Overview

Algren will spotlight the hard-knock life and authentic creative legacy of one of the most underrated writers of the twentieth century, Nelson Algren. Algren's brutally honest portrayal of the American underclass and his hard-nosed lifestyle became his pathway to compassion. Through interviews with Algren contemporaries, experts, and "literary soulmates," as well as through the photography of Algren's friends, Art Shay and Stephen Deutch, the film will tell his story. It will celebrate his tremendous contribution to and influence on American letters, and push Algren, champion of the marginalized, out from the margins.

Genres

Cast

Nelson Algren

Self (archive footage)

Russell Banks

Self

Billy Corgan

Self

Andrew Davis

Self

William Friedkin

Self

Philip Kaufman

Self

Wayne Kramer

Self

John Sayles

Self

Stephen Elliott

Self

Studs Terkel

Self