{"product_id":"the-neon-wilderness-paperback","title":"The Neon Wilderness - Paperback","description":"\u003cp\u003eby \u003cb\u003eNelson Algren\u003c\/b\u003e (Author), \u003cb\u003eColin Asher\u003c\/b\u003e (Foreword by), \u003cb\u003eTom Carson\u003c\/b\u003e (Introduction by)\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAs rock and roll novelist Tom Carson writes in his introduction, \"The Neon Wilderness is the pivotal book of Nelson Algren's career--the one which bid a subdued but determined farewell to everything that had earlier made him no more than just another good writer, and inaugurated the idiosyncratic, bedevilled, cantankerously poetic sensibility that would see him ranked among the few literary originals of his times.\"\u003cbr\u003eAlgren's classic 1947 short story collection is the pure vein Algren would mine for all his subsequent novels and stories. The stories in this collection are literary triumphs that \"don't fade away.\" \u003cbr\u003eAmong the stories included here are \"A Bottle of Milk for Mother,\" about a Chicago youth being cornered for a murder, and \"The Face on the Barrome Floor,\" in which a legless man pummels another man nearly to death--the seeds that would grow into the novel Never Come Morning. Algren's World War II stories whose final expression would be in the novel The Man with the Golden Arm are also part of this collection. \"So Help Me,\" Algren's first published work, is here. Other stories include, \"The Captain Has Bad Dreams,\" in which Algren first introduced the character of the blameless captain who feels such a heavy burden of guilt and wonders why the criminal offenders he sees seem to feel no guilt at all. And then there is \"Design for Departure,\" in which a young woman drifting into hooking and addiction sees her own dreaminess outlasting her hopes.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eAuthor Biography\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eOne of the most neglected American writers and also one of the best loved, \u003cb\u003eNELSON ALGREN \u003c\/b\u003ewrote once that \"literature is made upon any occasion that a challenge is put to the legal apparatus by conscience in touch with humanity.\" His writings always lived up to that definition. He was born on March 28, 1909, in Detroit and lived mostly in Chicago. His first short fiction was published in \u003ci\u003eStory \u003c\/i\u003emagazine in 1933. In 1935 he published his first novel, \u003ci\u003eSomebody in Boots\u003c\/i\u003e. In early 1942, Algren put the finishing touches on a second novel and joined the war as an enlisted man. By 1945, he still had not made the grade of Private first class, but the novel \u003ci\u003eNever Come Morning \u003c\/i\u003ewas widely praised and eventually sold over a million copies. Jean-Paul Sartre translated the French-language edition. In 1947 came \u003ci\u003eThe Neon Wilderness\u003c\/i\u003e, his famous short story collection which would permanently establish his place in American letters.\u003ci\u003e The Man with the Golden Arm\u003c\/i\u003e, generally considered Algren's most important novel, appeared in 1949 and became the first winner of the National Book Award for Fiction in March 1950. Then came \u003ci\u003eChicago: City on the Make\u003c\/i\u003e (1951), a prose poem, and \u003ci\u003eA Walk on the Wild Side\u003c\/i\u003e (1956), a rewrite of \u003ci\u003eSomebody in Boots\u003c\/i\u003e. Algren also published two travel books, \u003ci\u003eWho Lost an American? \u003c\/i\u003eand \u003ci\u003eNotes from a Sea Voyage\u003c\/i\u003e. \u003ci\u003eThe Last Carousel\u003c\/i\u003e, a collection of short fiction and nonfiction, appeared in 1973. He died on May 9, 1981, within days of his appointment as a fellow of the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters. His last novel, \u003ci\u003eThe Devil's Stocking\u003c\/i\u003e, based on the life of Hurricane Carter, and \u003ci\u003eNonconformity: Writing on Writing\u003c\/i\u003e, a 1952 essay on the art of writing, were published posthumously in 1983 and 1996 respectively. In 2009 came \u003ci\u003eEntrapment and Other Writings\u003c\/i\u003e, a major collection of previously unpublished writings that included two early short story masterpieces, \"Forgive Them, Lord,\" and \"The Lightless Room,\" and the long unfinished novel fragment referenced in the book's title. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cb\u003eSTUDS TERKEL\u003c\/b\u003e was an American author, historian, and journalist best known for his oral histories, which vividly captured American life in the twentieth century. In 1985 he won the Pulitzer Prize for nonfiction for his book \u003ci\u003eThe Good War: An Oral History of World War II\u003c\/i\u003e. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cb\u003eMICHAEL IMPERIOLI\u003c\/b\u003e is an American actor, director, and musician. He is best known for playing Christopher Moltisanti in \u003ci\u003eThe Sopranos\u003c\/i\u003e, a role for which he received an Emmy in 2004.\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eNumber of Pages:\u003c\/strong\u003e 320\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePublication Date:\u003c\/strong\u003e September 19, 2023\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Books by splitShops","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51766510321952,"sku":"9781644212165","price":15.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0974\/9764\/5344\/files\/c6b411f8bd61e6577385b05caea4457a.webp?v=1780294038","url":"https:\/\/ebocreations.com\/products\/the-neon-wilderness-paperback","provider":"The E-Book Oasis LLC","version":"1.0","type":"link"}