New Releases by Nathanael West

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.

DigiCat Publishing presents to you this special edition of "Miss Lonelyhearts" by Nathanael West. DigiCat Publishing considers every written word to be a legacy of humankind. Every DigiCat book has been carefully reproduced for republishing in a new modern format. The books are available in print, as well as ebooks. DigiCat hopes you will treat this work with the acknowledgment and passion it deserves as a classic of world literature.

In "A Cool Million: The Dismantling of Lemuel Pitkin," Nathanael West employs a satirical and sharp prose style to explore the disillusionment of the American Dream during the Great Depression. Through the misadventures of Lemuel Pitkin, a naive and optimistic protagonist, West dismantles the myths of success and the capitalist ethos that underpin them. This novella, rich with dark humor and irony, situates itself within the literary context of the 1930s, reflecting the anxieties and social critiques prevalent in the Works Progress Administration''s artistic output while drawing parallels to contemporaneous literary movements like modernism and social realism. Nathanael West, born in 1903 to a Jewish family in New York City, faced the turmoil of the American socio-economic landscape firsthand. His experiences in Hollywood and his exposure to the artistic avant-garde influenced his worldview and literary craft. West''s keen observations about society''s underbelly and the fragility of individual aspirations culminate in this novel, making it a profound commentary on American identity and ambition. "A Cool Million" is a must-read for those interested in American literature, social critique, and the intricate interplay between hope and despair in the pursuit of the American Dream. West''Äôs incisive storytelling will engage readers while prompting them to reflect on the myths surrounding success and the often harsh realities that dismantle them.

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

Die legendäre Satire auf die Traumfabrik Hollywood. Nathanael West, der wie sein Freund F. Scott Fitzgerald jahrelang als Drehbuchautor in Hollywood verschlissen wurde, hat den Tagträumen des Filmproletariats seine Stimme gegeben: ein Rachefeldzug gegen Hollywood, der den Alptraum Amerika entlarvt.

»Haben Sie Sorgen? Brauchen Sie Rat? – Schreiben Sie Miss Lonelyhearts!« Aber Miss Lonelyhearts ist als Seelsorger des modernen Amerika schlecht geeignet: Zum Zyniker fehlt ihm die Unmenschlichkeit, zum Wahnleben die gesunde Dummheit. Er versucht andere Möglichkeiten als die heuchlerischen Trostworte, die sein Job bereithält – bis er selbst reif ist für Miss Lonelyhearts.

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.

"Det var nästan tid att gå för dagen när Tod Hackett hörde ett förfärligt oväsen på vägen utanför kontoret." Gräshopporna (1939) är en roman om Hollywood, men inte om det glamorösa Hollywood, rampljusets och stjärnornas värld, utan om de bländande kulissernas baksida. Gräshopporna, det är den hord av udda, tragikomiska och patetiska existenser som lever i kulissernas skuggsida och som livnär sig på den falska drömmen om rampljus och stjärnroller: det är armén av statister, ett brokigt och färggrant proletariat som dras som flugor till ateljéernas strålkastarljus. I denna miljö utspelas ett drama som utgör den verkliga kontrasten till drömfabrikens happy ends, och som är både gripande och fängslande i sin tragiska obönhörlighet.

The great Hollywood novel is now available as a stand-alone New Directions edition Admired by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Dorothy Parker, and Dashiell Hammett, and hailed as one of the “Best 100 English-language novels” by Time magazine, The Day of the Locust continues to influence American writers, artists, and culture. Bob Dylan wrote the classic song “Day of the Locusts” in homage and Matt Groening’s Homer Simpson is named after one of its characters. No novel more perfectly captures the nuttier side of Hollywood. Here the lens is turned on its fringes — actors out of work, film extras with big dreams, and parents lining their children up for small roles. But it’s the bit actress Faye Greener who steals the spotlight with her wildly convoluted dreams of stardom: “I’m going to be a star some day—if I’m not I’ll commit suicide.”

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 ...

Wiederentdeckung eines US-amerikanischen Kultautors Hollywood: nirgends gedeihen Illusionen prächtiger, nirgends werden sie rascher entsorgt. Hauptsache, die Show geht weiter. Dieser Roman ist eine herrlich respektlose Nahaufnahme der Traumfabrik, eine filmreife Parodie auf Starkult und kollektiven Selbstbetrug. Keiner hat das wahre Hollywood mit seinen Widersprüchen, Abgründen und Hell-Dunkel-Kontrasten schärfer erfasst als Nathanael West. In seiner Satire widmet er sich den Schattenseiten einer durch und durch künstlichen Welt, in der die Verlierer in der Überzahl sind: die ewigen Statisten, Sternchen, Schmalspurdiven und Reservehelden. Je zweifelhafter deren Aussicht auf das große Los, desto verbissener hängen sie ihren Illusionen nach – und überbieten sich in einer Parade der Peinlichkeiten und Selbstentblößungen. Einmal mehr besticht Nathanael West hier mit der hohen Kunst der Zuspitzung. Schonungslos bis zum Zynismus legt er das Urkomische im Tragischen frei und entlarvt seine Figuren als hoffnungslose Träumer, ohne sie dabei zu diffamieren. Wunsch und Wirklichkeit mögen noch so weit auseinanderklaffen, menschliche Sehnsüchte sind einfach nicht totzukriegen. So ist dieses Buch eine Demaskierung des neuzeitlichen Wahns, um jeden Preis ein Star werden zu müssen, und ein tiefer Seufzer angesichts evidenter Aussichtslosigkeit. Neuübersetzung

"In The Day of the Locust a young artist, Tod Hackett, arrives in LA 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... The edition also includes the off-kilter, darkly comic tale Miss Lonelyhearts"--page [4] of cover.

Años treinta. Un variopinto grupo de personajes lucha por triunfar en Hollywood, el paradigma del sueño americano. Sin embargo, el Hollywood que nos describe Nathanael West no es la glamourosa meca del cine a la que estamos acostumbrados, sino un sórdido microcosmos poblado por perdedores sometidos a su propia sed de triunfo. El escenógrafo Tod Hackett, uno de los personajes, al poco de llegar a este submundo se verá envuelto en la vida de siete individuos (desde un actor de vodevil venido a menos hasta una atractiva aspirante a actriz, pasando por un poderoso productor o un depravado gángster) a quienes el contacto con este universo artificial les corromperá tan pronto como descubran que la suerte, y no el talento, es la auténtica aliada del éxito. «En Hollywood te pueden pagar 1.000 dólares por un beso, pero sólo 50 centavos por tu alma.» Marylin Monroe

Two short novels, one set in New York and the other in Hollywood, dramatically depict the extremes of the human condition and the destructive forces pervading modern American life

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."

A collection of six works by Nathanael West.

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