The Collected Works of Nathanael West : The Day of the Locust / The Dream Life of Balso Snell / Miss Lonelyhearts / A Cool Million

All four of these brilliant novellas are set in America during the Depression, where, in a biting indictment of America, Nataniel West depicts the New World as a wasteland of boredom, inhumanity and suffering.

The Day of the Locust presents a comic portrayal of Hollywood–but a thin curtain keeps blowing aside to reveal unforgettable scenes of violence and mob hysteria.

The Dream Life of Balso Snell, a surrealist dream story, is an exercise in private despair.

Miss Lonelyhearts, whose protagonist is a reporter assigned to his newspaper’s agony column, can be interpreted as a modern fable of disturbing power.

A Cool Million, a Candide-like satire, explores the American rags-to-riches myth.
–back cover