''Nonconformity: Writing on Writing'' is a book-length essay by

Nelson Algren Nelson Algren (born Nelson Ahlgren Abraham; March 28, 1909 – May 9, 1981) was an American writer. His 1949 novel ''The Man with the Golden Arm'' won the National Book Award and was adapted as the 1955 film of the same name. Algren articulated ...

, intended for publication in 1953 but released posthumously in 1996 by

Seven Stories Press Seven Stories Press is an independent American publishing company. Based in New York City, the company was founded by Dan Simon in 1995, after establishing Four Walls Eight Windows in 1984 as an imprint at Writers and Readers, and then incorpora ...

. Kurt Vonnegut called it, "A handbook for tough, truth-telling outsiders who are proud, as was Algren, to damn well stay that way."

Overview

The bulk, written between 1951 and 1953, presents Algren's philosophy as a writer, especially in the context of

McCarthyism McCarthyism is the practice of making false or unfounded accusations of subversion and treason, especially when related to anarchism, communism and socialism, and especially when done in a public and attention-grabbing manner. The term origin ...

. The book was demanded by and given in June 1953 to his then-publisher Doubleday, but possibly due to the pressure of the

FBI The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic Intelligence agency, intelligence and Security agency, security service of the United States and its principal Federal law enforcement in the United States, federal law enforcement age ...

's then-ongoing investigation of Algren, Doubleday rejected it in September. Algren then sent it to his agent, but the manuscript was either lost in the mail or intercepted by the FBI, and the text salvaged from a carbon copy. In 1956, Algren gave those carbons to Van Allen Bradley, the ''

Chicago Daily News The ''Chicago Daily News'' was an afternoon daily newspaper in the midwestern United States, published between 1875 and 1978 in Chicago, Illinois. History The ''Daily News'' was founded by Melville E. Stone, Percy Meggy, and William Dougherty ...

'' editor who had commissioned the essay that inspired the book. Excerpts were published as "Things of the Earth: A Groundhog View" (in ''

The California Quarterly ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in E ...

'', Autumn 1952) and as "Great Writing Bogged Down in Fear, Says Novelist Algren" (in the ''

'', December 3, 1952). Added to the original essay is a memoir on the making of the 1955 film version of his novel '' The Man with the Golden Arm''.

References

Colin Asher
"But Never a Lovely So Real"
''

The Believer Believer(s) or The Believer(s) may refer to: Religion * Believer, a person who holds a particular belief ** Believer, a person who holds a particular religious belief *** Believers, Christians with a religious faith in the divine Christ *** Beli ...

'', January 2013.

External links

''Nonconformity''
at

1953 essays 1996 essays 1953 non-fiction books 1996 non-fiction books Literary autobiographies Seven Stories Press books {{lit-bio-book-stub