Books by Nathanael West

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...

Day after day, 'Miss Lonelyhearts' sits in his office responding to letters from 'Broken-hearted, Sick-of-it-all, and Desperate', dispensing words of hope, inspiration, and other platitudes to get his readers through their tormented days. But it's all getting to be too much for Miss Lonelyhearts. Under the weight of his colleagues' mockery and the endless gloom of his correspondence, Miss Lonelyhearts finds himself crippled with cynicism and dysfunction. Set in New York City at the height of the Great Depression, Miss Lonelyhearts stands as one of the most intelligent and hilarious works of the 20th century. Laced with dark humour, irony, and razor-sharp insight, this novel is as hauntingly relevant today as it was nearly a hundred years ago. 'Wildly funny, desperately sad, brutal and kind, furious and patient, there was no other like Nathanael West.' - Dorothy Parker 'In dark times, Miss Lonelyhearts shines the brightest light in the blackest places. For this reason West's novel has never felt more alive than today.' - The Daily Beast 'A miniature comic epic.' - Edmund Wilson 'Rendered with scalpel-precision . . . Nathanael West's masterpiece is a mercilessly unsympathetic novel on the theme of sympathy.' - Jonathan Lethem

In The Day of the Locust a young artist, Tod Hackett, arrives in LA full of dreams. When he meets Faye Greener, an aspiring actress, he is intoxicated and his desperate passion explodes into rage... Miss Lonelyhearts is a decidedly off-kilter, darkly comic tale set in New York in the early 30s.

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 ...

Græshoppens dag er en roman om Hollywood bag scenen. Los Angeles bliver portrætteret som en solskoldet endestation for mennesker, der venter på at dø eller drømmer om at leve, blive stjerner, blive noget.I dette groteske univers, hvor der ikke længere er forskel på drøm og virkelighed, finder vi maleren Tod Hackett. Og gennem ham træffer vi en række af drømmemaskinens ofre: Faye Greener, den yppige, stupide starlet og knudemanden Homer, som ikke kan holde styr på sine hænder – samt en række andre bizarre og trivielle eksistenser.I bogens slutning eksploderer alle de voldsomme understrømme, da et premierepublikum går amok. Los Angeles står i flammer.Græshoppens dag er et ironisk billede på det moderne massemenneskes situation. Vi har selv bygget drømmemaskinen, og vi kommer til at sætte ild til livsløgnen. Det er ikke uden grund at Nathanael West er blevet kaldt ”Amerikas Kafka”, den amerikanske drøms ironiske profet.