The Day of the Locust

by Nathanael West

Paperback, 1983

Publication

Signet Classics (1983), Edition: Signet Classics, 208 pages

Original publication date

1939

Description

Admired by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Dorothy Parker, and Dashiell Hammett, and hailed as one of the best one hundred 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.".… (more)

User reviews

LibraryThing member gbill
Nathanael West’s satire of 1930’s Hollywood, done mainly through its wannabes and outcasts, is pointed and ahead of his time. Behind the glittering image of Tinseltown, he shows us squalor, broken dreams, and a world where everything seems as phony as the facades of a set design. There are
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prostitutes, stage moms, and con men. The pretentiousness of those who have made it, with their ostentatious houses, are compared with the delusions of grandeur of those who haven’t, with their banal ideas for screenplays. He gives us various lifestyles that made me smile, since I didn’t realize how far back in time these stereotypical Hollywood images went, with vegetarians and those on a raw food diet, as well as those who attend alternative churches, such as the ‘Church of Christ, Physical’, “where holiness was attained through the constant use of chest-weights and spring grips”. He also doesn’t shy away from showing us cruelty in the form of cockfighting, or a dangerous mob. Even the protagonist who is navigating through this world has violent rape fantasies. West would die the following year at 37 in a car crash which is a shame, as this novel demonstrates his talent at making dark observations about the human condition, as well as an improved discipline and maturity as a writer.

Just this quote, on people retiring in California:
“Once there, they discover that sunshine isn’t enough. They get tired of oranges, even of avocado pears and passion fruit. Nothing happens. They don’t know what to do with their time. They haven’t the mental equipment for leisure, the money nor the physical equipment for pleasure. Did they slave so long just to go to an Iowa picnic? What else is there? They watch the waves come in at Venice. There wasn’t any ocean where most of them came from, but after you’ve seen one wave, you’ve seen them all. The same is true of the airplanes at Glendale. If only a plane would crash once in a while so that they could watch the passengers being consumed in a ‘holocaust of flame’, as the newspapers put it. But the planes never crash.
Their boredom becomes more and more terrible. They realise that they’ve been tricked and burn with resentment. Every day of their lives they read the newspapers and went to the movies. Both fed them on lynchings, murder, sex crimes, explosions, wrecks, love nests, fires, miracles, revolutions, war. This daily diet made sophisticates of them. The sun is a joke. Oranges can’t titillate their jaded palates. Nothing can ever be violent enough to make taut their slack minds and bodies.”
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LibraryThing member TakeItOrLeaveIt
A quick read classic about those who fail to succeed in the simulated back lots of Los Angeles’ sordid sprawling terrain circa 1930’s.
Nathanael West focuses on how women drive men to ruin, desperation, violence and ultimately, the burning of Los Angeles both figuratively and metaphorically.
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Pent up sexual aggression is probably the underlining theme- the artist narrator never gets what he wants- and by the end of the book even fails to imagine rape while eating a piece of finely prepared dead cow…West fills his canonical tale with other despairing emotions in his 1939 Los Angeles.
Not much has changed. Not to be read while happy, which is why I read it during an atrocious complacent and ennui filled trip to the star-studded falsity I grew up in.
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LibraryThing member krbrancolini
It is often difficult to separate the film version of a book from the work itself; this is the case for me with "Day of the Locust." I have tried not to compare the two, but unfortunately I rewatched the film about a week before I read the book. I had seen the film version (directed by John
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Schlesinger and released in 1975) of Nathanael West's iconic story of Depression-era Los Angeles years ago. Scenes and impressions had stuck with me -- like Homer Simpson sadly sitting in his backyard watching a lizard -- but I was still surprised by the book. It is quite different from the film in a number of important and interesting ways. It is rich and beautifully-written book, suffused with the atmosphere of the seedier side of Hollywood. While reading, I kept thinking about people like Charlie Sheen. Wealthy, yet relentlessly sleazy. In "Day of the Locust" we meet sleaze at both ends of the economic spectrum. Success in Hollywood is not predicated on integrity, kindness, or even good taste.

One difference between the film and the book is the character of set designer/painter Tod Hackett. Schlesinger doesn't convey his violent thoughts in the film. Tod seems relatively benign and well-meaning in the film, a Yale man slumming it in Hollywood. But in the book he reveals himself to be more in his element than one might imagine; he fantasizes and raping and beating his neighbor, aspiring actress Fay Greener, who is 17 years old. Tod seems much more emotionally unstable. Slowly, Tod fills the walls of his apartment with apocalyptic sketches and studies in the film, but the book reveals that he's planning a large painting called "The Burning of Los Angeles." Those dark red drawings, with dead faces make more sense. The book emphasizes that these are all people who have come to Los Angeles to die.

