The Day of the Locust

by Nathanael West · first published 1939

The Day of the Locust is a 1939 novel by American author Nathanael West set in Hollywood, California. The novel follows a young artist from the Yale School of Fine Arts named Tod Hackett, who has been hired by a Hollywood studio to do scene design and painting. While he works, he plans an important painting to be called "The Burning of Los Angeles", a portrayal of the chaotic and fiery holocaust which will destroy the city. While the cast of characters Tod befriends are a conglomerate of Hollywood stereotypes, his greater discovery is a part of society whose "eyes filled with hatred", and "had come to California to die".

Summary: Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0

Genre:

Satirical fiction

Original language:

English

Reader rating:

★ 3.8 / 5 (6 on Open Library)

Year page:

1939