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S'està carregant… The Day of the Locust (1939)de Nathanael West
![]() » 26 més Books Read in 2009 (24) Books Read in 2023 (3,164) Favourite Books (1,282) Modernism (52) Read These Too (48) In or About the 1930s (152) Hooray for Hollywood (13) Antiheroes (14) Franklit (48) No hi ha cap discussió a Converses sobre aquesta obra. ![]() ![]() 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 never going to connect with a book that has this much misogyny in it. 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 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.
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 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. Pertany a aquestes col·leccions editorialsContingut aTé l'adaptacióTé una guia d'estudi per a estudiants
Admired by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Dorothy Parker, and Dashiell Hammett, and hailed as one of the "Best 100 English-language novels" byTime 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." No s'han trobat descripcions de biblioteca. |
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![]() GèneresClassificació Decimal de Dewey (DDC)813.52Literature English (North America) American fiction 20th Century 1900-1944LCC (Clas. Bibl. Congrés EUA)ValoracióMitjana:![]()
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