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Albert E. Wilhelm (review date 1995)

SOURCE: A review of The Texas Stories of Nelson Algren, in The Library Journal, Vol. 120, No. 18, November 1, 1995, p. 108.

[Below, Wilhelm comments favorably on The Texas Stories of Nelson Algren.]

Best known for his tales of urban slums, Algren also wrote eloquently about the Rio Grande Valley of Texas. He first experienced this region in 1932 as a wandering college graduate who could find no job. Surrounded by desperation and casual violence, Algren produced semi-autobiographical stories like "So Help Me," which dramatizes brutal exploitation. Set apart by his Jewishness, Algren also observed and recorded episodes of racism and discrimination. After stealing a typewriter, Algren spent several weeks in jail, and this experience provided impetus for his pervasive theme of the individual oppressed by corrupt authority. Later works in this collection [The Texas Stories of Nelson...

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1. Introduction
2. Principal Works
3. Criticism
   1. John Woodburn (review date 1947)
   2. Catherine Meredith Brown (review date 1947)
   3. George Bluestone (essay date 1957)
   4. Maxwell Geismar (essay date 1958)
   5. Haskel Frankel (review date 1963)
   6. R. W. Lid (essay date 1966)
   7. Daniel R. Silkowski (essay date 1971)
   8. James R. Frakes (review date 1973)
   9. Saul Maloff (review date 1974)
   10. Commonweal (review date 1947)
   11. R. W. Lid (essay date 1975)
   12. Martha Heasley Cox and Wayne Chatterton (essay date 1975)
   13. Tom Carson (essay date 1986)
   14. Kirkus Reviews (review date 1995)
   15. Albert E. Wilhelm (review date 1995)
   16. Bettina Drew (essay date 1995)
4. Further Reading
5. Copyright