CHICAGO WRITERS AND FRENCH INTELLECTUALS.

CHICAGO WRITERS AND FRENCH INTELLECTUALS. I argued yesterday that Nelson Algren was not, as Adam Gopnik suggests, using the photo of Simone de Beauvoir to show off his affair with her. In fact, Algren hated publicity about the affair. Simone de Beauvoir wrote a novel about the affair called THE MANDARINS. Not only is a main character based on Algren, but the book is dedicated to him. I remember Art Shay saying that Algren complained that “She invaded her own privacy,” and that Algren had written in one copy under the dedication to Nelson Algren, “because he is my ideal.” Algren did save her letters, however, and their later publication led to the kind of lengthy discussion of the affair that appears here and here.