The Day of the Locust
by Nathanael West
Summary
Aspiring painter Tod Hackett works as a set designer in Depression era Hollywood, observing a cast of desperate hangers on, failed starlets, and disillusioned dreamers whose thwarted ambitions curdle into the mob violence of the novel's apocalyptic climax. West satirizes the emptiness behind the movie industry's glamorous facade with a savage, almost surreal precision that anticipated decades of later Hollywood fiction. The novel sold poorly on release but has since become recognized as one of the finest satirical portraits of American celebrity culture.
Historical Context & Significance
The 1940 Pulitzer for fiction went to John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath, an entirely different vision of Depression era America. West died in a car accident just a year after the novel's publication, before its reputation had any chance to grow.