was lost. Lost long ago, in some colder
country. Lost anew by the generations since. He kept
trying to wind his fingers about this feeling, at times like
an ancestral hunger; again like some secret wound. It was
there, if a man could get it out into the light, as palpable
as the blood in his veins. Someone just behind him kept
turning him against himself till his very strength was a
weakness. Weaker men, full of worldly follies, did better
than Linkhorn in the world. He saw with eyes enviously
slow-burning.
"I ain't a playin' the whore to no man," he would declare
himself, though no one had so charged him.
Six-foot-one of slack-muscled shambler, he came of a
shambling race. That gander-necked clan of which Calhoun
and Jackson sprang. Jesse James' and Jeff Davis' people.
Lincoln's people. Forest solitaries spare and swart, left
landless as ever in sandland and Hooverville now the time
of the forests had passed.
Whites called them "white trash" and Negroes
"po'buckra." Since the first rock had risen above the
moving waters there had been not a single prince in
Fitzbrian's branch of the Linkhorn clan.
Unremembered kings had talked them out of their crops in
that colder country. That country's crop were sea-sands
now. Sea-caves rolled the old kings' bones.
Yet each king, before he had gotten the hook, had been
careful to pass the responsibility for conning all Linkhorns
into trustworthy hands. Keep the troublemakers down
was the cry.
*******
That is the father of the protagonist in Walk On The Wild
Side, I laugh when I think of how p.o'd the Fitz sounds
even into the narrative...what kind of a son does he have?
Topic:
A Walk on the Wild Side, by Nelson Algren (4 of 16), Read 45
times
Conf:
Reading List
From:
Candy Minx candyminx@hotmail.com
Date:
Friday, February 15, 2002 01:30 PM
Ruth, I recommend reading at least a few pages of Algrens
Chicago:City on The Make. He was a rapper before there
were rappers...it is jive, rap, beat and sheer beauty and
hilarious poetry. He nails cops to husbands to the kid next
door...everybody's on the make baby. Algren definitely had
a pulse, and his finger on everybodys.
Topic:
A Walk on the Wild Side, by Nelson Algren (5 of 16), Read 47
times
Conf:
Reading List
From:
Steve Warbasse swarbasse@iowabar.org
Date:
Friday, February 15, 2002 04:09 PM
These comments have gotten me fired up for this read,
particularly yours, Dale, because you have never, ever
steered me wrong on a book when you are all bubbly over
it like this.
My copy didn't arrive today. Maybe tomorrow.
Steve
Topic:
A Walk on the Wild Side, by Nelson Algren (6 of 16), Read 44
times
Conf:
Reading List
From:
Candy Minx candyminx@hotmail.com
Date:
Friday, February 15, 2002 05:15 PM
You have no idea how surprised I am you haven't read this
book Steve, you're such a player I thought you have
memorized this one...I know you walk it though...
Topic:
A Walk on the Wild Side, by Nelson Algren (7 of 16), Read 49
times
Conf:
Reading List
From:
Sherry Keller shkell@starband.net
Date:
Friday, February 15, 2002 05:31 PM
I just about died laughing at the cawfee-man scene. If this
guy didn't write lyrics for blues songs, then he ought to
have.
Sherry
Topic:
A Walk on the Wild Side, by Nelson Algren (8 of 16), Read 33
times
Conf:
Reading List
From:
Dale Short dshort@bham.rr.com
Date:
Saturday, February 16, 2002 11:17 AM
Ruth: "Long, loopy, almost poetic panegyric to the
underclass" really nails it, I think. I believe the invoking of
poetry is very apt, because the last couple of days I've
been trying to connect in my brain why Algren reminds me
vaguely of Kerouac and I think the difference is the poetry,
or lack thereof. For my taste, Kerouac had the energy and
maybe the vision and certainly the, ah, cojones to do the
big-American-voice deal, but I could never connect with his
work emotionally because I think he had no ear for lyrical
language. (I'm making this up as I go, so I stand open to
being corrected.) Algren, grim as his subject sometimes is,
is awash in beautiful language, and I love it.
Candy: I, too, was struck by Banks mentioning Eudora
Welty and the combination of "layered" and "compressed"
writing. I have a general, instinctive idea what he's talking
about, and I'm hoping you guys can help make it more
specific for me. The book that comes first to my mind is
Welty's THE ROBBER BRIDEGROOM, which is another
tall-tale-on-amphetamines that I admire a great deal.
Sherry: Blues lyrics, for sure. There are whole sections of
this story that could easily take place inside a blues song.
Algren sure had a grasp of the genre, and a sense of
humor besides.
Steve: Well, thanks, buddy. I hope I can keep up my
winning average of recos with this one. I look forward to
hearing your reaction to WILD SIDE.
Dick, Robt, & Lynn: Hope you can join us for this outing.
I've gotta hunch it's gonna be a good one.
>>Dale in Ala.
Topic:
A Walk on the Wild Side, by Nelson Algren (9 of 16), Read 32
times
Conf:
Reading List
From:
Lynn Isvik washualum@yahoo.com
Date:
Saturday, February 16, 2002 11:59 AM
I plan to get cracking on this one today, barring
interruptions from the rest of life...
Lynn
Topic:
A Walk on the Wild Side, by Nelson Algren (10 of 16), Read
28 times
Conf:
Reading List
From:
Jane Niemeier jniemeie@hotmail.com
Date:
Saturday, February 16, 2002 10:16 PM
Dale and all,
As most of you, I grew up hearing stories of the GREAT
DEPRESSION from my parents. My father's father was a
tenant farmer during the 30's, and my mother wasn't much
better off. My parents talk about being poor, but they also
talk about the basic goodness of everyone during that
time. This novel seems like the story of the lowest of the
low. They cheat and hurt each other whenever possible.
These people are illiterate, crippled, maimed (some
physically, all emotionally). The final scene has some
overtones of Oedipus.
