The Last Carousel

Nelson Algren

 

The Man with the Golden Pen – My friend Oz picked up a paperback copy of “The Last Carousel” at Bookworks in Wrigleyville and gave it to me. Oz is a living and breathing Algren character so I’ve had the triple pleasure of relishing a gift from a dear friend, revisiting the still-edgy stories of a great Chicago writer, and contemplating just how Algren captured the truth of real life. Bookies, boxers, Hollywood producers, heroin addicts and everyday heroes – they’re all here along with some sage advice about writing: In one essay, Algren quotes a letter recently received from a college co-ed who is “on the threshold of a literary career” and seeks advice on her next move. “’Your next move, honey,’ I had to caution her,” Algren writes, “’is to take two careful steps backward, turn and run like hell. That isn’t a threshold. It’s a precipice.’”