Tag Nelson Algren

by Malcolm McCollum
September 4, 2022
in Analysis, Creative Nonfiction, Creative Writing, Open Channel
tags Ernest Hemingway, H.E.F. Donahue, Kurt Vonnegut, Malcolm McCollum, Nelson Algren, Notes From a Sea Diary: Nelson Algren All the Way, Open Channel

Notes From a Sea Diary: Nelson Algren All the Way

by Malcolm McCollum
September 4, 2022
in Analysis, Creative Nonfiction, Creative Writing, Open Channel
tags Ernest Hemingway, H.E.F. Donahue, Kurt Vonnegut, Malcolm McCollum, Nelson Algren, Notes From a Sea Diary: Nelson Algren All the Way, Open Channel

Praised by such different souls as Ernest Hemingway, Donald Barthelme, Simone de Beauvoir and Kurt Vonnegut, Nelson Algren remains at best a rumor in his own time. They misspelled his name on his tombstone, and when the City of Chicago renamed a street in his honor, the residents complained so bitterly about the change that it was rescinded. If his name rings a bell, it’s usually one forged in Hollywood,

by Malcolm McCollum
September 2, 2020
in Analysis, Creative Nonfiction, Creative Writing, Open Channel
tags Analysis, Malcolm McCollum, Nelson Algren, Nelson Algren and the Murder of Meaning, nonconformity, notes from a sea diary, Simone de Beauvoir, somebody in boots

Nelson Algren and the Murder of Meaning

by Malcolm McCollum
September 2, 2020
in Analysis, Creative Nonfiction, Creative Writing, Open Channel
tags Analysis, Malcolm McCollum, Nelson Algren, Nelson Algren and the Murder of Meaning, nonconformity, notes from a sea diary, Simone de Beauvoir, somebody in boots

The murder of meaning is a crime Nelson Algren spent his life trying to get people interested in, and it scarcely ended with his death in 1982. Shortly after that year, in fact, one of the greatest admissions of that crime began appearing on t-shirts nationwide. They said, “The one who dies with the most toys wins.” To which Algren’s great love, Simone de Beauvoir, had long ago replied, “’It