Sherry,
I loved the cawfee-man passage as well. That mosquito
sure did add to that "love" scene.
Jane
Topic:
A Walk on the Wild Side, by Nelson Algren (11 of 16), Read
23 times
Conf:
Reading List
From:
Dale Short dshort@bham.rr.com
Date:
Sunday, February 17, 2002 02:46 PM
Algren's characters here sure come up with unconventional
"words to live by," don't they?
So far, I think my favorite is this one from Terasina, who
runs the chili parlor:
"It is lucky to love any time, for then you have someone to
live for," Terasina thought, "but if you are not in love that is
lucky also. Because then you have no problem."
Jane: I grew up hearing my grandparents' tales of the
Great Depression, too. When the economy hit bottom,
they had been married for about a year and a half, had a
newborn daughter, and my grandfather had just lost his
job as a machinist's helper at the coal mine.
Eventually he was able to sign on with a W.P.A. crew to
build highways. Because he was the youngest guy on the
crew and had no experience with manual labor except
farming, they gave him a quick first-aid course and
assigned him as the crew's "medic," complete with
regulation black doctor bag.
My grandmother says he was so embarrassed by carrying
the bag that when he walked to the job site each morning
he took a long detour through the woods, so his friends
wouldn't see him and call him "Doc."
Ah, the "good old days."
>>Dale in Ala.
Topic:
A Walk on the Wild Side, by Nelson Algren (12 of 16), Read
16 times
Conf:
Reading List
From:
Jane Niemeier jniemeie@hotmail.com
Date:
Sunday, February 17, 2002 09:35 PM
Dale,
That is interesting that it is your grandparents and my
parents who talk about the depression. I am only three or
four years older than you. My parents were in their thirties
when they had me, so maybe that explains it.
************Spoiler*****************
Isn't it interesting that Dove headed back to Terasina even
after he had raped her. What makes him think that he will
be welcome there?
Jane
Topic:
A Walk on the Wild Side, by Nelson Algren (13 of 16), Read
17 times
Conf:
Reading List
From:
R Bavetta rbavetta@prodigy.net
Date:
Sunday, February 17, 2002 11:13 PM
>>What makes him think that he will be welcome there?
Pure unadulterated fool male egotism.
Ruth
"Writing is like prostitution. First you do it for the love of it,
then you do it for a few friends, then you do it for money."
Moliere
Topic:
A Walk on the Wild Side, by Nelson Algren (14 of 16), Read
17 times
Conf:
Reading List
From:
Dale Short dshort@bham.rr.com
Date:
Monday, February 18, 2002 02:11 AM
Ruth: I am not the Official Language Police, but still I have
to observe that your phrase "Pure unadulterated fool male
egotism" is a redundancy to the fifth power.
Moderation, please.
>>Dale in Ala.
Topic:
A Walk on the Wild Side, by Nelson Algren (15 of 16), Read
14 times
Conf:
Reading List
From:
John Chapman jm_chapman@msn.com
Date:
Monday, February 18, 2002 10:38 AM
My mother told me that W.P.A. stood for "We Poke Along!".
Topic:
A Walk on the Wild Side, by Nelson Algren (16 of 16), Read 3
times
Conf:
Reading List
From:
Dick Haggart
Date:
Monday, February 18, 2002 12:33 PM
I haven't read anything quite so much like Suttree since I
read Suttree. It's hard to believe that this book is,
relatively speaking, buried and forgotten outside American
Literature seminars. It provides a much truer picture of
Depression-era America than, say, The Grapes of Wrath, at
least based on the stories I've heard from my own
Oklahoma roots where W.P.A. was damn fine work if you
could even get it. And the writing is downright
Faulkneresque with the attention to dialogue, dialect and
local color (although, refreshingly un-Faulkneresque in it's
story-line; sometimes a straight line is good).
Could it be the sex and the slaps upside the head of
religion that brought it low? Could it be it was the kind of
book that made the U.S. look bad in the hands of
communist, race-mixing agitators?
Nah. Couldn't be. Anyway, good pick. Good book.
Dick
"you have to sing your own song in the end." -- John
Updike
"which is fine, so long as you don't have to have sex in
rocking chairs." -- Dick Haggart
Topic:
A Walk on the Wild Side, by Nelson Algren (17 of 22), Read
24 times
Conf:
Reading List
From:
Steve Warbasse swarbasse@iowabar.org
Date:
Monday, February 18, 2002 05:50 PM
UPS:
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Feb 18, 2002 11:34:00 AM CACH IL US DEPARTURE SCAN
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DEPARTURE SCAN
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SCAN
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DEPARTURE SCAN
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SCAN
Feb 14, 2002 05:01:48 AM US BILLING INFORMATION
RECEIVED
Feb 13, 2002 08:14:07 PM NEW CASTLE DE US SHIPPED
So as I wait, I read all of the excerpts at amazon.com. I
note that in his lay sermon, ole Fitz Linkhorn makes
reference to my very favorite of Christ's various miracles:
"'And when they wanted wine'" --he put down a mocker who
wanted to know what caused the bulge on his hip--"'the
mother of Jesus saith unto him, "Give them wine." Satan
didn't claim Jesus' mother 'count of wine, ah reckon he won't
claim me 'count of a half-pint of busthead."
Now this warmed my heart because I can't tell you how
many times I've said the very same thing, although I
phrased it differently.
Steve
Topic:
A Walk on the Wild Side, by Nelson Algren (18 of 22), Read
23 times
Conf:
Reading List
From:
Jane Niemeier jniemeie@hotmail.com
Date:
Monday, February 18, 2002 08:48 PM
Gosh darn, Steve,
You should have ordered this book from THE TATTERED
COVER, because they have it right there on the shelf.
Dick,
I take exception to your statement that this is what the
depression was like. Maybe all of the stories I have heard
from my family were cleaned up, but I don't think so. Family
members worked side by side from sunrise to sunset in
order to put some food on the table. Algren's people seem
to relish putting one over on someone, and they try to
avoid real work.
