A critical study of the novels of Nathanael West Item Type text; Dissertation-Reproduction (electronic) Authors Locklin, Gerald Publisher The University of Arizona. Rights Copyright © is held by the author. Digital access to this material is made possible by the University Libraries, University of Arizona. Further transmission, reproduction or presentation (such as public display or performance) of protected items is prohibited except with permission of the author. Download date 08/10/2021 05:04:46 Link to Item http://hdl.handle.net/10150/565612 A CBPHCAL SfUDT Q1 $HE HOTELS OE MfMHAEL USE by x,f^ Gerald. 1» Leeklir. A Dissertation Submitted t© the Faculty of the lEE&BEHEHE OF E1GL1SH In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree of DOGEOE OF PHILOSOPHY In the Graduate College IHE UHITEES11Y OF ARIZONA 1 9 6 4; THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA GRADUATE COLLEGE I hereby recommend that this dissertation prepared under my direction by G-erald Ivan Locklln__________________ entitled A Critical Study of the Novels of_______ Nathanael West be accepted as fulfilling the dissertation requirement of the degree of ______ Doctor of Philosophy_________________ ______________________ A i / c t f Dissertation Director Date After inspection of the dissertation, the following members of the Final Examination Committee concur in its approval and recommend its acceptance:* -<b/V *This approval and acceptance is contingent on the candidate's adequate performance and defense of this dissertation at the final oral examination. 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TABLE OF 6Gl$Zff$S Page A B & H T F A 0 3- O O O O O 6 O O ' O a o o o e 6 » » o o o o- e o I. s h e h a w m a i m s h e w o t e l b i II, THE JOHWEY I1T0 THE HIGEOCOSH „ . v = » 24 III. THE SEOGED COHIZO »o • 83 IVo THEBISMAZTLIHO OF THE AHEEI0A1 HYTH * * o , » « 151 Vo THE M Y OF THEPAIZTEE . , . * . * < » 200 VI. G0ICL1SI0ZS . = . o o . ...... 2?3 O o o o o o . o o o o . o o o . o ill ABSfMGf lathanael West is me 1 eager a neglected, amthbr, "but he is still met a fully understood author= $his disserta- tiom aims-at a clarification, of his themes and techniques by means of a close critical reading of his four novels. Chapter I is a brief introduction to West himself? consisting of a chronological■sketch of his life and an analysis of the biographical information provided by James Light9 Josephine Herbsts Eichard Sehman9 and others« The conclusion is that West^s-pessimism, is largely a product of his rejection of his Jewish upbringing, his disappointment at the reception accorded his worh, and his isolation* The next four chapters are devoted to explication in detail of West's four novels * The Bream Life of Balso Emell is a rejection not merely of art, but of life itself» The argument is that life is made meaningful only through spirituality, but that all manifestations of spirituality are shams, usually with physiological causes* The attack proceeds from the particular to the universal with assaults on various artists, philosophers, religions, social customs, academic pursuits, and such shibboleths as home and country* West disparages earlier writers by means of facetious allusions and the parodying of his own models* iv $h,e atrbion is constructed according to a negative dialectic« liiesis and antithesis do not yield a synthesis; rather they expose each other as valueless« fhe nihilism of Miss Lonelyhe arts is similarly absolute» There is no hero, in the sense, of a character one might emulate• The supporting characters are all in existential "had faith"; they cannot respond flexibly to life, Lomelyhearts is more complex, but he too is consumed by a mysticism that is presented as the fruit of homosexuality and sadomasochism. The study shows great. concern for the novel5s formal perfection. The movement is through exposition to crisis to catastrophe. There is no denouement; West implies that there is never a denouement to death. His characterizations combine the techniques of cartoons and cubism. His imagery is violent, recurrent, unlikely, and surrealistic in the sense that exterior and interior landscapes coincide. Because of his tireless particularization (as in Shrike's extended monologues), his work can be described as both fantastic and realistic, A Qool Million combines an attack on ultra- Americanism with a; parody of the Horatio Alger novel, Because the narrator is, in the manner of Gulliver, a slave to cliches, his viewpoint must be distinguished from West's, This satire on popular art has social as well as literary significance, -Occasionally West exercises his vi imagimatiom more directly ia the creation of an ingenious scene. Major influences are Voltaire, Spangler, Valery, and George Grosz. (The lay of the Locust is the story of the painting H$he Burning of Bos Angeles.