Nathanael West

Nathanael West (October 17, 1903 - December 22, 1940) was the pen name of Nathan Wallenstein Weinstein.

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Born in New York City, New York, West flunked Tufts University in 1921 and received an advanced degree from Brown in 1924. He spent the winter of 1925/26 in Paris writing The Dream Life of Balso Snell, his first novel, which was published in 1931. When he returned to the United States, he legally changed his name. He managed cheap New York hotels for his father until 1933, when he published what would become his best-known novel, Miss Lonelyhearts. In 1935 he went to Hollywood to become a screenwriter. His last novel was The Day of the Locust, published in 1939, the year before his death in an automobile accident, reportedly on the way to F. Scott Fitzgerald's funeral. He is buried in Mount Zion Cemetery in Queens, New York.

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West was an innovative writer with a considerable influence on subsequent generations. His novels revealed the grotesqueness and sterility of the American Dream, especially its materialistic side. He was ostensibly

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surrealist in his outlook, as well. He never rose to any heights of fame

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while alive, but his popularity rose after his premature death.

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October 17: October 17 is the 290th (in leap years the 291st) day of the year according to the Gregorian calendar. There are 75 days remaining....

1903: 1903 has the latest occurring solstices and equinoxes for 400 years, because the Gregorian calendar hasn't had a leap year for seven years or a century leap year since 1600. See 1696....

December 22: December 22 is the 356th day of the year (357th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar. There are 9 days remaining....

Nathanael West related Images and Photos (experimental)

West c.1997	West Point	West India	West Point (DVD)
West Side Story	West Side Story	West Side Story	David West
South West 9	West Texas: Sleeper Car	West Texas: Sleeper Car	West Quoddy Head