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Review by Michael Sims
Nelson Algren was in his early seventies when he died in 1981. Throughout his life he had been, by nature and by conviction, a nonconformist. Now, a decade and a half after his death, his admirers are treated to a previously unpublished work. Don't let the subtitle fool you. Nonconformity does not consist of handy tips for aspiring scribblers. It is a manifesto.
Obviously this handsome, well-designed volume is a labor of love. The chief commentator, Daniel Simon, founded Seven Stories Press. Nonconformity comes with explanatory notes, but they are not merely the mutterings of academics running their required laps. A historical essay explains the circumstances under which Algren composed this typically in-your-face document. He wrote most of it shortly after completing his best-known novel, The Man with the Golden Arm. He was writing in response to the rise of McCarthy and his elected hoodlums, and to the executions of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg.
An appendix includes Algren's brief memoir of his first encounter with what Cocteau called the trick factory. In 1950, Algren was summoned to Hollywood because John Garfield wanted to star in a film version of The Man with the Golden Arm, and the author was to adapt his novel for the screen. He was not thrilled with the experience. The essay is purest Algren -- energetic, mordant, and funny.
This is a little book, adding up to only 130 pages even with the trimmings, but its impact outweighs its size. By its very nature, nonconformity has never been, can never be, a popular stance. In our era, when politicians hypocritically crowd the middle of the road, when political correctness strives for a universal blandness, the writings of unrepentant skeptics like Nelson Algren blow through like a breath of fresh and honest air.
©1996, ProMotion, inc.