Someone mentioned that this book reminded them
somewhat of Kerouac. That is what I thought when I
started reading the novel.
Jane
Topic:
A Walk on the Wild Side, by Nelson Algren (19 of 22), Read
18 times
Conf:
Reading List
From:
R Bavetta rbavetta@prodigy.net
Date:
Tuesday, February 19, 2002 01:39 AM
Oh oh, oh, Dick and Jane. (Hey, wow, now that sounds
familiar) There are lots of Depression stories. Some like
Algren's, some like yours, Jane, some like my parents'. And
all of them are true.
Slooping on over to the poetic thing again, did anyone else
catch the paragraph where Algren's writing actually has
rhyme and meter? All I've added here are line breaks. I
haven't changed a word:
"When opening time was closing time
and every one was there,
down where you lay your money down,
where it's everything but square,
where hungry young hustlers hustle
dissatisfied old cats
and ancient glass-eyed satyrs
make pass at bandrats;
where it’s leaping on the tables,
where it’s howling lowdown blues,
when it’s all bought and paid for
then there’s always one thing sure:
its some do right Daddy-O
running the whole show."
Ruth
"Writing is like prostitution. First you do it for the love of it,
then you do it for a few friends, then you do it for money."
Moliere
Topic:
A Walk on the Wild Side, by Nelson Algren (20 of 22), Read
13 times
Conf:
Reading List
From:
Sherry Keller shkell@starband.net
Date:
Tuesday, February 19, 2002 06:46 AM
There are lots of places like that, Ruth. I'm not finished yet,
but I was going to write one up when I did. I should have
guessed you'd beat me to it. This is not a book to be read
quickly, or you'll miss some of those wonderful "poems".
Sherry
Topic:
A Walk on the Wild Side, by Nelson Algren (21 of 22), Read
10 times
Conf:
Reading List
From:
Dale Short dshort@bham.rr.com
Date:
Tuesday, February 19, 2002 09:16 AM
Dick: This book does have a SUTTREE-esque feel, doesn't
it? I agree, it's a shame it's not more widely read.
I was struck by what Banks had to say about Algren's
interaction with the public, which surely couldn't have won
him many establishment friends, literary or otherwise:
Algren, in person, was a lot like his books--large-hearted,
funny, angry, lonely. He told truth to power wherever he met
power (and he saw it where most people preferred to see only
good intentions gone awry, which made him no friend to
bourgeois academics and intellectuals: he trusted a brutal
racist Chicago cop more than a suburban Republican banker).
To those of us who loved him, he could sometimes seem
perversely self-defeating: he was unable to resist any chance
to tweak the beard of somber authority.
Sounds like my kind of guy, but it couldn't have been good
PR for his career.
>>Dale in Ala.
Topic:
A Walk on the Wild Side, by Nelson Algren (22 of 22), Read 5
times
Conf:
Reading List
From:
Steve Warbasse swarbasse@iowabar.org
Date:
Tuesday, February 19, 2002 10:20 AM
As for the early migratory route of the Linkhorns, Cookson
Hills is in far eastern Oklahoma. I knew where that is.
Arroyo, Texas, is clear down near Brownsville. For some
reason, I was under the impression it is in west Texas.
(A little geographical note.)
Steve
Topic:
A Walk on the Wild Side, by Nelson Algren (23 of 39),
Read 35 times
Conf:
Reading List
From:
Pres Lancaster plancast@neteze.com
Date:
Tuesday, February 19, 2002 11:49 AM
" he was unable to resist any chance to tweak the beard
of somber authority."
Today, what with the Bush administration and all, the
poor man would wear himself to a frazzle.
(Ever looked up 'frazzle'?)
pres
Topic:
A Walk on the Wild Side, by Nelson Algren (24 of 39),
Read 35 times
Conf:
Reading List
From:
R Bavetta rbavetta@prodigy.net
Date:
Tuesday, February 19, 2002 11:58 AM
There are more spots with both rhyme and meter,
Sherry? Maybe I was reading too fast, because I
missed them.
Ruth
"Writing is like prostitution. First you do it for the love of
it, then you do it for a few friends, then you do it for
money." Moliere
Topic:
A Walk on the Wild Side, by Nelson Algren (25 of 39),
Read 33 times
Conf:
Reading List
From:
Sherry Keller shkell@starband.net
Date:
Tuesday, February 19, 2002 12:58 PM
I should have marked them. But I'll go give it a look in
a minute. I'm sure there were more, since I found
myself reading in a sing-song lilt several times.
Sherry
Topic:
A Walk on the Wild Side, by Nelson Algren (26 of 39),
Read 34 times
Conf:
Reading List
From:
Beej Connor connorva@mindspring.com
Date:
Tuesday, February 19, 2002 01:15 PM
I finished this yesterday and couldn't help but compare
it to a weird dream, where scenarios suddenly change
and are seemingly unrelated.
Dove brought out my maternal instincts, for some
reason. Things just seem to happen to him. This guy
just doesn't have a clue as to the meaning of the word
'consequences.'
But, to me, the jewels of this book were the
prostitutes.
Beej
Topic:
A Walk on the Wild Side, by Nelson Algren (27 of 39),
Read 34 times
Conf:
Reading List
From:
Candy Minx candyminx@hotmail.com
Date:
Tuesday, February 19, 2002 01:30 PM
I love them too, Beej. I am so glad yu picke dthis book
up!
Dick, Algren wrote a review of Suttree in the Chicago
Tribune Book World in 1979ish.(any body find it
on-line? I was trying...)
I read this years before stumblng onto Suttree, and
when I read S I was like, wow, he must have been into
Algren...
Jane, really enjoyed your perspective on your familys
stories. I would not venture to say that this book
wasn't intended to reflect ALL of the depression era or
victims or all "walks-of-life"(sheesh, I can't believe I
resorted to that phrase, heh.) I thik it really is about
the so-called lowest-of-the-low...and not all of them
are so low...some have some energy still despite the
knocks.???
