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Existentialists and Expatriates mediates on the social consciousness of Paris through the 1940 and 60s, peak years of existentialist ideologies that traveled amongst critical French writers and thinkers. Nelson Algren was amongst the circle of famous writers like Albert Camus and George Orwell creating and publishing during that period. Simone de Beauvoir, famous writer and existentialist, would write alongside Algren as a creative and romantic partner. Existentialists and Expatriates refers to Agnes Poirier’s book on French existentialists, “Left Bank”, for more insight on these figures and provides some context to the culture.

Nelson Algren’s romance with Simone de Beauvoir is undoubtedly an important chapter of his personal and professional life. Honor Moore’s “De Beauvoir, Giving In to and Resisting Love” recall Algren’s life as majorly entwined with de Beauvoir; she would offer feedback on his writings and they inspired each other in their related but also respective passions. Moore quotes de Beauvoir from a letter she wrote to Algren, “I am nothing else now but that burning, proud, impatient longing for you”.

Algren and de Beauvoir had an ongoing disconnect in how they desired to be together. Algren has established himself as a writer from Chicago, his cabin in Gary being the birthplace of his most famous writings, and did not want to separate himself from that success. De Beauvoir felt her roots in Paris too deep to move to Algren. These quirks have both charmed and disconcerted those around them to their very particular love affair.

The Feminist and the Tough Guy is a genuinely soft, compassionate glimpse into Nelson Algren and Simone de Beauvoir’s life together. While their love for each other was tangible even to outsiders who knew the couple, they were continuously at an impasse on what love itself should and should not be. Simone is quoted as saying, “[she] felt no one was diminished by having or being with someone else”, whereas Algren believed, “To him, ‘If you say you love me, baby, you love me and you don’t sneak around’”. Quotes from Nelson suggest he perceived love as monogamous commitment, which was not possible for de Beauvoir with her marriage, but more importantly seems opposed to love that needs to exist on its own to survive. Part of the allure of their relationship is how they were not very politically like-minded, rather diametrically opposed to the other, yet continued a deep and passionate affair for years.

Nelson Algren’s biographer, Bettina Drew, describes Algren as a “tall, lanky, attractive man with mussed blond hair, steel rimmed glasses, and a sensitive face”. “A Literary Romance Sadly Ahead of its Time” states, “his wardrobe was consistently bold shirts and bowties”, which suggests that Algren’s style was conscious of his frustration with the shortcomings of modern society. Simone de Beauvoir admired the gruffness in his personality and wardrobe, it brought her attention to him. The article shares a beautifully vulnerable direct quote from a letter de Beauvoir wrote to Algren on her flight back home to France after visiting him in Chicago and at his cabin in Miller Beach, “My own nice, wonderful and beloved local youth. I put my forehead against the window and I cried, with the beautiful blue sea below me, and the crying was sweet because it was love, your love and my love, our love. I love you.” Their relationship is profound in its dedication and tangible tenderness, there’s such an interesting conversation to be had on the nuances of their romance, whether there were ever intentions unfulfilled. It does seem that “A Literary Romance Sadly Ahead of its Time” confused on its interpretation of de Beauvoir and Algren’s relationship because it did not fit the traditional archetype of intimate relationships; de Beauvoir and Jean-Paul Sartre were in a non-monogamous partnership and most of her contact with Algren was transcendental. Public perception of open relationships is recently developing to be more tolerant, but Algren and de Beauvoir were in a modern romance before any change in social-consciousness and ethics of non-monogyny.