> > Next is Nelson Algren, whose work is staring at
me from the
> > library.
>
> Now there's a slam dunk in the noir category. I was
particularly
impressed
> with his short story collection "The Neon
Wilderness". Dark, seedy,
> desperate. Great stuff.
>
> I thought the book "Man with the Golden Arm"
although beautifully
written,
> dragged a bit, but the flick with a surprisingly
convincing
performance by
> Sinatra is really worth seeing.
>
> Brad
>
>
I've only read THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN ARM by Algren so far
& it's a wonderful book despite Algren apparently
swallowing the quaint notion that morphine withdrawals can
return, in full force, even many years after an addict has
"kicked". I imagine a situation somewhat like this - Algren
has been doing his research by interviewing an old
pal/acquaintance (for argument's sake we'll call him
"Shakey").: Algren: Wassup Shakey, you're not looking too
good today. Shakey:I'm not, man, I'm really jonesin'. Algren
(raising his eyebrow):I thought you'd kicked? Shakey: I did,
man, I did! Algren: So how come you've got the shakes,
Shakey? Shakey: You don't understand. It can hit you any
time, you start thinking about it & wham! You're jonesin!
Even ten years later it can just hit ya out of nowhere!
Algren (pulling out his Notepad): Hmm. Shakey: How about
lending me some bread? Algren: Isn't that going to start you
off again? Shakey: No, no - I tell ya, I'm as cured as anyone
can get - I'll be OK till next time. It might not happen for
years. Algren: Well, OK, as long as you're not using again.
Shakey: I'm not, I swear on my mother's grave.Thanks, Nelson.
You're a real pal..
(Exeunt Shakey, tightly holding on to his wad of bills &
eternally grateful to the gullibility of square johns like
Algren). Despite my taking the piss, it is a classic book -
and less about addiction than you might think (the Golden Arm
of the title refers to Frankie Machine's prowess with a pair
of dice rather than the amount of money that gets injected,
metaphorically speaking, into Frankie's arm). Eventually,
I'll get around to reading his other works - I doubt I'll be
disappointed.
(And yeah, Frank Sinatra did a brilliant job playing Frankie
Machine in the movie. In fact , Ol' Blue Eyes is a much
underrated actor, IMO as well as a talented singer - even if
he's an A-grade asshole in other respects. On an unrelated
note, what's scaring me is not the fact that I like Frank's
classic recordings these days but that I'm even starting to
listen to Dean Martin. Is this a side-effect of hitting the
40's?)
Rene
-- # To unsubscribe from the regular list, say "unsubscribe rara-avis" to # majordomo@icomm.ca. This will not work for the digest version. # The web pages for the list are at http://www.miskatonic.org/rara-avis/ .
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : 12 Jun 2002 EDT