I think even though Dove is a well, he goes about
things maybe the hard way/long way but he has so
much energy...???Lifeforce???
I am swamped with work right now...having a hard
time getting time to log on...back ina bit....
Topic:
A Walk on the Wild Side, by Nelson Algren (28 of 39),
Read 30 times
Conf:
Reading List
From:
Steve Warbasse swarbasse@iowabar.org
Date:
Tuesday, February 19, 2002 02:57 PM
Have this one in hand now and am well into it, making
the acquaintance of Kitty.
Nonetheless, Candy, Dove is a problematic character. I
didn't read the first two liaisons with Terasina as rape
(as Jane apparently did). However, there's no question
about the final episode with her just before he takes
off.
Steve
Topic:
A Walk on the Wild Side, by Nelson Algren (29 of 39),
Read 27 times
Conf:
Reading List
From:
R Bavetta rbavetta@prodigy.net
Date:
Tuesday, February 19, 2002 03:13 PM
I didn't read the first as rape, either, Steve. But if the
second wasn't, it was damn close. And the 3rd was.
Ruth
"Writing is like prostitution. First you do it for the love of
it, then you do it for a few friends, then you do it for
money." Moliere
Topic:
A Walk on the Wild Side, by Nelson Algren (30 of 39),
Read 27 times
Conf:
Reading List
From:
Beej Connor connorva@mindspring.com
Date:
Tuesday, February 19, 2002 03:15 PM
I read it as only one rape, too.
Beej
Topic:
A Walk on the Wild Side, by Nelson Algren (31 of 39),
Read 25 times
Conf:
Reading List
From:
Sherri Kendrick sheval@hotmail.com
Date:
Tuesday, February 19, 2002 06:18 PM
Due to time constraints I wasn't going to read this one,
but peek at the discussion. I found the discussion
interesting so I got the book. I only read the first few
pages and am hooked!! So I will read it, but may not
be able to participate in the discussion, but thank you
all for interesting me in this author, he's a real find.
Sherri
Not all who wander are lost - Tolkien
Topic:
A Walk on the Wild Side, by Nelson Algren (32 of 39),
Read 22 times
Conf:
Reading List
From:
Steve Warbasse swarbasse@iowabar.org
Date:
Wednesday, February 20, 2002 01:00 PM
There are lovely passages in this thing. I am going to
resist transcribing any because once I started, it would
get to be too much. That description of Louisiana when
Dove first sets eyes on it out the door of the railroad
car is perfect--the "pale shifting veil" over the
landscape.
Part One ended with a bang, I thought. I loved the
stretch on the "Do-Right Daddies" in New Orleans
(Shriners, Kiwanians, Legionaires, Knights of this,
Knights of that, Moose, Elks, Woodmen, Lions,
Thirty-Third Degree Owls, Forty-Fourth Degree Field
Mice). With all due respect for any lodge members
present.
And the great topping for this was the turtle's
monologue, ending with a hook into Part Two.
Steve
Topic:
A Walk on the Wild Side, by Nelson Algren (33 of 39),
Read 19 times
Conf:
Reading List
From:
Dale Short dshort@bham.rr.com
Date:
Wednesday, February 20, 2002 02:05 PM
Steve: And by golly, you gotta love the turtle man's
philosophy of life...
For I never knowingly harmed a fellow creature unless he
got in my way. I never took unfair advantage unless it
profited me.
Well, sure. Sounds fair to me.
>>Dale in Ala.
Topic:
A Walk on the Wild Side, by Nelson Algren (34 of 39),
Read 17 times
Conf:
Reading List
From:
Dick Haggart
Date:
Wednesday, February 20, 2002 02:50 PM
It is comforting to know that we can trace the
dominant political theme in America today to the
gutters of the Depression.
Dick
"you have to sing your own song in the end." --
John Updike
"which is fine, so long as you don't have to shovel
your own snow." -- Dick Haggart
Topic:
A Walk on the Wild Side, by Nelson Algren (35 of 39),
Read 17 times
Conf:
Reading List
From:
Steve Warbasse swarbasse@iowabar.org
Date:
Wednesday, February 20, 2002 04:21 PM
Oh, but Dale, then I have to add the lines just before
that (in the spirit of Dick's remarks):
True, I ate well. But that was only to keep up my
strength for the sacrificial ordeal of my days.
After falling from the top of the pile, the turtle dies at
the bottom. . . . .and Bing Crosby sings I Ain't Got
Nobody. Gawd, I loved that!
Steve
Topic:
A Walk on the Wild Side, by Nelson Algren (36 of 39),
Read 13 times
Conf:
Reading List
From:
Dale Short dshort@bham.rr.com
Date:
Wednesday, February 20, 2002 06:01 PM
Steve: Yes, a brilliant sequence altogether. To coin a
phrase, "The horror! The horror!"
The more I read and cogitate on this, the more kinship
I see (thanks, Candy!) with Cormac McCarthy. True,
Cormac is a force of nature unto himself and has taken
this line of inquiry on a different tangent, the satire a
little less social and more existential than Algren's, but
both share the darkly, DARKLY comic, outrageous,
almost hallucinatory kick-in-the-pants that suddenly
resolves itself, on my radar-scope, at least, into
revealed truth as regards our own daily lives.
Perhaps a writer of the next generation who pushes
the envelope of voice and free-association this mightily
will someday give us a rematch between the turtles of
AWOTWS and The Judge of BLOOD MERIDIAN, with a
soundtrack containing Crosby and...what song, for The
Judge's dance? Let the wagers begin... {G}
>>Dale in Ala.
Topic:
A Walk on the Wild Side, by Nelson Algren (37 of 39),
Read 8 times
Conf:
Reading List
From:
Sherry Keller shkell@starband.net
Date:
Thursday, February 21, 2002 06:53 AM
Dale, you ought to go into the business of thinking up
scenarios for thesis themes. Can't you imagine some
senior in American lit going wild with Cormac and
Nelson? That turtle scene is about the most vivid in the
book to my mind. And what a warped genius it took to
link the political commentary to it.
