Video: Gwendolyn Brooks Eulogizes Nelson Algren

By Chuck Sudo in Arts & Entertainment on Apr 7, 2014 1:30PM

The four giants of the post-Chicago literary renaissance are Saul Bellow, Richard Wright, Nelson Algren and Gwendolyn Brooks so it seems fair to assume the authors had a mutual admiration for each other.

Algren died May 9, 1981. On June 29, 1981 a memorial service was held for Algren at Second City that included a moving eulogy by Brooks.

I respected Nelson Algren as a Chicago pioneer. His realism was clear and exhaustive. He Emphasized with the poor and put-upon.

The Algren eye was straight, sharp, compassionate, but, cannily, assessing. So was the Nelson Algren heart.

Brooks' eulogy will be heard as part of the upcoming documentary Nelson Algren: The End is Nothing, the Road is All, one of two Algren docs in the works. Hear a snippet of Brooks' eulogy below.

Gwendolyn Brooks: excerpt from the Nelson Algren eulogy from Nelson Algren documentary on Vimeo.

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