The book also creates a more nuanced portrait of Homer Simpson, although Donald Sutherland's portrayal in the film is perfect. Homer is the only sympathetic character -- and then he brings about a tragedy. Homer probably has some form of autism; he definitely suffers from Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. At one point, Tod asks him to stop doing the same thing with his hands and Homer answers, "I have to do it three times." He is so profoundly disturbed that you sense impending doom from the first time you meet him.

The end of the book is horrific, but much is left to the reader's imagination. Thus, to me it was more effective than the violent and chaotic ending to Schlesinger's film. "Day of the Locust" is one of those books that I wish I could read for the first time again. It's disturbing and weirdly resonant with Los Angeles today. And I recommend reading the book before watching the film if you haven't seen it already.
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LibraryThing member mstrust
Tod Hackett works as an artist for a Hollywood movie studio, but his mind and energy are always on Faye Greener, a teenage extra. To be in love with Faye is torture, as she has plenty of men after her and a father who was a stage comic but is now just annoying. The main problem with Faye is that
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she cares for no one, only her dreams of becoming a star.
Showing the hazards of celebrity with its crushed hopes and the fans who will form a mob to get near fame, this is a brilliantly written story, almost a noir with its femme fatale who leaves misery behind her. This would have been a 5 star for me if it weren't for a very graphic cockfight scene.
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LibraryThing member kylekatz
1939. I have three copies of this so I guess it was about time I read it. This skewers Hollywood people, providing a wide range of types and showing them to be shallow, avaricious, thrill-seeking and desperate for some kind of sensation, because they are soulless and dead inside. Considered
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shocking at the time, it shows prostitution, drinking, gambling and strangely (and vividly) cock-fighting. It skirts around the violence of rape, never quite reaching the level of rape, but making it plain that it could happen at any second among people for whom kicks are more necessary than any particular moral stance. It peaks at a preview for a new film where the mob outside goes crazy, in a free-for-all, where women are molested, and people are crushed and injured. Even they characters who are witnessing the spectacle with the greatest amount of detachment and disgust are drawn into the mob mentality at the end and are unable to maintain their self-control. It's a pretty horrible story in some ways, but it also provides the very spectacle it condemns. I was glued to my seat in horrified fascination at the cock-fight, the mob and the near-rape scenes. Watching these people strain to find something to feel, made them remarkably human, and though repulsive not dismissible. As a window into Hollywood of the 30s, a scene on a studio lot, walking through what felt like miles of discarded scenery from every possible kind of movie, was visually stunning. I also like the cowboys who seemed to be trapped between the worlds of the rodeo and the Hollywood image of the cowboy while still being real (brutal) cowboys inside. A dwarf bookie is horribly abused too. Colorful would be one word for it, but grim would be another.
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LibraryThing member datrappert
West's grotesque tale of the dark side of Hollywood still resonates--but like a bell with a crack in it. Nothing seems quite real, as the author depicts an artist, a retired hotel bookkeeper, a former vaudevillian reduced to selling silver polish, the vaudevillian's beautiful but intensely strange
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daughter, her other suitors, cockfighters, a successful screenwriter, but above all, the crowd of nonentities who inhabit the corners of the place, slowly building up their anger over being cheated by the California dream.

The book is more notable for its scenes than for its overall story. I especially enjoyed the Battle of Waterloo that the artist witnesses on a back lot. All the while, the artist is working on his masterpiece, a painting called "The Burning of Los Angeles". West seems to find it a distinct possibility, and not from wildfires, but almost 75 years after this novel was written, not much has really changed. The little people are still little.
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LibraryThing member itchyfeetreader
With a little bit of distance I can see that this is an accomplished novel, well written and stunningly relevant in places for all that it is seventy years old. The problem is that I just did not enjoy it! In fact, it left me feeling slightly uncomfortable and more than a little unclean. I
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appreciate it for its clever story telling but would struggle to recommend or to re-read.

Plot in a Nutshell
Less plot and more a study of a group of characters as told by Tod Hackett, a relatively recent arrival to Depression era Hollywood. Through his interactions with the would be stars, in reality minor extras with limited opportunity we see a spotlight shone on the promise of the American dream.

