{"product_id":"the-man-with-the-golden-arm-9781644212158","title":"The Man with the Golden Arm","description":"A novel of rare genius, \u003ci\u003eThe Man with the Golden Arm\u003c\/i\u003e describes the dissolution of a card-dealing WWII veteran named Frankie Machine, caught in the act of slowly cutting his own heart into wafer-thin slices. For Frankie, a murder committed may be the least of his problems. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eThe literary critic Malcolm Cowley called \u003ci\u003eThe Man with the Golden Arm\u003c\/i\u003e \"Algren's defense of the individual,\" while Carl Sandburg wrote of its \"strange midnight dignity.\" A literary tour de force, here is a novel unlike any other, one in which drug addiction, poverty, and human failure somehow suggest a defense of human dignity and a reason for hope. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eSeven Stories Press separately publishes the critical edition of \u003ci\u003eThe Man with the Golden Arm\u003c\/i\u003e, the first critical edition of an Algren work, featuring an extra 100+ pages of insightful essays by Russell Banks, Bettina Drew, James R. Giles, Carlo Rotella, William Savage, Lee Stringer, Studs Terkel, Kurt Vonnegut, and others.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eOne of the most neglected American writers and also one of the best loved, \u003cb\u003eNELSON ALGREN \u003c\/b\u003ewrote once that \"literature is made upon any occasion that a challenge is put to the legal apparatus by conscience in touch with humanity.\" His writings always lived up to that definition. He was born on March 28, 1909, in Detroit and lived mostly in Chicago. His first short fiction was published in \u003ci\u003eStory \u003c\/i\u003emagazine in 1933. In 1935 he published his first novel, \u003ci\u003eSomebody in Boots\u003c\/i\u003e. In early 1942, Algren put the finishing touches on a second novel and joined the war as an enlisted man. By 1945, he still had not made the grade of Private first class, but the novel \u003ci\u003eNever Come Morning \u003c\/i\u003ewas widely praised and eventually sold over a million copies. Jean-Paul Sartre translated the French-language edition. In 1947 came \u003ci\u003eThe Neon Wilderness\u003c\/i\u003e, his famous short story collection which would permanently establish his place in American letters.\u003ci\u003e The Man with the Golden Arm\u003c\/i\u003e, generally considered Algren's most important novel, appeared in 1949 and became the first winner of the National Book Award for Fiction in March 1950. Then came \u003ci\u003eChicago: City on the Make\u003c\/i\u003e (1951), a prose poem, and \u003ci\u003eA Walk on the Wild Side\u003c\/i\u003e (1956), a rewrite of \u003ci\u003eSomebody in Boots\u003c\/i\u003e. Algren also published two travel books, \u003ci\u003eWho Lost an American? \u003c\/i\u003eand \u003ci\u003eNotes from a Sea Voyage\u003c\/i\u003e. \u003ci\u003eThe Last Carousel\u003c\/i\u003e, a collection of short fiction and nonfiction, appeared in 1973. He died on May 9, 1981, within days of his appointment as a fellow of the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters. His last novel, \u003ci\u003eThe Devil's Stocking\u003c\/i\u003e, based on the life of Hurricane Carter, and \u003ci\u003eNonconformity: Writing on Writing\u003c\/i\u003e, a 1952 essay on the art of writing, were published posthumously in 1983 and 1996 respectively. In 2009 came \u003ci\u003eEntrapment and Other Writings\u003c\/i\u003e, a major collection of previously unpublished writings that included two early short story masterpieces, \"Forgive Them, Lord,\" and \"The Lightless Room,\" and the long unfinished novel fragment referenced in the book's title. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cb\u003eCOLIN ASHER\u003c\/b\u003e is the author of \u003ci\u003eNever a Lovely So Real \u003c\/i\u003e(W.W. Norton, 2019), the definitive biography of Nelson Algren. An instructor at CUNY, he was a 2015\/2016 Fellow at the Leon Levy Center for Biography.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Seven Stories Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50651555234066,"sku":"9781644212158","price":14.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_5830863b-d3c1-4b12-a29a-a4bc6c944eaf.jpg?v=1733304009","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/the-man-with-the-golden-arm-9781644212158","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}