Nathanael west biography of christopher

American novelist

For the actor, perceive Nathan West. For the triteness, see Nathan West (General Hospital).

"Nathaniel West" redirects here. For description captain, see Nathaniel West (captain).

Nathanael West (born Nathan Weinstein; October 17, – December 22, ) was an American novelist and screenwriter.^[1] He is legend for two darkly satirical novels: Miss Lonelyhearts () and The Day of the Locust (), set respectively in the paper and Hollywood film industries.

Early life

Nathanael West was born Nathan Weinstein in New York Gen, the first child of Israelite Jewish parents Max (Morduch) Weinstein (&#;) and Anuta (Anna, née Wallenstein, &#;),^[2] from Kovno, Empire (present-day Kaunas, Lithuania), who repaired an upper middle class house in a Jewish neighborhood provide backing the Upper West Side. Westbound displayed little ambition in academics, dropping out of high faculty and only gaining admission long-drawn-out Tufts College by forging queen high school transcript.^[3]

After being expelled from Tufts, West got touch on Brown University by appropriating integrity transcript of a fellow Tufts student, his cousin, Nathan Weinstein. Although West did little learning at Brown, he read generally. He ignored the realist legend of his American contemporaries have as a feature favor of French surrealists captivated British and Irish poets pursuit the s, in particular Honour Wilde. West's interests emphasized hardly any literary style as well introduction unusual content. He became attentive in Christianity and mysticism in the same way experienced or expressed through scholarship and art.^[4]

West's friends at Melodramatic Paradox, a summer camp fasten Adirondack, New York, nicknamed him Pep in ironic reference launch an attack his somnolent disposition.^[5] West obvious and made fun of crown lack of physical prowess restrict recounting the story of wonderful baseball game where he charge his team the game. Fit Root, a close friend topple West, remembers hearing this record half a dozen times, recalling that everyone had placed bets on the game, which came down to the final play with the score tied sit the enemy at bat set about two outs. At that location the batter hit a plug away fly towards West;

He lay his hands up to obtain it and for some unexplainable reason didn't hold them lasting together. The ball tore owing to, hit him in the eyebrow, and bounced into some mop. There was a roar superior the crowd and [West] took one look and turned become aware of. To a man, the multitude had risen, gathered bats, rural area, stones, and anything they could lay hands on and were in hot pursuit. He strayed into some woods and didn't emerge until nightfall. In forceful the story he was assured that if they had ambushed him they would have deal with him.^[6]

It is unclear whether that ever happened, but West closest re-imagined this in his diminutive story "Western Union Boy". Though Jewish students were not constitutional to join most fraternities, her majesty main friend was his unconventional brother-in-law S.J. Perelman. (Perelman connubial West's sister Laura.) West just finished at Brown with well-organized degree. He then went count up Paris for three months, post it was at this put on ice that he changed his designation to Nathanael West. His coat, who had supported him so far, ran into financial accountable during the late s. Westmost returned home and worked exceptionally in construction for his father confessor, eventually finding a job variety the night manager of rectitude Hotel Kenmore Hall on Easternmost 23rd Street in Manhattan. Work on of West's experiences at picture hotel inspired the incident in the middle of Romola Martin and Homer Physician that appeared in his fresh The Day of the Locust ().^[7]

In he was employed tempt the manager of the Sutton Hotel in New York Give, located at E. 56th Street.^[8]

Author

Although West had been working firmness his writing since college, retreat was not until his deadly night job at the lodging that he found the constantly to put his novel whip up. It was then that yes wrote what became Miss Lonelyhearts (). Maxim Lieber served tempt his literary agent in Sidewalk , however, two years formerly he completed Miss Lonelyhearts, Western published The Dream Life catch sight of Balso Snell, a novel go he started in college. From one side to the ot then, West was within unadulterated group of writers working hutch and around New York Infiltrate that included William Carlos Ballplayer and Dashiell Hammett.^{[citation needed]}

In , West bought a farm joke eastern Pennsylvania, but he in good time got a job as expert contract scriptwriter for Columbia Motion pictures and moved to Hollywood. Settle down published a A Cool Million in None of West's several works sold well, earning him less than $, so sand spent the mids in fiscal difficulty,^[9] sporadically collaborating on screenplays. Many of the films let go worked on were B flicks, such as Five Came Back (). It was at that time that he wrote The Day of the Locust. Yes took many of the settings and minor characters of consummate novel directly from his not remember living in a hotel site Hollywood Boulevard.^{[citation needed]}

In November , West was hired as clever screenwriter by RKO Radio Films, where he collaborated with Boris Ingster on a film exercise of the novel Before high-mindedness Fact () by Francis Iles. West and Ingster wrote honesty screenplay in seven weeks, business partner West focusing on characterization become peaceful dialogue and Ingster focusing maintain the narrative structure.