Thoughts
On paper the Golden Age of Hollywood is in full swing and the Depression sweeping the rest of America seems quieter here. However hiding not very far below the surface is a Hollywood where dreams don’t stand up to scrutiny and dreamers come to die. So far so depressing right? It gets worse…

West compellingly paints a picture of cynical, self serving characters – at first glance they all seem slightly overdone and almost caricatured versions of our current worst thoughts about Hollywood. It took me a little while to remind myself that this was not a modern day satirical take on Hollywood but rather an ‘of the age’ satirical take on Hollywood. The more we get to know them however we see each has zero ability for them to emotionally connect with each other – each interaction is underpinned by a strong sense of ‘what’s in it for me’. If West wanted to paint a soulless environment and relationships he succeeded. And that’s before was addressing the fact that main character is open to discussing his fantasies of raping the woman he is infatuated with.

On the subject of strong female characters; Faye is a real disappointment. The lust the male characters have for her permeates the book and should have the reader feeling much more sympathetic. She is after all still a teenager predominantly spending time with much older men. She is however decidedly unsympathetic and her manipulations of her would be suitors meant I could not connect with her at all. As a metaphor for Hollywood itself she was well written, as a character you could empathise with less so
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LibraryThing member dickmanikowski
I could have sworn I'd read this book forty years ago, but reading it now disabused me of that notion. The early chapters seemed vaguely familiar, but soon the plot seemed totally new. I'm glad I I dipped into it for a second time. It's a great exploration of the decadence of Hollywood in the early
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1930's
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LibraryThing member chlebo
An intriguing story about the unfulfilled promises of Hollywood in the 1930s. There does not appear to be a plot, but West's writing is so skillful and precise that you keep reading just to see, truly see--because his images ate so vivid--what he will describe next. Had to read this for school, but
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it exceeded my expectations.
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LibraryThing member whitewavedarling
This is a quick read, and one which horrifies even as it amuses in its satiric view of Hollywood. Even now, more than a half century past its first publication, the picture West paints ensures moments of shock and recognition for American readers. Yet, every page is packed with entertainment, and
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with strong and scorching portrayals that are both horrifying and wonderful. Grotesques flourish in West's novel, and the view here seems almost voyeuristic, such intimacies are given. In whole, this is an unforgettable and striking work of fiction, highly recommended.
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LibraryThing member AlexAustin
Fairly well-known, The Day of the Locust is a slim, funny, caustic novel about Hollywood's poisonous promise to the little people, actually and figuratively. Less well-known, Miss Lonelyhearts tracks the eponymous advice columnist as he reaches out to the cripples, broken-hearts and unbalanced who
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look to him for salvation.
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LibraryThing member magicians_nephew
Every once in a while I revisit Nathanial West - a writer I have read before - to see if my reaction to his work has changed any.

The Day of the Locust is the book everyone knows about (Though I think Miss Lonelyhearts is the better writing.)

If the American Dream is fortune and fame and having
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people know your name, then hunger and need for same is the American Nightmare. And West is its poet laureate.

"Locust" is a story of Hollywood where everybody wants to be a star. We meet starlets and child actors and fading vaudevillians who believe in nothing any more, not even themselves. It is very much not pretty about money and sex and "art" and power and you know West knows whereof he speaks.

But watching these grotesques and monsters flailing away at each other like scorpions in a bottle isn't much fun. The California sun burns and bakes but does not in the end illuminate.

A book to admire if perhaps in the end a book not easy to love. If he had lived a few years longer . . . who knows what he might have written?
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LibraryThing member k8_not_kate
I recall this novel sort of coming close to being deeply significant somehow but it missed the mark in my opinion.
LibraryThing member hrissliss
Somewhat absurdist, slightly surreal. Great book on some of the struggles of modern, marginalized humanity. (Especially humanity in L.A./Hollywood.) The characters are all interesting and Unique. (Or quirky. Not sure which fits better.) Prose was spare, but (sort of...) poetic. Wonderful
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descriptions. 7/10
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LibraryThing member TheLoisLevel
I have to admit, I skimmed the last 20 pages or so. Not my type of book
LibraryThing member CollectorOfAshes
This is yet another "modern" book that consists of vile characters doing vile things to one another, people arranged like disjointed puppets, for the purpose of performing dehumanizing dances. I survived the profanity, the porn movie scene, but when the main character shared his desire to rape and
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went into detail about it, that was enough. The writing itself has spots of humor and occasional insights, but it weighed down by the unemotional lens of the narrator, whose tone is like that used in Camus' The Stranger -- cold, abstract, unmoved by pity or pain.
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LibraryThing member ToniApicelli
I read this book for the first time forty years ago (yikes, can it really be forty years!) while I was in college. It's the best. Sets the mood of the character and and the story so well.
LibraryThing member hippietrail
I read this years ago after seeing the movie on TV (apparently it was a flop in the cinema but I thought it was excellent). I think this is the only book I ever liked enough to reread immediately after finishing it - and I'm a very slow reader.
LibraryThing member oldstick
A curious 'period piece' with a disappointingly abrupt ending.
LibraryThing member JVioland
The Depression hits Hollywood and those seeking stardom. Populated by shallow characters striving for fortune and fame. A good expose. Insightful for those aspiring toward an actor's life.
LibraryThing member kirstiecat
I liked this one slightly better than Miss Lonelyhearts and, though some of the themes of loneliness and isolation are similar, it is a very different kind of novella. It's much more about the artifice of Hollywood, of the people that really don't belong and those that strangely do...of the
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Mexicans and cock fights, of those who don't gain love and the falseness of the girls only looking for a better acting role. These characters are too innocent and human to be depraved but they clearly have some very fatal flaws, all of them. I did like the energy of some scenes and the way West was able to depict the characters in various stages of jealousy, longing, and lust in the Hollywood heat.


