Miss Lonelyhearts and The Day of the Locust

Alan E. Cober Franklin Center, Pennsylvania: The Franklin Library, 1981. Limited Edition. Hardcover. Format is approximately 6 inches by 8.5 inches. [12], 287, [5] pages. Footnotes. Illustrations. This is one of The 100 Greatest Masterpieces of American Literature, a limited edition collection is published under the auspices of The American Revolution Bicentennial Administration. Nathanael West (born Nathan Weinstein; October 17, 1903 – December 22, 1940) was an American writer and screenwriter. He is remembered for two darkly satirical novels: Miss Lonelyhearts (1933) and The Day of the Locust (1939), set respectively in the newspaper and Hollywood film industries. Although West was not widely known during his life, his reputation grew after his death, especially with the publication of his collected novels by New Directions in 1957. Miss Lonelyhearts is widely regarded as West's masterpiece. Day of the Locust was made into a film which came out in 1975, starring Donald Sutherland and Karen Black. Likewise Miss Lonelyhearts (1933) saw production in film (1933, 1958, 1983), stage (1957), and operatic (2006) versions. The obscene, garish landscapes of The Day of the Locust gained force in light of the fact that the remainder of the country was living in drab poverty at the time. West's writing style does not allow the portrayal of positive political causes, as he admitted in a letter to Malcolm Cowley regarding The Day of the Locust. West saw the American dream as having been betrayed, both spiritually and materially, and in his writing he presented "a sweeping rejection of political causes, religious faith, artistic redemption and romantic love" Alan E. Cober (May 18, 1935 – January 17, 1998), born in New York City was an American illustrator. His artwork appeared in The New York Times, Life, Time and numerous other publications. Cober was inducted into the Illustration Hall of Fame in 2011, thirteen years after his death in 1998. Cober was frequently cited as one of the most innovative illustrators America has ever produced. Cober was one of a small group of American illustrators who initially brought aspects of modern art into commercial art. His magazine illustrations rejected the existing top-down approach of art direction and embraced a far more expressive and symbolic approach to the subject matter. He did not mimic a passage of text, as was the convention at the time in illustration, but instead embraced artistic interpretation. Miss Lonelyhearts is a novella by Nathanael West. He began writing it early in 1930 and completed the manuscript in November 1932. Published in 1933, it is an Expressionist black comedy set in New York City during the Great Depression. It is about a male newspaper advice columnist who provides advice to lonesome people who becomes so affected by their desperate letters that he spirals into depression, drinking, and ill-considered sexual affairs, which leads to his downfall. The Day of the Locust is a 1939 novel by American author Nathanael West set in Hollywood, California. The novel follows a young artist from the Yale School of Fine Arts named Tod Hackett, who has been hired by a Hollywood studio to do scene design and painting. While he works he plans an important painting to be called "The Burning of Los Angeles," a portrayal of the chaotic and fiery holocaust which will destroy the city. While the cast of characters Tod befriends are a conglomerate of Hollywood stereotypes, his greater discovery is a part of society whose "eyes filled with hatred," and "had come to California to die." This undercurrent of society captures the despair of Americans who worked and saved their entire lives only to realize, too late, that the American dream was more elusive than they imagine. Their anger boils into rage, and the craze over the latest Hollywood premiere erupts violently into mob rule and absolute chaos. In the introduction to The Day of the Locust, Richard Gehman writes that the novel was "more ambitious" than West's previous novel, Miss Lonelyhearts and "showed marked progress in West's thinking and in his approach toward maturity as a writer."[2] Gehman calls the novel "episodic in structure, but panoramic in form. This outstanding book is bound in genuine leather and features gilded, sewn in pages and ribbon marker, simply superb quality, Franklin Library at its best. The Franklin Library was a division of The Franklin Mint that produced fine collector edition books over three decades ending in the year 2000. For this reason all Franklin Library editions are now considered "out of print" and are no longer available for sale from the Franklin Mint. The Franklin Library produced books in three different binding styles referred to as full genuine leather, imitation leather, and quarter bound genuine leather. The full leather bound editions were produced through out the Franklin Library's full life span and the other two styles (imitation and quarter bound) were only produced through the 1970's and 80's. Below are some of the characteristics found in all Franklin Library editions along with more detailed information about the different binding styles. All Editions: • High quality paper; • Pages that are sewn not glued into the binding; • Gold gilded page edges on all three sides; • Raised spine bands that give each book that distinctive antique look. The genuine full leather bound editions are the highest quality of the three. While most characteristics remained constant through out the different series and years of production the style of end papers varied from silk moiré to decorative paper. Some of the characteristics that remained constant: • Full genuine leather binding; • 22k. gold lettering and stampings on the spine and covers; and • Attached silk page marker. Condition: Very good.

Keywords: Alan Cober, Newspapers, New York, Great Depression, Expressionist, Black Comedy, Advice Columnist, Lonely People, Hollywood, Tod Hackett, Scene Design, American Dream

[Book #85535]

Price: $125.00

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