New Releases by Nathanael West

Dove poteva nascere questo romanzo rivoluzionario se non nella New York della Grande Depressione? E da dove poteva trarre la sua travolgente carica ironica se non negli ambienti ebraici dell''Upper West Side, dove Nathanael West, precursore di scrittori quali Saul Bellow e Philip Roth, è nato e cresciuto? "Miss cuori solitari" è così il capostipite di una grande tradizione letteraria, ma anche teatrale e cinematografica, americana. Nel romanzo, lo straniamento del protagonista - un giornalista titolare di una rubrica di consigli sentimentali e di vita - è sottolineato dal fatto che il suo vero nome non venga mai rivelato: è per tutti semplicemente ''Miss Lonelyhearts'', un uomo che soffre per l''abisso di dolore, di ignoranza, di sfruttamento, di miseria che rivelano le lettere delle sue lettrici, alle quali non riesce a dare risposte soddisfacenti al di là di un consolatorio ottimismo di maniera. Ma anche il suo mondo personale è vuoto, solitario, così come l''intera città è piena di personaggi stereotipati come il suo caporedattore Shrike, l''eterna fidanzata Betty, i colleghi, la moglie di Shrike, con la quale ha una relazione... È un mondo completamente falsato, sradicato, infelice, solitario e costruito su ideali fuorviami: "Gli uomini hanno sempre combattuto la loro condizione miserevole con il sogno. Benché un tempo i sogni avessero un grande potere, oggi sono stati ridotti a un grado puerile dal cinema, dalla radio e dai giornali", riflette Miss Lonelyhearts.

Nathanael West, originally named Nathan Weinstein, (1903 – 1940), was an American writer, primarily known for his satirical novels of the 1930s. His best-known works are "The Day of the Locust" and "Miss Lonelyhearts." Published in 1939, " The Day of the Locust" is a novel about the mythologies of Hollywood and the "American Dream." Enigmatic and disconcerting, this work narrates the experience of a set designer in a semi-hallucinatory and artificial Los Angeles (itself resembling a movie set), inhabited by a parade of eccentric characters and a crowd bewitched by the magic of cinema and promises of abundance and happiness. Both apocalyptic and moving, violent and absurdly comic, " The Day of the Locust" is, in the opinion of many, the best novel ever written about Hollywood.

Novela retrata bastidores da indústria de cinema de Hollywood durante a Grande Depressão. Volume traz também textos inéditos do autor americano. Los Angeles, anos 1930. Enquanto a economia norte-americana sofre as consequências do crash de 1929, o distrito de Hollywood atrai um grande contingente de pessoas em busca de fama e sucesso no mundo do cinema. É esse o universo em que se situa O Dia do Gafanhoto, novela escrita por um dos principais prosadores norte-americanos do século XX, Nathanael West (1903-1940). A narrativa apresenta uma galeria de personagens que circulam pelos estúdios, mansões de milionários, bordéis, rinhas de galo e sets de filmagem da cidade. Entre eles, a tríade formada por Tod Hackett, um jovem artista que ganha a vida desenhando figurinos e cenários; a bela Faye Greener, dançarina aspirante ao estrelato; e Homer Simpson, um contador que se mudara para a Costa Oeste para se recuperar de uma pneumonia. Protagonistas que retratam alguns dos "típicos sujeitos que vão para a Califórnia para morrer", como descreve o autor. Publicado pela primeira vez em 1939, O Dia do Gafanhoto permanece um dos melhores retratos dos bastidores de Hollywood durante a Grande Depressão. Em 1975, foi adaptado para o cinema, em filme homônimo dirigido por John Schlesinger. O livro traz também uma seleção de contos, ensaios e o único poema escrito por West, revelados no espólio do autor.

Viiltävä klassikkoteos Hollywoodin filmiteollisuudesta. Eletään 1930-lukua. Tod Hackett on nuori taidemaalari, joka on vastikään muuttanut Hollywoodiin. Kykyjenetsijä kiinnostui Hackettin töistä Taidekorkeakoulun oppilasnäyttelyssä, ja niin Hackett päätyi opiskelemaan lavastusta ja pukusuunnittelua elokuvamaailman keskuksessa. Lavastaminen ei kuitenkaan ole Hackettin mielessä päällimmäisenä – hän suunnittelee maalausta nimeltään Los Angelesin palo. Viimeistään se näyttäisi koko maailmalle Hackettin kyvyt. Vaan mistä taulussa onkaan loppujen lopuksi kyse? Ja millaiset ovat Hollywoodin todelliset kasvot? Heinäsirkan aika on Nathanael Westin monikerroksellinen romaani, joka on yltänyt Yhdysvalloissa klassikkoasemaan. Yhdysvaltalainen kirjailija Nathanael West (1903–1940) työskenteli myös käsikirjoittajana. Häneltä on suomennettu muun muassa teokset Balso Snellin unielämä sekä Heinäsirkan aika.

