The book collects 24 stories: 8 previously published (from 1933 to 1947)[3][4] and 16 new. Most of them are set in then-contemporary Chicago (1930s and 1940s), in the so-called "Polish-American ghetto". They revolve around the lower classes: workers and unemployed, drunkards and gamblers, prostitutes and hustlers, small-businessmen and policemen. Unlike Dickens or Zola, their general tone is tragi-comedy or sympathetic satire.
Two stories had received an O. Henry Award (and been reprinted in the related annual volume): Algren's second-published story "The Brothers' House"[1] (1935 award) and "A Bottle of Milk for Mother (Biceps)"[1] (1941 award). Two had been selected for The Best American Short Stories: "A Bottle of Milk for Mother"[4] (as "Biceps",[5] 1942 volume) and "How the Devil Came Down Division Street"[4] (1945 volume). The year the collection was released, Algren received an award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters and a grant from Chicago's Newberry Library.[2]
Contents
The collection contains the following 24 stories (with first appearance for the 8 previously published).
1 2 Google Books, The Neon Wilderness: "Algren received a 1947 Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters and a grant from Chicago's Newberry Library."
↑ William G. Contento, "Stories: Algren, Nelson", in "Miscellaneous Anthologies Index" ("updated March 17, 2015"), Homeville: Bibliographic Resources (at Phil Stephensen-Payne's Galactic Central)
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