® Just as fod Eaekett does preliminary sketches of landscapes, crowds, and individuals, so West desultorily "builds towards his panoramic final chapter. West "paints® three aspects of Bos -Angeles. It is a microcosm in which one may observe the end phenomena of our civilisation, a place of deceptions, facades, notably the silver screen, and a real city inhabited by real people. West’s characters are extraordinary, but they have sexual frustration in common. She novel also contains a portrait of the artist, fod Eaekett, a man somewhat like West himself. A brief concluding chapter offers general remarks on the similarities and differences in West’s novels, the history of his reputation, his place in American litera­ ture, the similarity of his nihilism to that of Bouis- Ferdinand Geline, and his relation to our own generation of writers. OHAPEEB I SHE ms BEIIll SHE HOTELS Hathanael West, surely the most underrated and mm justly megleeted Ameriean writer since Herman Melville, was "berm Hathan Weinstein ©n October lf9 1903 9 in Hew York Gitjo^ At Manhattan's BeWitt Oliatoa High Seheel, he took no active interest in either the school literary magazine or the school newspapere He distinguished himself only by his unflinching mediocrity in subjects, and in June, 1920$ he left school without graduating® With the aid of am incorrect transcript$ which the school has no record of having sent, he gained admittance to fmfts University in September, 19210 He did not immediately reverse the trend of his previous academic endeavors, and in lovember of that year he was advised to withdraw from fmfts for academic reasons<, nevertheless, the young man soon applied to Brown University, using a slightly different first name than he had at fmfts» According to James Light, the Wmiversity received a different Hathan Weinstein's transcript, an excellent one, good for 10 James fo Light, Mathamael Wests An Interpreta­ tive Study (Evanston,. 111., 19#1)$ p. 1. Most, of the information,in this chronology is gleaned from Light's book, which is the most important study of West to be published to date. 1 approximately two years of college credits 9 including m a n y of the sciences which would mo douht have proved most mmeomgemial to this restless mimdo The first day of Spring Semester? 1922? found Best a homafide Ivy leaguer« He remained at Brown two and a half years and? after am inauspicious first semestei? settled down to acquiring the degree? which was awarded in Jmae? 19240■ 2 After spending a few months at home with his parents and two sisters ? West succumbed to that highly contagious virus of the twenties? the lust for Paris« His family consulted and approved the trip. Thus? late in 1924? West sailed for the city of dadaist ashes and sur­ realist flames• friend?A Jack Sanford? remembers that by 1924 he had been subjected to most of the comic inspira­ tions which West eventually wove into his first novel? The Bream life of Balso Snell, ^ It is more than likely that the novel was largely written during West8s stay in Paris, He returned to Hew York early in 1926 and worked for a time for his father? a reasonably successful building contractor. In 1927 he switched to assistant manager of the Kenmore Hall Hotel on East 2$rd Street? a position that afforded him increased time for reading, later he moved to 2 o Ibid,? pp, 4-6, 3 ° Ibid,? p, 3 0 , •feke same pesitiea at the Sutton oa East $6® Street, a more exelmsive establishment = By the summer of 1931» whieh he spent im the Adirondaeks with Sanford, also an aspiring writer, West was already hard at work ©m his second novel. Kiss lonelyhearte Shis same year saw the publication ©£ Bals® Smell, whieh went almost unnoticed by reviewers and public alike = She bizarre' fable did, however, sow the seeds of a werd=©£= mouth reputation among ether young literary people» In 1S32 he edited three issues of Gontaet with William Garlos Williams o - In the early fall of that year, Josephine Herbst and her husband, John Hermann, followed Williams6 A.