Did you read in the Russell Banks introduction about
the check for $62.50? The turtle scene and that check
story seem to give you an idea of Algren's personality.
I loved Banks' last comment about nobody asking him
to invite a speaker again.
Sherry
Topic:
A Walk on the Wild Side, by Nelson Algren (38 of 39),
Read 5 times
Conf:
Reading List
From:
Dale Short dshort@bham.rr.com
Date:
Thursday, February 21, 2002 08:00 AM
Sherry: I'm still in awe of the turtle scene, too.
Somehow I can just see Cormac beaming over this
section of it:
Dove felt another's eyes watching the growing pile: down
on the floor beside him a severed terrapin's head, big as
his own hand, stared cataleptically at its own body
slipping and flipping up the distant heap. It could be no
other's body, for it alone matched the king-sized head
that stared with faith unshakable.
Stepping on the stumps of a hundred bleeding necks,
hauling itself over other backs, giving one a kick there and
one a shove there, the body sent a dozen rival climbers
sprawling over the cliff to failure. Dove and the Head
watched together to see if the body would make it...
Gosh, it doesn't get much better than that. I loved the
story about Algren's lodging reimbursement, too. And
immediately signing the check over to Banks. I wonder
how many times in Algren's life he must have used the
phrase, "the principle of the thing"?
I think Pres is right, though. If Algren were still around
today, he'd need a full-time staff just to tweak all the
beards of somber authority that are multiplying around
us daily.
>>Dale in Ala.
Topic:
A Walk on the Wild Side, by Nelson Algren (39 of 39),
Read 8 times
Conf:
Reading List
From:
Beej Connor connorva@mindspring.com
Date:
Thursday, February 21, 2002 08:04 AM
Stepping on the stumps of a hundred bleeding necks,
hauling itself over other backs, giving one a kick there and
one a shove there, the body sent a dozen rival climbers
sprawling over the cliff to failure.
In a way, doesn't this describe the characters in this
novel?
Beej
Topic:
A Walk on the Wild Side, by Nelson Algren (40 of 42),
Read 19 times
Conf:
Reading List
From:
Steve Warbasse swarbasse@iowabar.org
Date:
Thursday, February 21, 2002 11:21 AM
That, too, definitely, Beej. The turtle thing leads
beautifully into what I called the "hook" at the end of
Part One. Regarding Dove:
He didn't yet know that there was also room for one
more at the bottom.
Steve
Topic:
A Walk on the Wild Side, by Nelson Algren (41 of 42),
Read 18 times
Conf:
Reading List
From:
Beej Connor connorva@mindspring.com
Date:
Thursday, February 21, 2002 04:13 PM
Did anyone else think Algren cut the women in this
book a lot more slack than he did the men, with the
exception of Kitty Twist?
Beej
Topic:
A Walk on the Wild Side, by Nelson Algren (42 of 42),
Read 17 times
Conf:
Reading List
From:
Steve Warbasse swarbasse@iowabar.org
Date:
Thursday, February 21, 2002 05:46 PM
Actually, I thought he rendered Kitty as a pretty
charming rogue, too.
I know that there are critics who charge Nelson Algren
with subscribing to the myth (apparently an endemic
American male myth) of "the whore with the golden
heart." Obviously, I have not read enough of his work
to comment, but this may explain what you perceive as
his cutting slack to these female characters--he had a
soft spot for the type.
Steve
Topic:
A Walk on the Wild Side, by Nelson Algren (43 of 53),
Read 31 times
Conf:
Reading List
From:
Candy Minx candyminx@hotmail.com
Date:
Friday, February 22, 2002 03:59 PM
I found the section of sexual attraction between Dove
and Terrisina bittersweet. It was so sad that she was
so messed over by her first sexual experience. I
loved it tthat she was teaching Dove to read. And
there are parts of their encounters that are sad
because up in her room when they are
kissing...well...she was happy to be with him. but it
seemed as if her utter horror of sex prevented her
from finding a love. Dove was definitely not world
aware enough to see her complexities. But I love the
description of how his kiss starts as a boys and turns
into a mans. It is also sad that there was sucha
problem for Terrisina with the age difference. But I
can also understand how she really would benefit
from a more mature man in her life.
Topic:
A Walk on the Wild Side, by Nelson Algren (44 of 53),
Read 32 times
Conf:
Reading List
From:
Pres Lancaster plancast@neteze.com
Date:
Friday, February 22, 2002 06:54 PM
FYI:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/156584422X/qid=1014422088/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/103-5077216-2234235
pres
Topic:
A Walk on the Wild Side, by Nelson Algren (45 of 53),
Read 29 times
Conf:
Reading List
From:
Jane Niemeier jniemeie@hotmail.com
Date:
Friday, February 22, 2002 10:08 PM
Candy,
I liked that Terrasina was teaching him to read as
well. The women that Dove really fell for were the two
that taught him to read. I have already forgotten the
name of the prostitute that he moved in with for a
time. She is the one who completed his reading
lessons.
I, too, loved the turtle scene. It made me think of the
Myth of Sisyphus with the constant climbing to the top
of the heap. I noticed that the bloody scene didn't do
anything to curb Dove's appetite.
Jane
Topic:
A Walk on the Wild Side, by Nelson Algren (46 of 53),
Read 33 times
Conf:
Reading List
From:
Candy Minx candyminx@hotmail.com
Date:
Saturday, February 23, 2002 12:36 AM
I just re-read the section with Terasina. It's odd...it's
funny how we have noticed that Dove raped her...but
call me crazy, I think it was far worse what her
husband did to her. THAT was rape.
