Натаниэл Уэст – лучшие книги

Книга представляет собой полное собрание произведений одного из «малых классиков» американской литературы Натанаэла Уэста (1903— 1940). Наряду с известными — «Подруга скорбящих» (1933) и «День саранчи» (1939) — в ней впервые публикуются повести «Видения Бальсо Снелла» (1931) и «Целый миллион, или Расчленения Лемюэла Питкина» (1934). В первом произведении Уэста, герой которого совершает фантастическое путешествие по чреву троянского коня, выражено стремление писателя овладеть различными жанрами (бурлеск, остросюжетное любовное повествование, философский трактат и др.). «Целый миллион...» — гротескное описание тщетных попыток заработать…

Miss Lonelyhearts is a male newspaper columnist writing an advice column for the lovelorn and lonesome. The job is a circulation stunt and the whole staff considers it a joke. He too considers the job a joke, but after several months at it, the joke begins to escape him. He sees that the majority of the letters are expressions of genuine suffering. He also discovers that his correspondents take him seriously. For the first time in his life, he is forced to examine the values by which he lives.

Мастерски сконструированный Натанаэлом Уэстом мир платиновых блондинок, петушиных боев, гламура и разбитых надежд, покажет нам Голливуд времен Великой Депрессии. Нас ждет рассказ об отчуждении и отчаянии, власти толпы и безвкусицы, вседозволенности и продажной любви.

Книга представляет собой авторский сборник одного из «малых классиков» американской литературы Натанаэла Уэста (1903— 1940). В издание вошли две известнейших повести Уэста — «Подруга скорбящих» (1933) и «День саранчи» (1939). Произведения отмечены глубоким интересом писателя к внутренним конфликтам личностного бытия.

Натанаэл Уэст — яркий представитель американского «потерянного поколения» (наряду с такими авторами, как Эрнест Хемингуэй, Томас Вулф, Джон Дос Пассос и Фрэнсис Скотт Фицджеральд, с которым Натанаэл Уэст был очень дружен). Подобно многим литературным гениям двадцатого века, Натанаэл Уэст обрёл широкую известность лишь после смерти, когда в 1957 году было издано полное собрание его сочинений, и критики провозгласили его одним из величайших американских писателей. В романе «День саранчи», включённом журналом «Time» в список ста лучших англоязычных романов, рассказана история любви молодого художника, работающего в Голливуде, и девушки,…

In this 1931 Dada-inspired work, the first novel of the author of Miss Lonelyhearts and The Day of the Locust, the eponymous anti-hero stumbles across the Trojan Horse and climbs inside. His journey takes him through a mental jungle, offering an unforgettable look at the dark side of the American dream.

Tod Hackett is a brilliant young artist - and a man in danger of losing his heart. Brought to an LA studio as a set-designer, he is soon caught up in a fantasy world where the cult of celebrity rules.

But when he becomes besotted by the beautiful Faye, an aspiring actress and occasional call-girl, his dream rapidly becomes a nightmare. For, with little in the way of looks and no money to buy her time, Tod's desperate passion can only lead to frustration, disillusionment and rage...

В книгу включены роман "Свидание в Самарре" (1834), отразивший мироощущение "потерянного поколения", и рассказы американского писателя реалистического направления Джона О'Хары (1905-1970), а также произведения американского писателя-сатирика Натанаэла Уэста (1903-1940) "Подруга Скорбящих", "День саранчи".

Главные герои остросюжетной книги Г.Нейджи «Дом в Хамптоне» постоянно попадают в экстремальные ситуации. Смысл жизни они видят в любви и верной дружбе, перед которой бессильна даже смерть.
В «голливудском» романе «День саранчи» (1939 г.) Натанаэл Уэст (1903— 1940 гг.), один из самых чутких и правдивых писателей Америки, поведал о сложности человеческих судеб с их горестями и радостями.

In The Day of the Locust a young artist, Tod Hackett, arrives in LA full of dreams. But celebrity and artifice rule and he soon joins the ranks of the disenchanted that drift around the fringes of Hollywood. When he meets Faye Greener, an aspiring actress, he is intoxicated and his desperate passion explodes into rage...
Miss Lonelyhearts is a decidedly off-kilter, darkly comic tale set in New York in the early 30s. A nameless man is assigned to produce a newspaper advice column. It was meant to be a joke. But as endless letters from the Desperate, Sick-of-it-All and Disillusioned pile up for Miss Lonelyhearts's attention the joke begins to escape him...

With an Introduction and Notes by Henry Claridge, Senior Lecturer, School of English, University of Kent at Canterbury.

The four novels gathered here constitute the complete longer works of one the most brilliant and original American writers. West’s vision of American modernity is terrifyingly comical and diagnoses the tawdriness and meretriciousness of much of American popular culture. His greatest work, Miss Lonelyhearts, which begins this collection, is unique in modern literature. It describes New York in the early years of the Great Depression through the point of view of an ‘agony aunt’ who corresponds with his suffering readers in the guise of Miss Lonelyhearts: ‘(Are you in trouble? – Do you need advice?)’. A Cool Million is, as its subtitle suggests, the ‘dismantling’ of a myth, here a caustic satire of the ‘rags to riches’ story. West’s final novel, The Day of the Locust, is a comic, yet apocalyptic account of the fantasies of 1930s Hollywood. This volume concludes with West’s parodic and surreal first venture into fiction, The Dream Life of Balso Snell.

Henry Claridge’s introduction to this new edition of West’s fictional writings contextualises his work in the United States of the Great Depression, in his evocation of 1930s Hollywood (where he worked as a writer of screenplays), and in the larger context of his Eastern European Jewish background, and, particularly, his reading of Dostoyesvky. The text comes with extensive annotations, a note on the textual history of West’s writings, and a guide to further reading for both the student and the general reader.

The four novels gathered here constitute the complete longer works of one the most brilliant and original American writers. West’s vision of American modernity is terrifyingly comical and diagnoses the tawdriness and meretriciousness of much of American popular culture. His greatest work, Miss Lonelyhearts, which begins this collection, is unique in modern literature. It describes New York in the early years of the Great Depression through the point of view of an ‘agony aunt’ who corresponds with his suffering readers in the guise of ‘Miss Lonelyhearts: (Are you in trouble? – Do you need advice?)’. A Cool Million is, as its subtitle suggests, the ‘dismantling’ of a myth, here a caustic satire of the ‘rags to riches’ story. West’s final novel, The Day of the Locust, is a comic, yet apocalyptic account of the fantasies of 1930s Hollywood.
This volume concludes with West’s parodic and surreal first venture into fiction, The Dream Life of Balso Snell.

Henry Claridge’s introduction to this new edition of West’s fictional writings contextualises his work in the United States of the Great Depression, in his evocation of 1930s Hollywood (where he worked as a writer of screenplays), and in the larger context of his Eastern European Jewish background, and, particularly, his reading of Dostoyesvky. The text comes with extensive annotations, a note on the textual history of West’s writings, and a guide to further reading for both the student and the general reader.

About the Author:
Nathanael West (1903 - 1940) was not widely known when he died in a car crash with his wife. He had written four novels; his second, a black comedy of the American depression, 'Miss Lonelyhearts', and his fourth, based on his experiences in the film industry, 'The Day of the Locust', have come to be regarded as classic American novels of the Twentieth Century.