Paperback. Grey cover with black title.

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In these two modern fables Nathanael West presents a powerful indictment of the brutal, inhuman world of 1930s America. When, in MISS LONELYHEARTS, a cynical, hard-drinking hack takes on his newspaper’s agony column he thinks of it as something of a joke. But when the letters of despair come flooding in he realises that it is he who is the victim of the joke. Haunted by the human misery he encounters, his fragile hold on reality starts to slip away. In A COOL MILLION Lem Pitkin is the hapless young hero chasing the American dream of success and wealth, but instead discovering the very darkest corners of human life. Together these two fables present a powerful indictment of 1930s America.

Review: For such a short book, Miss Lonelyhearts has a long history and has had a huge impact. Written in 1933 it has been adapted into a play, three films and, more recently, an opera. It is also discussed in Philip K. Dicks “The man in the high castle.” It was first published in 1933 and is set in New York during the depression. Miss Lonelyhearts is, in fact, a man – an unnamed male newspaper columnist who is writing an advice column for desperate people. His job seems to cause much hilarity in the office, but he took it hoping it would lead to better things. However, despite being considered a joke, the letters which arrive on his desk plunge him into a round of heavy drinking and deep depression. This novella follows him as he lurches around the city, making “a fool” of himself, as his girlfriend Betty claims. He interacts with people he comes across – not only Betty, but Mr Shrike and others at the newsroom, as well as Mr Shrike’s unhappy wife and Mrs Doyle, a reader of his column. As things overtake him, Miss Lonelyhearts often ends up in his bed – even there though, his room is constantly invaded.

Nathanel West was born Nathan Weinstein in New York City in 1903 and studied at Tufts and Brown Universities before living and writing in Paris for two years. He changed his name legally in 1926 and until 1933 he wrote and managed hotels belonging to his father in New York. In 1935 he settled in California to become a screenwriter. His fiction was largely neglected until after he and his wife died in an automobile accident in 1940.