The Second Sex in the Works of Nelson Algren
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When referring to this work, full bibliographic details including the author, title, awarding institution and date of the thesis must be given e.g. AUTHOR (year of submission) "Full thesis title", University of Southampton, name of the University School or Department, PhD Thesis, pagination http://eprints.soton.ac.uk UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHAMPTON FACULTY OF HUMANITIES School of English THE SECOND SEX IN THE WORKS OF NELSON ALGREN by CHRISTINE GUILFOYLE Thesis for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy December 2014 UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHAMPTON ABSTRACT FACULTY OF HUMANITIES School of English Thesis for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy THE SECOND SEX IN THE WORKS OF NELSON ALGREN Christine Amanda Guilfoyle This is the first critical study in the history of Nelson Algren criticism and scholarship to focus on Algren’s representation(s) of women. The critical consensus is that his women are ‘sympathetically imagined’ yet Algren has a reputation for being ‘no feminist.’ In this thesis I unpack this dichotomy by performing radical re-readings of his four novels, Somebody in Boots (1935), Never Come Morning (1942), The Man with the Golden Arm (1949), and A Walk on the Wild Side (1956). In each case I demonstrate that these novels perform feminist and masculinity studies work in their documentation and problematisation of rape and prostitution. I also unpack the mythologisation of love in Algren’s work which is based on out-dated readings of his protagonists’ intimate relationships and on a too-close association of his life with his literature. As such, this thesis also foregrounds the role critical readings play in the construction of a writer’s reputation. The ‘second sex’ of the title signals a) the thesis’s focus on women and b) the personal connection between Algren and Simone de Beauvoir who met on the cusp of writing The Man with the Golden Arm and The Second Sex. Re-reading archival evidence, I argue that Algren’s reputation as ‘no feminist’ owes much to being cast as Beauvoir’s ‘macho’ lover in the mythology of their relationship. Putting Algren’s women at the centre of readings demonstrates that he brought an incisive awareness of gender issues to the table when he and Beauvoir met in 1947. Foregrounding the women in Algren’s work, the richness and sophistication of Algren’s writing comes more fully to light. This thesis aims to provide a clearer sense of Algren’s place in American literature and an assessment of his relevance to the international canon of work on human sexuality, prostitution, and rape. Table of Contents Table of Contents ..................................................................................................................... i List of Illustrations ................................................................................................................. iii Declaration of Authorship ......................................................................................................v Acknowledgments ................................................................................................................. vii Abbreviations ........................................................................................................................... ix Introduction ................................................................................................................................1 Chapter One Portraits of Women Never Before Given: A Complex Experiment in Narration ...............................................................................................................17 Somebody in Boots Chapter Two Love in the Jungle: ..................................................65 Never Come Morning Chapter Three Love in the Neon Wilderness: .....................117 The Man with the Golden Arm Chapter Four The Monkey’s Other Paw: .............145 A Walk on the Wild Side Chapter Five Reading Women on the Wild Side: .........185 Conclusion Reading Men, Reading Women ..................................................................225 Appendix: ‘A Walk on the Wild Side’ ..............................................................................229 BIBLIOGRAPHY ........................................................................................................................231 i List of Illustrations 1. Nelson Algren, Collage, The Nelson Algren Collection at the Rare Books and Manuscripts Library of the Ohio State University (NA/OSU) 2. Jenny Meunier, Algren with Joan Ballard (Kerckhoff) in sight, by kind permission 3. Book covers, Somebody in Boots (my photograph of Mayflower-Dell (1964) paperback edition), Never Come Morning, The Neon Wilderness, and A Walk on the Wild Side <www.coverbrowser.com> [accessed 24 December 2014] 4. Mugshot of Algren < http://www.nelsonalgren.org/> [accessed 24 December 2014] 5. Art Shay, photograph of Simone de Beauvoir, by kind permission 6. Algren, application for Guggenheim grant, Bettina Drew Papers on Nelson Algren, SPEC.RARE.CMS.147, The Ohio State University Rare Books and Manuscripts Library (BD/OSU) 7. Collage fragment: police brutality 8. Algren, Sketches ‘Drawn in jail, Alpine, Texas’, NA/OSU 9. Photograph, William S. Hart in Every Inch a Man, <www.silenthollywood.com> [accessed 24 December 2014] 10. ‘Pornography. Threat or Menace? A True Story’, NA/OSU 11. Art Shay, ‘Women’s Court, Chicago’, by kind permission 12. Algren, Sketch of boxers, NA/OSU 13. Algren, Collage fragment: Mama Lucille from A Walk on the Wild Side 14. Algren, Collage fragment: Dégas’s In a Café 15. Algren, Collage fragment: Plastic Man 16. Advertising poster for talks by Algren, Colorado State University, NA/OSU 17. The Strange Woman book cover <www.coverbrowser.com>; film poster <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:The_Strange_Woman_1946_poster.jpg> [both accessed 4 December 2014] 18. Algren, Sketch, woman in doorway, NA/OSU 19. Algren, Sketch, cowboy preaching from the cover of a book, NA/OSU 20. Algren, ‘The Mythical People’ NA/OSU 21. Nelson Abraham (aged 1) and family, NA/OSU 22. Algren, Collage fragment: man reading, NA/OSU iii Declaration of Authorship I, Christine Guilfoyle declare that the thesis entitled The Second Sex in the Works of Nelson Algren and the work presented in the thesis are both my own, and have been generated by me as the result of my own original research. I confirm that: • this work was done wholly or mainly while in candidature for a research degree at this University; • where any part of this thesis has previously been submitted for a degree or any other qualification at this University or any other institution, this has been clearly stated; • where I have consulted the published work of others, this is always clearly attributed; • where I have quoted from the work of others, the source is always given. With the exception of such quotations, this thesis is entirely my own work; • I have acknowledged all main sources of help; • where the thesis is based on work done by myself jointly with others, I have made clear exactly what was done by others and what I have contributed myself; • none of this work has been published before submission. Signed: ……………………………………………………………………….. Date:……………………………………………………………………………. v Acknowledgments I thank the Arts and Humanities Research Council for the research award that made this PhD thesis possible and for a travel bursary to spend three weeks in the Nelson Algren Collection at the Rare Book and Special Collections at Columbus Ohio University Library in 2010. My thanks too to the University of Southampton’s Centre for Language, Linguistics and Area Studies for a travel bursary in 2008. My warmest thanks to my supervisor, Professor Clare Hanson, for her advice and guidance over the last three years. And a special thank you to my supervisory team in the first half of my candidature, Dr Gail McDonald and Professor David Glover. To Professor Mary Orr, my sincere thanks for her pastoral support and guidance over the past ten pre- and post-graduate years. And to Dr Loraine Day, a special thank you for introducing me to the idea that Nelson Algren might have had rather more of an influence on the writing of The Second Sex than previously recognised. I owe a very big thank you to Rebecca Jewett and her team at the Rare Books and Manuscripts Library of the Ohio State University for making my time in the archives run so smoothly and enjoyably. A very warm thank you to Art Shay and Jenny Meunier for their kind permissions to illustrate parts of the thesis with their photographs and to Nelson Algren’s estate for their permission to include some of Algren’s drawings. My thanks too to the Meridel Le Sueur estate for their permission to cite from Le Sueur’s letters to Bettina Drew. For their friendship and for welcoming me into their homes, I thank Art Shay and the late Florence Shay, Jenny and Claude Meunier, Joe Pintauro and Greg Therriault, Warren Leming and Laura Weathered, Jan and Janet Herman. I am likewise grateful to Dr Martha Heasley Cox, Roger Groening, Linda Kay,