The Day of the Locust - Softcover

West, Nathanael

3.71

22,665 ratings by Goodreads

Softcover

ISBN 10: 8087830261 ISBN 13: 9788087830260

Publisher: Lightning Source Inc, 2013

View all copies of this ISBN edition:

"The Day of the Locust" is the celebrated 1939 novel about the Great Depression, set in Hollywood, California, its over-arching themes dealing 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.

"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.

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.

Review:

“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

"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.