Alex Kudera’s award-winning novel, Fight for Your Long Day (Atticus Books), was drafted in a walk-in closet during a summer in Seoul, South Korea. Auggie’s Revenge (Beating Windward Press) is his second novel. His numerous short stories include “Frade Killed Ellen” (Dutch Kills Press), “Bombing from Above” (Heavy Feather Review), and “A Thanksgiving” (Eclectica Magazine).
Showing posts with label Chicago. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Chicago. Show all posts
Wednesday, March 11, 2026
Monday, July 22, 2019
Chicago, that [broken] city. . .
I finished the Nelson Algren biography, a wonderful book. Algren's life was not presented as one in which he had to share Chicago only with Richard Wright, who left, or Saul Bellow, who mainly stayed but also left. Simone de Beauvoir figures prominently in the narrative, as does Algren's entanglement with federal authorities over his involvement with the Communist movement as a young man. The Guardian and The Chicago Sun-Times present news of the day which would fit the Depression-era 1930s when Algren and Wright first became acquainted in the Windy City.
Also, I stumbled upon a blogger who connected Algren's writing with Bukowski's, no doubt because they both so often chose downtrodden misfits and outcasts as their subjects although with Bukowski, he is much more evidently writing about himself through his alter-ego Henry Chinaski. Algren would be the more richly descriptive writer, but Bukowski seems to be the one who has lasted as far as book sales and cultural memory are concerned.
Also, I stumbled upon a blogger who connected Algren's writing with Bukowski's, no doubt because they both so often chose downtrodden misfits and outcasts as their subjects although with Bukowski, he is much more evidently writing about himself through his alter-ego Henry Chinaski. Algren would be the more richly descriptive writer, but Bukowski seems to be the one who has lasted as far as book sales and cultural memory are concerned.
Thursday, June 4, 2015
Bellow short stack
— Alex Kudera (@kudera) June 4, 2015
3 favorite Saul Bellow characters or scenes 1) Ravelstein watching Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls 2) Sammler observing, famously & 1/2
— Alex Kudera (@kudera) June 4, 2015
3) Saul Bellow's depiction in Humboldt's Gift of Delmore Schwartz as "the first poet with power brakes"; fav prose, opening para. of Herzog.
— Alex Kudera (@kudera) June 4, 2015
Thursday, November 6, 2014
Hemon in Chicago
Because I'm teaching The Lazarus Project right now, I googled Aleksandar Hemon and arrived at an article on his love of his adopted city of Chicago. Although back in Sarajevo his parents were technical people, urban, affluent STEM-folk, Hemon had a humble start in America's "somber city":
With just $300 in his pocket, the young man was forced to scramble for odd jobs—waiter, Greenpeace canvasser—while managing his fear and longing for Sarajevo. He set about learning Chicago by walking its neighborhoods. “Pullman, Beverly, Lakeview, and then the Parks—Hyde, Lincoln, Rogers,” he writes in The Book of My Lives. “I began to sort out the geography of Chicagoland, assembling a street map in my mind, building by building, door by door . . . I was a low-wage, immigrant flaneur.”
With just $300 in his pocket, the young man was forced to scramble for odd jobs—waiter, Greenpeace canvasser—while managing his fear and longing for Sarajevo. He set about learning Chicago by walking its neighborhoods. “Pullman, Beverly, Lakeview, and then the Parks—Hyde, Lincoln, Rogers,” he writes in The Book of My Lives. “I began to sort out the geography of Chicagoland, assembling a street map in my mind, building by building, door by door . . . I was a low-wage, immigrant flaneur.”
Tuesday, January 7, 2014
MLA subconference
Late Wednesday, I'm due to arrive in Chicago for the MLA subconference on "Resisting Vulnerable Times," where I'll be reading from Fight for Your Long Day as part of a panel on adjunct labor and pedagogy.
Our discussion is scheduled for Thursday, January 9, from 4 to 5:30 p.m., and you should be able to watch it live here. The entire two-day program looks fantastic, and the presenters' bios are impressive. I'm excited. Nervous, too.
Our discussion is scheduled for Thursday, January 9, from 4 to 5:30 p.m., and you should be able to watch it live here. The entire two-day program looks fantastic, and the presenters' bios are impressive. I'm excited. Nervous, too.
Tuesday, April 24, 2012
April 24 (jazz guitar)
We take a break now from all literary contingencies as well as our yesterday's pandering to the publishing masses in order to bring you some jazz sounds from Chicago, Illinois. Sit back, relax, and enjoy Tuesday a.m. tunes brought to you with occasional accomplices by guitarist Andy Brown.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)