The literature on Nathanael West by this time is larger, no doubt, than his entire output—less than 450pages in the one-volume complete edition. Yet West’s four short novels, all written in the 1930s and surrounded by his reputation as a Hollywood script writer, continue to fascinate readers, who still look for sign and symbol of the books’ importance.
Irving Malin, a frequent contributor to this series, has taken a new approach to West’s novels. Rather than an examination of sources, his new book provides, for the first time, a chronological, chapter-by-chapter examination of the novels. This detailed textual explication shows the novels’ designs, which create their powerful effects by the accumulation of significant recurring details.
Irving Malin is Professor of English at the City College of New York. His previous books in this series are New American Gothic, Jews and Americans, and Saul Bellows Fiction.
