Adam Selzer

July 25, 1999

Post #893 – 19990725

I have finally procured a copy of “The Education of Robert Nifkin.” “Finally,” I thought. I read it all in one sitting. “Finally. Exactly. Beautiful,” I thought. Has any of the Chicago you describe in this book survived 4 decades of “progress?”

thanks

Daniel replies:

Finally? Finally? Exactly? Beautiful? What are you talking about? Am I done? Was Robert Nifkin it? Can I stop with literature now and write stuff that will make me a buck? Last time I was in Chicago, I was in a bookstore over near the Biograph Theater where Dillinger was shot...bookstores, cafes, theaters, happy people...when I lived in Chicago there was nothing in that neighborhood but guys in steel-toed shoes, waiting for the bus.