Algren, Nelson (ôl'grun) [key], 1909–81, American novelist, b. Detroit. He grew up in Chicago, and much of his fiction is set in the slums. His novels, such as Never Come Morning (1942), The Man with the Golden Arm (1949), and A Walk on the Wild Side (1956), are brutally realistic. In a lighter vein are the personal sketches collected in Who Lost an American (1963), Notes from a Sea Diary (1965), and The Last Carousel (1973).
