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Nathanael West

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Nathanael West


Born
in New York City, The United States
October 17, 1903

Died
December 22, 1940

Genre
Fiction, Novellas


Born Nathanael von Wallenstein Weinstein to prosperous Jewish parents, from the first West set about creating his own legend, and anglicising his name was part of that process. At Brown University in Rhode Island, he befriended writer and humourist S. J. Perelman (who later married his sister), and started writing and drawing cartoons. As his cousin Nathan Wallenstein also attended Brown, West took to borrowing his work and presenting it as his own. He almost didn't graduate at all, on account of failing a crucial course in modern drama. West indulged in a little dramatics of his own and, in tearful contrition, convinced a gullible professor to upgrade his marks.

After spending a couple of years in Paris, where he wrote his first novel, The ...more

Combine Editions

Average rating: 3.72 · 45,598 ratings · 3,366 reviews · 46 distinct works • Similar authors
The Day of the Locust
3.70 avg rating — 24,095 ratings — published 1939 — 218 editions
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Miss Lonelyhearts / The Day...
3.89 avg rating — 10,445 ratings — published 1939 — 59 editions
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Miss Lonelyhearts
3.56 avg rating — 7,051 ratings — published 1933 — 17 editions
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Miss Lonelyhearts / A Cool ...
3.75 avg rating — 1,294 ratings — published 1934 — 11 editions
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A Cool Million
3.65 avg rating — 911 ratings — published 1934 — 40 editions
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A Cool Million and The Drea...
3.74 avg rating — 482 ratings — published 1931 — 32 editions
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The Dream Life of Balso Snell
3.24 avg rating — 532 ratings — published 1931 — 12 editions
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Novels and Other Writings: ...
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4.30 avg rating — 325 ratings — published 1957 — 2 editions
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The Collected Works of Nath...
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3.83 avg rating — 235 ratings — published 1966 — 48 editions
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The Day of the Locust and T...
3.67 avg rating — 224 ratings — published 1991 — 14 editions
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More books by Nathanael West…

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Buying a gift for a bookworm seems like it should be easy, but it proves to be a daunting task year after year. Before you drive...
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Quotes by Nathanael West  (?)
Quotes are added by the Goodreads community and are not verified by Goodreads. (Learn more)

“Numbers constitute the only universal language.”
― Nathanael West
756 likes
Like

“Only those who still have hope can benefit from tears.”
― Nathanael West, The Day of the Locust
tags: hope
67 likes
Like

“He read it for the same reason an animal tears at a wounded foot: to hurt the pain.”
― Nathanael West, Miss Lonelyhearts
tags: pain
58 likes
Like

Polls

June 2023 New School Classic Group Read

Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer, 1996, 203 pages
 
  60 votes, 29.6%

We by Yevgeny Zamyatin, 1924, 226 pages
 
  39 votes, 19.2%

 
  30 votes, 14.8%

 
  19 votes, 9.4%

The Unknown Soldier by Väinö Linna, 1975, 338 pages
 
  19 votes, 9.4%

The Water is Wide by Pat Conroy, 1972, 310 pages
 
  18 votes, 8.9%

 
  18 votes, 8.9%

203 total votes
More...

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