*Spoiler*

I think the reason why for me this is a slightly better novella is because of the way it ends..with a misunderstanding that leads to a public fury. At that point, it really doesn't matter if anyone "gets the girl."


pg. 79 "Tod examined him eagerly. He didn't mean to be rude but at first glance this man seemed an exact model for the kind of person who comes to California to die, perfect in every detail down to his fever eyes and unruly hands.

"My name is Homer Simpson," the man gasped...

pg. 103 "Only those who still have hope can benefit from tears. When they finish, they feel better. But to those without hope, like Homer, whose anguish is basic and permanent, no good comes from crying. Nothing changes for them. They usually know this but still can't help crying.

Homer was lucky. He cried himself to sleep."
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LibraryThing member larryking1
Yes, as Sunset Boulvevard is the GREAT Hollywood MOVIE, The Day of the Locust is, indeed, the GREAT Hollywood NOVEL! Most critics fail to make a connection with an artistic movement, Surrealism, which was extant as this novel was being written (published in 1939). But surreal it is, written in a
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white-hot heat with moments not to be believed (a brutal cockfight, an expiring vaudevillian, a visit to a transgender club, the Battle of Waterloo) until the reader remembers that we are in Hollywood. This is a fine, fine novel! (Note: in about a 24-hour period, American literature lost Fitzgerald to a heart attack and West to a car accident, a week that must have left the California literati in despair!).
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LibraryThing member TheCriticalTimes
A novel like this you have to evaluate it in the time it was written. Characters are racist, sexist and in general not from this time anymore. It's a hard one to read even with an understanding that those were different times in the 30s. Still, it's clear why this is a classic with its vivid
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description of Hollywood in its exploration of talkies, movies with sound.

There is not much to be found here in terms of a plot and you have to conclude that this is mainly a character study. I kept wondering if in about a hundred years we will think the same way about the novel Less Than Zero as we now do about this one.

It's a hard one to read with today's standards and sensibilities but it's also worth it if only to see how far we've come. If you are curious about Hollywood in the 30s and you like a total immersion in the days when the place started to gain its stride then this book is highly recommended. If you're looking for a good read then perhaps a different book fits the bill.
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LibraryThing member BibliophageOnCoffee
Nathanael West just isn't for me. I've now read both of his acclaimed works and didn't get much out of either one of them. The writing is flat and so are the characters. The themes that were once ahead of their time are now just old news. I totally get that the year is 1939, but I'm still just
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never going to connect with a book that has this much misogyny in it.
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LibraryThing member kukulaj
no idea about the locusts. The book ends in a riot so maybe that is like a plague of locusts. Maybe this is like a Tarantino film. From banal to sordid to meaningless violence. Some kind of reflection on the meaninglessness of our times... ok this is the 1930s but really what has changed. This guy
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wins a billion dollars on the lottery and decides to collect vintage cars. Hollowness.
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Media reviews

The year 1939, when Europe was going up in flames and America clung to the hope that it need not become part of a world at war, turned out to be a miracle moment for Los Angeles fiction, seeing the publication of "The Big Sleep" by Raymond Chandler, John Fante's "Ask The Dust," and "The Day of the
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Locust" by Nathanael West (the latter just reissued in a new edition, along with "Miss Lonelyhearts," by New Directions, $11.95), three books that distilled distinctly and in very different ways the city that was being written about, and have continued to dictate how Los Angeles is perceived today.
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Language

Original language

English

ISBN

0451523482 / 9780451523488

Physical description

208 p.; 4.4 inches

Pages

208

Rating

½ (419 ratings; 3.6)
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