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Nathanael West

3.7/5 ( ratings)
Born
October 16 1903
Died
2121 12 19401940
Born Nathanael von Wallenstein Weinstein to prosperous Jewish parents, from the first West set about creating his own legend, and anglicising his name was part of that process. At Brown University in Rhode Island, he befriended writer and humourist S. J. Perelman , and started writing and drawing cartoons. As his cousin Nathan Wallenstein also attended Brown, West took to borrowing his work and presenting it as his own. He almost didn't graduate at all, on account of failing a crucial course in modern drama. West indulged in a little dramatics of his own and, in tearful contrition, convinced a gullible professor to upgrade his marks.

After spending a couple of years in Paris, where he wrote his first novel, The Dream Life of Balso Snell, he returned to New York, where he managed a small hotel, the Sutton, owned by his family. As well as providing free board for struggling friends like Dashiell Hammett, the job also gave West ample opportunity to observe the strange collection of misfits and drifters who congregated in the hotel's drugstore. Some of these would appear in West's novel Miss Lonelyhearts.

West spent the rest of his days in Hollywood, writing B-movie screenplays for small studios and immersing himself in the unglamorous underworld of Tinseltown, with its dope dealers, extras, gangsters, whores and has-beens. All would end up in West's final masterpiece, The Day of the Locust.

West's life ultimately ended as tragically as his fictions. Recently married, and with better-paid script work coming in, West was happy and successful. Then, returning from a trip to Mexico with his wife Eileen, he crashed his car after ignoring a stop sign and killed them both. This was just one day after the death of his friend F. Scott Fitzgerald.

Nathanael West

3.7/5 ( ratings)
Born
October 16 1903
Died
2121 12 19401940
Born Nathanael von Wallenstein Weinstein to prosperous Jewish parents, from the first West set about creating his own legend, and anglicising his name was part of that process. At Brown University in Rhode Island, he befriended writer and humourist S. J. Perelman , and started writing and drawing cartoons. As his cousin Nathan Wallenstein also attended Brown, West took to borrowing his work and presenting it as his own. He almost didn't graduate at all, on account of failing a crucial course in modern drama. West indulged in a little dramatics of his own and, in tearful contrition, convinced a gullible professor to upgrade his marks.

After spending a couple of years in Paris, where he wrote his first novel, The Dream Life of Balso Snell, he returned to New York, where he managed a small hotel, the Sutton, owned by his family. As well as providing free board for struggling friends like Dashiell Hammett, the job also gave West ample opportunity to observe the strange collection of misfits and drifters who congregated in the hotel's drugstore. Some of these would appear in West's novel Miss Lonelyhearts.

West spent the rest of his days in Hollywood, writing B-movie screenplays for small studios and immersing himself in the unglamorous underworld of Tinseltown, with its dope dealers, extras, gangsters, whores and has-beens. All would end up in West's final masterpiece, The Day of the Locust.

West's life ultimately ended as tragically as his fictions. Recently married, and with better-paid script work coming in, West was happy and successful. Then, returning from a trip to Mexico with his wife Eileen, he crashed his car after ignoring a stop sign and killed them both. This was just one day after the death of his friend F. Scott Fitzgerald.

Books from Nathanael West

Miss Lonelyhearts / The Day of the Locust

3.9/5 ( ratings)

Miss Lonelyhearts

3.6/5 ( ratings)

Miss Lonelyhearts and A Cool Million

3.7/5 ( ratings)

A Cool Million

3.6/5 ( ratings)

The Dream Life of Balso Snell

3.2/5 ( ratings)

A Cool Million and the Dream Life of Balso Snell: Two Novels

3.7/5 ( ratings)

Novels and Other Writings: The Dream Life of Balso Snell / Miss Lonelyhearts / A Cool Million / The Day of the Locust / Letters

4.2/5 ( ratings)

The Day of the Locust

3.3/5 ( ratings)

Writing Los Angeles: A Literary Anthology (Library of America)

4.1/5 ( ratings)

The Day of the Locust and The Dream Life of Balso Snell

3.7/5 ( ratings)

The Collected Works of Nathanael West

3.6/5 ( ratings)

Het droomleven van Balso Snell / Miss Lonelyhearts

4/5 ( ratings)

The Day of the Locust

4/5 ( ratings)

The Essential Writings

4/5 ( ratings)

Miss Lonelyhearts & The Day of the Locust

4/5 ( ratings)

Госпожица Самотни сърца • Денят на скакалеца • Цял милион

4/5 ( ratings)

Miss Lonelyhearts

4/5 ( ratings)

MISS LONELYHEARTS

4/5 ( ratings)

A Cool Million and The Dream Life of Balso Snell: Two Novels

4/5 ( ratings)

The Day of the Locust: A Martos Graphic Production

4/5 ( ratings)
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