Nathanael West, nome original Nathan Weinstein, (1903 – 1940), foi um escritor americano, conhecido principalmente por seus romances satíricos na década de 1930. Suas obras mais conhecidas são: O Dia do Gafanhoto e Miss Corações Solitários. Publicado em 1939, " O Dia do Gafanhoto" é um romance sobre as mitologias de Hollywood e o "sonho Americano", Enigmática e desconcertante, esta obra narra a experiência de um desenhista de cenários em uma Los Angeles semi alucinada e artificial (ela própria semelhante a um cenário), habitada por um cortejo de personagens excêntricas e por uma multidão enfeitiçada pela magia do cinema e promessas de abundância e felicidade. Ao mesmo tempo apocalíptico e comovente, violento e absurdamente cômico, O dia do gafanhoto é, na opinião de muitos, o melhor romance já escrito sobre Hollywood

Welcome to the Essential Novelists book series, were we present to you the best works of remarkable authors. For this book, the literary critic August Nemo has chosen the two most important and meaningful novels of Nathanael West wich are Miss Lonelyhearts and The Day of the Locust. Nathanael West was an American writer best known for satiric novels of the 1930s. West saw the American dream as having been betrayed, both spiritually and materially, and in his writing he presented "a sweeping rejection of political causes, religious faith, artistic redemption and romantic love". This idea of the corrupt American dream endured long after his death, in the form of the term "West's disease", coined by the poet W. H. Auden to refer to poverty that exists in both a spiritual and economic sense. Novels selected for this book: - Miss Lonelyhearts. - The Day of the Locust.This is one of many books in the series Essential Novelists. If you liked this book, look for the other titles in the series, we are sure you will like some of the authors.

In The Day of the Locust a young artist, Tod Hackett, arrives in Los Angeles full of dreams. But celebrity and artifice rule and he soon joins the ranks of the disenchanted that drift around the fringes of Hollywood. When he meets Faye Greener, an aspiring actress, he is intoxicated and his desperate passion explodes into rage. Penguin Random House Canada is proud to bring you classic works of literature in e-book form, with the highest quality production values. Find more today and rediscover books you never knew you loved.

A great American satirist, Nathanael West laughs in the face of the Horatio Alger myth. Like many an Alger, Lemuel Pitkin leaves his home on the farm to seek his fortune in the Big City. By the time he is through, he has been robbed, jailed, has lost his teeth, his eye, a leg, his scalp, and has witnessed a remarkable number of assults and political riots. In A Cool Million, West etches a classic parable of America in the chaotic Thirties. Penguin Random House Canada is proud to bring you classic works of literature in e-book form, with the highest quality production values. Find more today and rediscover books you never knew you loved.

Considered classics of American literature, Nathaneal West’s Miss Lonelyhearts and The Day of the Locust reveal America at the height of the Great Depression, evoking the disillusionment and despair of that time. Miss Lonelyhearts explores the suffering a young advice columnist working for a New York City newspaper. Locked into a deep depression as the result of his work, Miss Lonelyhearts seeks comfort in drink, in religion, and in the meaningless affair that becomes his downfall. In The Day of the Locust, aspiring artist Tod Hackett falls in love with Faye Greener, a beautiful starlet with big dreams. Through his work as a costume designer and his burgeoning friendship with Faye, Tod is introduced to the world behind the movies, and the varied and unusual characters that populate the fringes of Hollywood. HarperPerennial Classics brings great works of literature to life in digital format, upholding the highest standards in ebook production and celebrating reading in all its forms. Look for more titles in the HarperPerennial Classics collection to build your digital library.

Tod Hackett is a brilliant young artist - and a man in danger of losing his heart. Brought to an LA studio as a set-designer, he is soon caught up in a fantasy world where the cult of celebrity rules. But when he becomes besotted by the beautiful Faye, an aspiring actress and occasional call-girl, his dream rapidly becomes a nightmare. For, with little in the way of looks and no money to buy her time, Tod's desperate passion can only lead to frustration, disillusionment and rage ...

Nathanael West was born Nathan Weinstein in New York City on October 17th, 1903. Nathanel didn't really appreciate the qualities of an academic education. He forged his high school transcript to gain admission to Tufts and to get into Brown University appropriated the transcript of a fellow Tufts student who, conveniently, was also named Nathan Weinstein. However he did read extensively; French surrealists and British and Irish poets of the 1890s with a focus on unusual literary styles and content. Moving to Paris for three months he changed his name to Nathanael West. With his family hit by financial problems in the late 1920s he returned home to an on/off career in construction before becoming night manager of the Hotel Kenmore Hall in Manhattan. In 1931, Nathanael published The Dream Life of Balso Snell, a novel conceived in college. He was by now friendly with such writers as William Carlos Williams and Dashiell Hammett. Although West had been writing since college, it was only at this job that he found enough time to write. By 1933 he published Miss Lonelyhearts. In 1933, he was summoned to Hollywood as a contract scriptwriter for Columbia Pictures. With the advent of 1934 he published a third novel, A Cool Million. None of his works sold well and his finances were always under strain. He continued to work in Hollywood mainly on B Movies. Although the films were poor he was able to use the experiences to great effect for his classic tale The Day of the Locust. On December 22, 1940, West and his wife Eileen McKenney were returning to Los Angeles from a hunting trip in Mexico. West ran a stop sign in El Centro, California, resulting in a collision in which he and Eileen were both killed. Nathanael West was buried in Mount Zion Cemetery in Queens, New York, with his wife's ashes placed in his coffin.

Nathanael West was only thirty-seven when he died in 1940, but his depictions of the sometimes comic, sometimes horrifying aspects of the American scene rival those of William Faulkner and Flannery O'Connor. A Cool Million, written in 1934, is a satiric Horatio Alger story set in the midst of the Depression. The Dream Life of Balso Snell (1931) was described by one critic as "a fantasy about some rather scatological adventures of the hero in the innards of the Trojan horse."

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Two classic short stories, one about a male reporter who writes an advice column, and the other, about people who have migrated to California in expectation of health and ease.