Writings of Nathanael West

This is an introduction to the work of Nathaniel West. Alistair Wisker draws on critical writings, biography and many other cultural sources. In so doing he creates a view of the work of this original writer whose violent world and particular kind of joking seem relevant today.

Introduction - rooting for West; a writer by reading; the dream life of Balso Snell; Miss Lonelyhearts; a cool million; the day of the locust; conclusion - a world too much with us. Appendices: two early poems - "Rondeau" and "Death"; "Through the Hole in the Mundane Millstone"; "Some Notes on Violence"; "Some Notes on Miss L."; "Outline for a New Novel"; "Burn the Cities"; "Bird and Bottle"; the original final chapter of "The Day of the Locust"; "The Adventurer"; "Western Union Boy"; "Tibetan Night"; "Mrs Potts of Pottstown"; "The Impostor".