Doves seemed almost like revenge. Not that it wasn't
rape I know know rape is rape. But if he and her were
switched. If it was a thirty year old man and a sixteen
year old girl...welll. I mean, Teresina had some
problems. I think she was mixed up on one level and
took advantage of a boy. She had that religious
paranoia going on.
She also had some good ethical beliefs too...but
wasn't she too tough on Dove for giving that money to
his brother? Why didn't she make him work it off. She
was so damaged herself that she couldn't see that this
kid was all of a sudden on a high from hooking up
with her...he was showing off in front of his brother.
He was wrong to take the dollar, but not so terribly
bad...hmmm?
But I don't mean to say it wasn't rape when he went
back and confronted her and said mean things. She
was also mean to him though.
If I am disgusted with any man in her life, it's the one
that worked her over on her wedding night.
Topic:
A Walk on the Wild Side, by Nelson Algren (47 of 53),
Read 26 times
Conf:
Reading List
From:
Steve Warbasse swarbasse@iowabar.org
Date:
Saturday, February 23, 2002 05:29 PM
Candy, this early section concerning Dove and
Terasina was very interesting and very well done, I
thought. I'm glad you addressed it a bit more in this
note.
Both characters are appealing ones. I've been
thinking about it a good deal, pondering why this rape
did not cause me to completely lose sympathy with
the character of Dove in this novel.
Steve
Topic:
A Walk on the Wild Side, by Nelson Algren (48 of 53),
Read 24 times
Conf:
Reading List
From:
Steve Warbasse swarbasse@iowabar.org
Date:
Sunday, February 24, 2002 12:19 PM
Ruthie, here's another one:
Out in the lake-palmed suburbs,
far from the dong and the glare,
in a house that had once been human,
Dove climbed a soundless stair.
And now I find as I read on that Dove Linkhorn
evolves into the depression-era equivalent of Dirk
Diggler in Boogie Nights.
Steve
Topic:
A Walk on the Wild Side, by Nelson Algren (49 of 53),
Read 23 times
Conf:
Reading List
From:
Candy Minx candyminx@hotmail.com
Date:
Monday, February 25, 2002 12:21 PM
heh heh Dirk Diggler...what an amazing! movie that
was.
Topic:
A Walk on the Wild Side, by Nelson Algren (50 of 53),
Read 24 times
Conf:
Reading List
From:
Steve Warbasse swarbasse@iowabar.org
Date:
Monday, February 25, 2002 01:29 PM
Which brings me back around to the issue of who is
the more disgusting, the apparently more upright
citizens who pay to look through a peephole and
watch a young woman "lose her virginity" or Dove
and the two or three prostitutes who put on these
shows?
There can't be must question about where Nelson
Algren comes down on this. The upright citizens come
out on the short end of this assessment, and the big
difference is their hypocrisy.
Steve
Topic:
A Walk on the Wild Side, by Nelson Algren (51 of 53),
Read 15 times
Conf:
Reading List
From:
Jane Niemeier jniemeie@hotmail.com
Date:
Monday, February 25, 2002 09:25 PM
Steve and all,
Dove was 16 at the beginning of this book and was 18
at the end. It seems like he passed through a whole
life time of experiences during those two years. He
seemed much older from the time he got to New
Orleans.
Dirk Digler is a good comparison. Dove was definitely
the young stud.
Jane
Topic:
A Walk on the Wild Side, by Nelson Algren (52 of 53),
Read 19 times
Conf:
Reading List
From:
Beej Connor connorva@mindspring.com
Date:
Monday, February 25, 2002 09:33 PM
Dove was definitely the young stud.
Yep. And because of that, and because she was so
restless, and in spite of the rape, I'll bet you anything
Terasina takes him back.
Granted, her husband was a fruitloop, but I just about
died laughing when I read that he approached her on
their wedding night, solemn faced and
goose-stepping, naked as a jaybird (even more naked
than a jaybird, since he was completely hairless!)
except for a helmet.
Beej
Topic:
A Walk on the Wild Side, by Nelson Algren (53 of 53),
Read 19 times
Conf:
Reading List
From:
Steve Warbasse swarbasse@iowabar.org
Date:
Tuesday, February 26, 2002 09:45 AM
I thought Algren did a great job of portraying how
Finnerty hooked these young women into the business
and made them dependent on him. Not that I have
any real expertise in this, but it had the ring of truth
to my ear, particularly his ploy of playing Frenchy and
Reba off against each other with this promise of
buying the chicken farm upstate someday.
Steve
Topic:
A Walk on the Wild Side, by Nelson Algren (54 of 67),
Read 25 times
Conf:
Reading List
From:
Steve Warbasse swarbasse@iowabar.org
Date:
Wednesday, February 27, 2002 10:39 AM
I'm getting down to the very short strokes on this
one. At the risk of engaging in hyperbole, I really do
think that Dove Linkhorn is one of those
quintessential American fictional characters that can
be mentioned in the same breath as Huckleberry Finn,
Holden Caulfield, Dean Moriarity, Jay Gatsby, and the
like.
Steve
Topic:
A Walk on the Wild Side, by Nelson Algren (55 of 67),
Read 29 times
Conf:
Reading List
From:
Dale Short dshort@bham.rr.com
Date:
Wednesday, February 27, 2002 12:15 PM
Steve: Dove as quintessential, definitely.
I get the feeling that when you look up "hapless" in
the dictionary, there should be a picture of Dove.
Does anyone else here see a kinship with one of my
favorite characters, Harrogate, in Cormac's SUTTREE?
>>Dale in Ala.
Topic:
A Walk on the Wild Side, by Nelson Algren (56 of 67),
Read 26 times
Conf:
Reading List
From:
Sherry Keller shkell@starband.net
Date:
Wednesday, February 27, 2002 03:36 PM
Dale, you mean he of the pumpkin patch? Definitely.
Sherry
Topic:
A Walk on the Wild Side, by Nelson Algren (57 of 67),
Read 26 times
Conf:
Reading List
From:
Dale Short dshort@bham.rr.com
Date:
Wednesday, February 27, 2002 03:43 PM
Sherry: Actually, watermelon patch. But I feel sure ol'
Harrogate would settle for a pumpkin, in a pinch.