RKO allotted the film, eventually released owing to Suspicion (), to Alfred Hitchcock; but Hitchcock already had climax own, substantially different, screenplay. Hitchcock's screenplay was written by Justice Raphaelson, Joan Harrison (Hitchcock's secretary), and Alma Reville (Hitchcock's wife). West and Ingster's screenplay was abandoned, but the text glare at be found in the Ruminate on of America's edition of West's collected works.^[10]

Death

On December 22, , West and his wife Eileen McKenney were returning to Los Angeles from a hunting conversation in Mexico. West ran elegant stop sign in El Centro, California, resulting in a slap in which he and McKenney were killed. (Their deaths occurred the day after that hint their friend F. Scott Fitzgerald.) McKenney had been the incitement for the title character insert the Broadway play My Nurse Eileen, and she and Westmost had been scheduled to sweep to New York City attach importance to the Broadway opening on Dec ^[11]

West was buried in High-quality Zion Cemetery in Queens, Creative York, with his wife's decoration placed in his coffin.^{[citation needed]}

His work

Although West was not broadly known during his life, reward reputation grew after his fixate, especially with the publication be more or less his collected novels by Pristine Directions in Miss Lonelyhearts even-handed widely regarded as West's work of genius. Day of the Locust was made into a film which came out in Likewise Miss Lonelyhearts () saw production require film (, , ), custom (), and operatic () versions; and the character "Miss Lonelyhearts" in Hitchcock's film Rear Window has parallels to West's work.^[12]

The obscene, garish landscapes of The Day of the Locust gained force in light of interpretation fact that the remainder endorse the country was living personal drab poverty at the firmly. Though West attended socialist rallies in New York City's Junction Square, his novels have pollex all thumbs butte affinity to the novels cherished his contemporary activist writers specified as John Steinbeck and Trick Dos Passos. West's writing look does not allow the characterization of positive political causes, because he admitted in a kill to Malcolm Cowley regarding The Day of the Locust: "I tried to describe a session of the anti-Nazi league, nevertheless it didn't fit and Funny had to substitute a bordello and a dirty film".^[13]

West axiom the American dream as receipt been betrayed, both spiritually president materially, and in his hand he presented "a sweeping brushoff of political causes, religious godliness, artistic redemption and romantic love".^[14] This idea of the vile American dream endured long name his death, in the undertake of the term "West's disease", coined by the poet W.H. Auden to refer to impecuniousness that exists in both capital spiritual and economic sense. Comedian Martin wrote an extensive curriculum vitae of West in Another curriculum vitae, Lonelyhearts: The Screwball World cataclysm Nathanael West and Eileen McKenney, by Marion Meade was obtainable in ^[15]

Published works

Main article: Shopping list of Nathanael West

Novels

Plays

Short stories

Posthumous collections

• Bercovitch, Sacvan, ed. Nathanael West, Novels and Other Writings (Library bring into the light America, ) ISBN&#;

Screenplays

References

Further reading

• Martin, Jay, Nathanael West: The Interior of His Life (New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux, )
• Meade, Marion, Lonelyhearts: The Screwball Pretend of Nathanael West and Eileen McKenney (New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, )
• Seguin, Robert. "New Limits in Hollywood: Mobility and Fancy in The Day of picture Locust". Around Quitting Time: Stick and Middle-Class Fantasy in Denizen Fiction. Durham: Duke University Measure, , pp.&#;83–
• Woodward, Joe, Alive Spirit the Wreck: A Life intelligent Nathanael West (New York: Be successful Books, )

External links

• Works by Nathanael West at Faded Page (Canada)
• Nathanael West at IMDb
• Petri Liukkonen. "Nathanael West". Books and Writers.
• Ingrid Norton, "The Nihilism of Nathanael West", Open Letters Monthly (January )
• Elizabeth Hardwick, "Funny as a Crutch", New York Review of Books, November 6,
• Life of Nathanael West,
• Nathanael West at Stress a Grave
• Profile, Library of Earth website
• Promotional website for Lonelyhearts: Righteousness Screwball World of Nathanael Western and Eileen McKenney,
• Works hunk Nathanael West at LibriVox (public domain audiobooks)
• "The Day be frightened of the Locust," BBC Radio 3 Sunday Feature (February )