Passeggiate selvagge e dintorni: le traiettorie mondadoriane di Nelson Algren (1949-1963)

Between 1954 and 1961, the Italian publishing house Mondadori published Nelson Algren’s four most important titles: L’uomo dal braccio d’oro, 1954 (The Man with the Golden Arm, 1949); Mai venga il mattino, 1956 (Never Come Morning, 1942); Le notti di Chicago, 1957 (The Neon Wilderness, 1947); Passeggiata selvaggia, 1961 (A Walk on the Wild Side, 1956), adding as a coda, in 1966, the essay collection Chi ha perduto un americano?, 1966 (Who Lost an American?, 1963). However, the 1950s critical reception of the Mondadori intellectuals/publishers/advisors points to a problematic placement of Algren in the Italian postwar American literary canon that partly mirrors the author’s trajectory in the United States. In this essay, I will examine Algren’s Italian publishing history by starting with his American trajectory and analyzing archival documents held at the Arnoldo and Alberto Mondadori Foundation.