Probably less chance of one them big ol' red waspers
doing you-know-what, besides.{G}
>>Dale in Ala.
Topic:
A Walk on the Wild Side, by Nelson Algren (58 of 67),
Read 27 times
Conf:
Reading List
From:
Sherry Keller shkell@starband.net
Date:
Wednesday, February 27, 2002 03:48 PM
How could I forget, yes, watermelons! Can't you just
see the
two of them giving away cawfee-pots together?
They'd make a
great team.
Sherry
Topic:
A Walk on the Wild Side, by Nelson Algren (59 of 67),
Read 22 times
Conf:
Reading List
From:
Dick Haggart
Date:
Wednesday, February 27, 2002 10:04 PM
Dale, I mentioned how I was struck by similarities in
tone to Suttree back up a ways. Subsequently, I
decided I was also getting major whiffs of Nathaniel
West and of The Magic Christian. I agree that Dove is
a quintessentially American character and would
further opine that A Walk on the Wild Side is one of
those fundamental bricks in the wall of American
literature. I'm still more than slightly stunned that this
book is not considered "bigger" -- or perhaps I'm just
stunned that I've passed over such a "big" book for
so long. Anyway, something has stunned me here.
Dick
"you have to sing your own song in the end." --
John Updike
"which is fine, so long as you don't have to shovel
your own snow." -- Dick Haggart
Topic:
A Walk on the Wild Side, by Nelson Algren (61 of 67),
Read 19 times
Conf:
Reading List
From:
Dale Short dshort@bham.rr.com
Date:
Thursday, February 28, 2002 09:41 AM
Dick: Yes, I remember. In fact, it was your invoking of
SUTTREE that got me thinking along the Harrogate
line.
Nathanael West! There's another kindred writer, for
sure. (I haven't read Southern's THE MAGIC
CHRISTIAN, only CANDY; sounds like I need to fix that
gap.) There aren't many writers who can do humor
that's so dark, dark, DARK that it somehow
transcends itself and comes out the other side.
There's a downright glee in Algren and West and
McCarthy that's almost childlike. What a rush, to
mainline scenes like these.
>>Dale in Ala.
Topic:
A Walk on the Wild Side, by Nelson Algren (62 of 67),
Read 17 times
Conf:
Reading List
From:
Steve Warbasse swarbasse@iowabar.org
Date:
Thursday, February 28, 2002 10:31 AM
Dale, I well remember Harrogate, too. He and Dove
are certainly birds of a feather.
My sentiments exactly, Dick. Just when one thinks
that one is finally half-assed well read, one discovers
an overlooked something like this.
I enjoyed the little "rules of the road" in the
underbelly of society that are continually laid down by
these characters such as the one I quoted early on in
the discussion:
Never play cards with a man called Doc. Never eat at a
place called Mom's. Never sleep with a woman whose
troubles are worse than your own.
Then near the end Algren uses them all to capture
how hopeless these guys in jail are:
If life was a cinch by the inch, they did it by the yard.
They always found someone named Doc to play cards
with. They went out of their way to eat in a place called
Mom's. They slept only with women whose troubles
were worse than their own. In jail or out, they were
forever shaking someone else's jolt, copping somebody
else's plea, serving someone else's time. They were
unwired to anything.
I loved that little touch.
Steve
Topic:
A Walk on the Wild Side, by Nelson Algren (63 of 67),
Read 18 times
Conf:
Reading List
From:
Steve Warbasse swarbasse@iowabar.org
Date:
Thursday, February 28, 2002 10:36 AM
And by the way, I wonder whether Pastor Robert
Schuller--he of the "Hour of Power" and the Crystal
Cathedral--consciously stole "life is a cinch by the
inch" from Nelson Algren. I think he ought to credit
this book the next time he says that.
Steve
Topic:
A Walk on the Wild Side, by Nelson Algren (64 of 67),
Read 21 times
Conf:
Reading List
From:
Dale Short dshort@bham.rr.com
Date:
Thursday, February 28, 2002 12:05 PM
Talk about synchronicity...just last evening Dick
mentions Terry Southern in connection with Algren.
This morning, I'm looking for a book I know is in my
house/library, but which is suddenly missing...a
tattered paperback that I bought used, ages ago, but
have never read, titled CONVERSATIONS WITH
NELSON ALGREN. Amazon says it's out of print, and no
library in my vicinity has a copy.
But I do find a copy of WRITERS AT WORK: THE PARIS
REVIEW INTERVIEWS, published 1957, which happens
to have a real gem of an interview with Nelson Algren.
I get to the end of it, and guess who the interviewer
is...
Terry Southern! (Along with a guy named Alston
Anderson, whom Google tells me is a black writer of
short fiction, including the story "Lover Man.") This is
getting downright spooky.
If any of you have CONVERSATIONS at a library near
you, I'm guessing it would be worth tracking down. So
is WRITERS AT WORK. If anybody can't locate the
latter and wants a photocopy of the Algren interview,
let me know and I'll send one your way.
>>Dale in Ala.
Topic:
A Walk on the Wild Side, by Nelson Algren (65 of 67),
Read 19 times
Conf:
Reading List
From:
Robert Armstrong rla@nac.net
Date:
Thursday, February 28, 2002 12:58 PM
Dale,
Another synchronicity is that Algren is also connected
with Richard Wright.
Robt
Topic:
A Walk on the Wild Side, by Nelson Algren (66 of 67),
Read 19 times
Conf:
Reading List
From:
Dale Short dshort@bham.rr.com
Date:
Thursday, February 28, 2002 01:15 PM
Robt: Yes! Algren briefly mentions "Dick Wright" in the
Paris Review interview, and I was assuming it's the
same guy.
