The Day of the Locust (New Directions Paperbook) - Softcover

West, Nathanael

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0811224619 ISBN 13: 9780811224611

Publisher: New Directions, 2015

Synopsis

Admired by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Dorothy Parker, and Dashiell Hammett, and hailed as one of the Best 100 English-language novels by Time magazine, The Day of the Locust continues to influence American writers, artists, and culture. Bob Dylan wrote the classic song Day of the Locusts in homage and Matt Groening s Homer Simpson is named after one of its characters. No novel more perfectly captures the nuttier side of Hollywood. Here the lens is turned on its fringes actors out of work, film extras with big dreams, and parents lining their children up for small roles. But it s the bit actress Faye Greener who steals the spotlight with her wildly convuluted dreams of stardom: I m going to be a star some day if I m not I ll commit suicide. "

About this title

Review:

Nathanael West's humor is of course not at the expense of the victim. It is a horselaugh at a world that is too ugly and bitter to be dealt with in any other way.

About the Author:

In 1940, when an automobile accident prematurely claimed Nathanael West's life, he was a relatively obscure writer, the author of only four short novels. West's reputation has grown considerably since then and he is now considered one of the 20th century's major authors. Born in New York, West worked as the night manager of the Kenmore Hotel on East 23rd Street in Manhattan, as a contract scriptwriter for Columbia Pictures in Hollywood, and as a screenwriter for RKO Radio Picture.

About this edition

• Publisher: New Directions
• Publication date: 2015
• ISBN 10: 0811224619
• ISBN 13: 9780811224611
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 160