Reader’s Corner: Algren’s Rules

Nelson Algren, somewhere in Chicago (Library of Congress)

There was always plenty to be learned in the Chicago novels of the great Nelson Algren—particularly in a negative sense, as in whatnotto do. One of Algren’s more memorable passages comes from 1956′sA Walk on the Wild Side:

But blow wise to this, buddy, blow wise to this: Never playcardswith a man called Doc. Never eat at a place called Mom’s. Never sleep with a woman whose troubles are worse than your own. Never let nobody talk you into...