This weekend we have one of the perennially, predictably nuttiest events of the Chicago year: The Nelson Algren Birthday Party, this year back from a long COVID hiatus and celebrating its own 28th birthday. I’m inspired to watch one more time this ridiculous (and also revealing) conversation between Algren and Studs Terkel, on why Algren was leaving the city where most of his stories are set and where he lived most of his life—for Paterson, New Jersey, where he knew practically no one.
Maybe I’ll see you tonight.
He forgot to mention what Paterson is best known for — William Carlos Williams. Williams even wrote a poem (over and over again) about Paterson. (Adam Driver starred in the 2016 movie about paterson, too.)
Well, Algren got to know a different Paterson than Williams was writing about. He was working on a story about the boxer Ruben “Hurricane” Carter, accused of a tavern murder, so skulking around the rough side of town. Also, in this video, you can tell he’s determined to say anything to make Studs Terkel giggle; and it works pretty well.