Nathanael West

Nathanael West (October 17, 1903 - December 22, 1940) was the pen name of Nathan Wallenstein Weinstein. Born in New York, West graduated from Tufts University in 1921 and received an advanced degree from Brown in 1924. He spent the next two years in Paris writing The Dream Life of Balso Snell, his first novel, which was published in 1931. When he returned to the United States, he legally changed his name. He managed cheap New York hotels for his father until 1933, when he published what would become his best-known novel, Miss Lonelyhearts. In 1935 he went to Hollywood to become a screenwriter. His last novel was The Day of the Locust, published in 1939, the year before his death in an automobile accident, reportedly on the way to F. Scott Fitzgerald's funeral. He is buried in Mount Zion Cemetery in Queens County, New York.

Table of contents

1 Published Works
2 External Links
3 Further Reading

Published Works

The Dream Life of Balso Snell

Miss Lonelyhearts

A Cool Million

The Day of the Locust

Good Hunting