The Day of the Locust (Magill’s Survey of American Literature, Revised Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: Nathanael West
- First Published: 1939
- Type of Work: Novel
- Genres: Long fiction, Social realism
- Subjects: North America or North Americans, United States or Americans, Acting or actors, Authors or writers, 1930’s, California, West, U.S., Films, movies, or motion pictures, Hollywood, Filmmaking or filmmakers, Harlequin or Commedia dell’arte
- Locales: Hollywood, CA
The Day of the Locust (originally titled The Cheated) is the last, the longest, and the most realistic of West's novels. Set in 1930's Hollywood, the novel, drawing on West's experiences as a studio screenwriter, won critical recognition and, upon its republication in the 1950's, popular success that was capped by a 1974 motion picture that was faithful to the original. Less surreal in style and slightly more comic in tone than Miss Lonelyhearts, the story depicts a similarly bleak world.
Hollywood, with its masquerade of beauty and romance, contains neither...
[The entire page is 665 words long]
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