To wit, Algren says:
I think of a tragic example: Dick Wright. I think he
made...a very bad mistake. I mean, he writes out of
passion, out of his belly; but he won't admit this, you
see. He's trying to write as an intellectual, which he isn't
basically; but he's trying his best to write like a
Frenchman. Of course, it isn't strictly an
American-European distinction, the belly and the head;
you find the same distinction here. A book like Ralph
Ellison's, for example, or Peter Matthiessen's, stays
better with me than the opposite thing, a book like Saul
Bellow's. Bellow's is a book done with great skill and
great control, but there isn't much fire. I depend more
on the stomach. I always think of writing as a physical
thing. I'm not trying to generalize, it just happens to be
that way with me.
Hmmm. Since this interview took place in 1955 or '56,
after Algren's MAN WITH THE GOLDEN ARM won the
first National Book Award and when A WALK ON THE
WILD SIDE was written but not yet published, I'm
wondering what specific books by these other writers
he's referring to? (I haven't started NATIVE SON yet;
for those who have, how would you respond to
Algren's comments about Wright's style?)
>>Dale in Ala.
Topic:
A Walk on the Wild Side, by Nelson Algren (67 of 67),
Read 26 times
Conf:
Reading List
From:
Steve Warbasse swarbasse@iowabar.org
Date:
Thursday, February 28, 2002 01:39 PM
Very interesting comments, Dale. I must say that I
think I know what he's talking about with regard to
Richard Wright. I personally do not think Native Son is
a very good novel. I hesitate to say that. I usually
keep my negative opinions to myself. That novel is a
huge historical artifact, of course, but I don't care for
it strictly as a novel. There is some depth to the
character of Bigger, but not much. The supporting
characters are all paper cutouts.
I think he is saying that Richard Wright, who was
enamored of Marxism in his youth, fell into the trap of
attempting to write European Naturalism in the sense
of "regarding human behavior as controlled by
instinct, emotion, or social and economic conditions,
and rejecting free will, adopting instead, in large
measure, the biological determinism of Charles Darwin
and the economic determinism of Karl Marx," if you will
forgive me quoting the book definition. The results to
my way of thinking are what I described above.
As for Ellison, he could only be referring to The
Invisible Man, which I much prefer to Native Son. I
have no idea what of Peter Matthiessen's he could be
referring to. There were only two novels by him
published at that time. However, Matthiessen was
one of the founders of The Paris Review. Perhaps
Algren was just sucking up.
Steve
Topic:
A Walk on the Wild Side, by Nelson Algren (60 of 67),
Read 18 times
Conf:
Reading List
From:
Joe Barreiro barreiro4@attbi.com
Date:
Thursday, February 28, 2002 02:37 AM
Candy - I found a reference to Algren's review of
Suttree, but the review itself is apparently not online.
It was in the Chicago Tribune Book World of 28 JAN
1979, rather dully titled "A Memorable American
Comedy by an Original Storyteller." Next time I go to
the big library downtown I'll try to remember to look
for it.
Topic:
A Walk on the Wild Side, by Nelson Algren (68 of 72),
Read 14 times
Conf:
Reading List
From:
Candy Minx candyminx@hotmail.com
Date:
Saturday, March 02, 2002 03:30 PM
>I usually keep my negative
>opinions to myself.
That always say a lot though. I like the difference
between criticism and a negativeopinion. I think it wise if
it is a personal issue to keep to oneself, but if it can be
explored as a critical flaw that is a whole other ballgame.
Sometimes I find the crossover between philosophical
attitudes and personal taste enlightening.
Steve, this following paragraph has really got me
challenged and thinking...must mull for a bit on it...I like
this Darwinism deal you've mentioned...very interesting
to me regarding WOTWS.
churning thoughts...
>
>I think he is saying that
>Richard Wright, who was
>enamored of Marxism in his
>youth, fell into the trap of
>attempting to write European
>Naturalism in the sense of
>"regarding human behavior as
>controlled by instinct,
>emotion, or social and
>economic conditions, and
>rejecting free will, adopting
>instead, in large measure, the
>biological determinism of
>Charles Darwin and the
>economic determinism of Karl
>Marx," if you will forgive me
>quoting the book definition.
>The results to my way of
>thinking are what I described
>above.
>
Topic:
A Walk on the Wild Side, by Nelson Algren (69 of 72),
Read 18 times
Conf:
Reading List
From:
Steve Warbasse swarbasse@iowabar.org
Date:
Saturday, March 02, 2002 03:42 PM
Oh, no! Dove Linkhorn ends up blind after that beating?
Am I reading this ending correctly? How sad!
And Candy, you might want to print off some of this shit I
say and save it somewhere. I'm not going to be around
forever, you know.
Steve
Topic:
A Walk on the Wild Side, by Nelson Algren (70 of 72),
Read 16 times
Conf:
Reading List
From:
Candy Minx candyminx@hotmail.com
Date:
Saturday, March 02, 2002 03:47 PM
don't worry, i have a bizarre almost photographic
memory. I'm like an idiot savant. heavy on the idiot.
Topic:
A Walk on the Wild Side, by Nelson Algren (71 of 72),
Read 14 times
Conf:
Reading List
From:
Dick Haggart
Date:
Saturday, March 02, 2002 04:52 PM
Yeah, Dove ended up blind or incredibly near-sighted,
one or t'other.
Dick
"you have to sing your own song in the end." -- John
Updike
"which is fine, so long as you don't have to shovel
your own snow." -- Dick Haggart
Topic:
A Walk on the Wild Side, by Nelson Algren (72 of 72),
Read 14 times
Conf:
Reading List
From:
R Bavetta rbavetta@prodigy.net
Date:
Saturday, March 02, 2002 05:06 PM
Hell, he was pretty blind even before the beating.
Ruth
"Writing is like prostitution. First you do it for the love of it,
then you do it for a few friends, then you do it for money."
Moliere
|
A Transatlantic Love Affair: Letters to Nelson Algren by Simone De Beauvoir, et al
|
