The Day of the Locust

by Nathanael West

Overview

The Day of the Locust is a 1939 novel by American author Nathanael West, set in Hollywood, California during the Great Depression, its overarching themes deal with the alienation and desperation of a broad group of odd individuals who exist at the fringes of the Hollywood movie industry.

In 1998, the Modern Library ranked The Day of the Locust #73 on its list of the 100 best English-language novels of the 20th century. Time magazine included the novel in its list of 100 best English-language novels from 1923 to 2005, and noted critic Harold Bloom included it in his list of canonical works in the book The Western Canon.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9798897731084
Publisher:	Bibliotech Press
Publication date:	03/08/2025
Pages:	154
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.50(d)

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.

Editorial Reviews

"Los Angeles has been the subject of, and setting for, many fine novels yet The Day of the Locust still feels like the single best-achieved piece of fiction the city has inspired."

The Los Angeles Times

"West's Day of the Locust, a sun-blazed Polaroid of its time, seems permanently oracular."

Jonathan Lethem

"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."

The New York Times

"A horselaugh at a world that is too ugly and bitter to be dealt with in any other way." - The New York Times

"Scenes of extraordinary power." - F. Scott Fitzgerald

"Los Angeles has been the subject of, and setting for, many fine novels yet The Day of the Locust still feels like the single best-achieved piece of fiction the city has inspired." - The Los Angeles Times

"By applying the magpie aesthetics of Surrealism and T.S. Eliot to the 'American Grain,' by delving into the popular culture and emerging not with surrender or refusal but a razor-cool critique, West became the great precursor to Heller, Pynchon, Philip K. Dick, George Saunders, and so much else." - Jonathan Lethem

"It's brilliant, savage and arresting - a truly good novel." - Dorothy Parker

"This is the Hollywood that needs telling about ... I got a kick out of it!" - Dashiell Hammett

"This is the sleazy side of Hollywood. The wouldbes, the neverwases, the hopefuls, and the pretenders ... the shams, the deceits and the lies by which they live. All are here ... it packs a knockout punch." - The Chicago Tribune

"[West's] novels say more about the way we live now - and the things that brought us to our present pass - than any other work of fiction I can think of." - The New Yorker

From the Publisher