Question: Which writer was born first, Nelson Algren or Robert Desnos
Context: The Man with the Golden Arm is a 1955 American drama film with elements of film noir, based on the novel of the same name by Nelson Algren, which tells the story of a drug addict who gets clean while in prison, but struggles to stay that way in the outside world.  Although the addictive drug is never identified in the film, according to the American Film Institute "most contemporary and modern sources assume that it is heroin", in contrast to Algren's book which named the drug as morphine.  The film stars Frank Sinatra, Eleanor Parker, Kim Novak, Arnold Stang and Darren McGavin.  It was adapted for the screen by Walter Newman, Lewis Meltzer and Ben Hecht (uncredited), and directed by Otto Preminger.  The film's initial release sparked controversy due to its serious, in-depth treatment of the then-taboo subject of drug addiction. The Man with the Golden Arm is a novel by Nelson Algren, published by Doubleday in November 1949.  One of the seminal novels of post-World War II American letters, "The Man with the Golden Arm" is widely considered Algren's greatest and most enduring work.  It won the National Book Award in 1950. Chicago: City on the Make is an essay by Nelson Algren published in 1951.  Initially greeted with scorn by critics and newspaper editors in the city of its gaze (The "Chicago Daily News" famously called it a "Case for Ra(n)t Control"), it is now widely regarded by scholars as the definitive prose portrait of the city of Chicago, although it has never rivaled the literary status of Carl Sandburg's 1916 poem "Chicago."  Algren leans heavily on the imagery and themes developed by Sandburg, to whom Algren dedicated the book.  Curiously, he also quietly leans upon a poem about New York called "The City" by Ben Maddow, from whom Algren lifted powerful images of urban life.  Subsequent portraits of Chicago, such as Studs Terkel's 1985 "Chicago", have likewise leaned heavily upon Algren's work. Nelson Algren (March 28, 1909 – May 9, 1981) was an American writer.  He may be best known for "The Man with the Golden Arm", a 1949 novel that won the National Book Award and was adapted as a 1955 film of the same name. Chantefleurs et Chantefables is a song cycle for soprano and orchestra set to the poems of Robert Desnos by the Polish composer Witold Lutosławski.  The work was composed from 1989 to 1991 and was first performed at The Proms by the soprano Solveig Kringlebotn and the BBC Symphony Orchestra under the direction of the composer on August 8, 1991.  The piece is Lutosławski's second composition set to the poetry of Robert Desnos, following 1975's "Les Espaces du sommeil". Robert Desnos (] ; 4 July 1900 – 8 June 1945), was a French surrealist poet who played a key role in the Surrealist movement of his day. Max Morise (1900-1973) was a French artist, writer & actor, associated with the Surrealist movement in Paris from 1924 to 1929.  He was friends with Robert Desnos and Roger Vitrac before they joined the Surrealist movement.  He contributed articles to "La Revolution Surrealiste" and took part in a series of round table discussions held by the group, regarding the nature of sex.  He also participated in several Surrealist games, most famously the "exquisite corpse".  André Breton quotes Morise twice in the first "Surrealist Manifesto"; after saying "We do not have any talent", Breton provides a quote by Vitrac and Paul Éluard, then says "Ask Max Morise" and provides this quote: A Walk on the Wild Side is a 1956 novel by Nelson Algren, most often quoted as the source for Algren's "three rules of life": "Never play cards with a man called Doc.  Never eat at a place called Mom's.  Never sleep with a woman whose troubles are worse than your own." Eric Robertson is Professor of Modern French Literary and Visual Culture at Royal Holloway, University of London.  His research focuses primarily on 20th century French literature, especially poetry, and the visual arts, with particular emphasis on European Modernism and the avant-gardes.  He is the author of "Arp: Painter, Poet, Sculptor" (2006), "Writing Between the Lines", a study of the bilingual novelist and essayist René Schickele (1995), and various articles and chapters on 20th century French literature, especially poetry, and visual arts.  He is also the co-editor of "Yvan Goll - Claire Goll: Texts and Contexts" (1997), "Robert Desnos: Surrealism in the Twenty-First Century" (2006), "Dada and Beyond Volume 1: Dada Discourses" (2011) and "Dada and Beyond Volume 2: Dada and its Legacies" (2012).  Professor Robertson recently completed a monograph exploring the writings of Blaise Cendrars in the light of his interactions with artists, photographers and filmmakers, including Sonia Delaunay, Robert Delaunay, Robert Doisneau, Abel Gance, Fernand Léger and Léopold Survage.  Further ongoing projects include a study of avant-garde art and virtual technologies. Somebody in Boots is writer Nelson Algren's first novel, based on his personal experiences of living in Texas during the Great Depression.  The novel was published by Vanguard Press in 1935.  The title refers to someone with material well-being and authority, as poor folk and the powerless wore shoes or went barefoot.  The bosses and police feared by the poor and downtrodden wear boots, which not only symbolize their power and relative affluence, but can be used as weapons against them.
Answer: Robert Desnos