Confronting the Horror
James R. Giles | Filed under: Literature & Literary CriticismIn Confronting the Horror, James R. Giles examines the evolution of Algren’s major themes—external oppression and internal anxiety. He discusses Algren’s fiction in relation to Maxim Gorky’s explanation of the “lower depths” and the works of two contemporary writers, Hubert Selby, Jr., and John Rechy, who combine naturalistic technique with a largely existential, absurdist vision. Giles conclusion is forcefully argued, that Algren’s novels are thematically richer and more complex than hitherto regarded and represent the work of an American writer of the first order.