Windy City Writers
Some of my favorite Chicago writers
Later today I’ll be on a flight to Chicago so I thought it would be fun to look at some of the incredible writers who hail from the windy city. When I think of Chicago I think of steel companies, Lake Michigan, weather, urban landscapes and when it comes to literature I think of naturalism – realism steeped in determinism. Not every writer below explores naturalism, but they are all considered Chicago writers.
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What I didn’t know was that Chicago was once the hub of the American publishing industry. Nor did I know that a Chicago literary magazine titled, The Little Review was the first to publish James Joyce’s Ulysses as a serialization until the magazine shut down because of obscenity charges, but that’s a story for another time.
What I do know it that the following writers scream Chicago to me. I’ve selected one book that I think represents their work, but this was no easy task.
Chicago Poems by Carl Sandburg
“The fog comes
on little cat feet.”
I don’t typically quote poetry, but I used this line in my young adult novel, Strays.
"Chicago Poems" is an early collection of poems by American writer, poet, and three-time Pulitzer Prize winner Carl Sandburg. Published in 1916 and his first by a mainstream publisher, this collection was a critical success and began Sandburg's career as a notable writer. Sandburg was a champion of an American form of social realism that celebrated American people, industry, and agriculture. He expressed this sentiment in an easy-to-read and plain-speaking free verse, a style that is often compared to Walt Whitman.
The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros
I first read The House on Mango Street living in a tent on a farm on the Sonoma Coast one summer. I loved these vibrant stories.
"The House on Mango Street" has entered the canon of coming-of-age classics even as it depicts a new American landscape. Sometimes heartbreaking, sometimes deeply joyous, "The House on Mango Street" tells the story of Esperanza Cordero, whose neighborhood is one of harsh realities and harsh beauty.
The Great Believers by Rebecca Makkai
The Great Believers is one of the most beautiful and heartbreaking novels I’ve ever read, set in Chicago, during the AIDS epidemic (San Francisco or New York have typically been the backdrop to these stories) And bonus, Rebecca was a guest on my book recommendation podcast: Books Are My People.
You can listen to me interview her here.
I read this one my senior year in high school, thank you Hyacinth, my amazing teacher. This is a powerful novel that sticks with you, in my case, twenty-nine years later!
Set in Chicago in the 1930s, Native Son is the story of Bigger Thomas, a young Black man caught in a downward spiral after killing a young white woman in a brief moment of panic. Written with the distinctive rhythm of a modern crime story, this formidable work is both a condemnation of social injustice and an unsparing portrait of the Black experience in America, revealing the tragic effect of poverty, racism, and hopelessness on the human spirit.
Sister Carrie by Theodore Dreiser
Yes, it’s thick and dated, however, I read this in graduate school when I was receiving my MA in English and I don’t know that I wouldn’t have gotten as much out of it reading it on my own, but my professor made this the most interesting book.
Long before she was seduced by the cautious and ordinary man whose life she would unravel with no malice and only intermittent interest, the young Carrie Meeber was seduced by the promise of the city--its vitality and reckless possibility, the thrill of material luxury, and the spectacle of power and industry. Banned on publication for its questionable morals, Sister Carrie is the great American novel of seduction, a masterpiece of insight into appetite and innocence.
The Man with the Golden Arm by Nelson Algren
Okay, truth be told, I haven’t read this one, but I want to! And it was recently an answer to a question on my husband’s trivia league.
Writing in the same period as Wright, Algren also dramatized the struggles of a troubled, lower-class character, but on the Northwest Side instead of the South. Much of Algren’s work is grounded in the Polish neighborhood around Division and Milwaukee (now the drastically transformed Wicker Park), and his Chicago: City on the Make is another vivid sketch of the city.
The Coast of Chicago by Stuart Dybek
I wish I could remember the name of the story from this collection that I loved so much! But I read it so long ago and the title escapes me.
The stolid landscape of Chicago suddenly turns dreamlike and otherworldly in Stuart Dybek's classic story collection. A child's collection of bottle caps becomes the tombstones of a graveyard. A lowly rightfielder's inexplicable death turns him into a martyr to baseball. Strains of Chopin floating down the tenement airshaft are transformed into a mysterious anthem of loss.
Who would you add to this list?
I hope you can come to Cleveland. There are so many authors for you to explore.