University of Virginia Library

Nathanael West: A Bibliography
by
William White

THERE IS ALMOST A 'STAR-CROSS'D' QUALITY IN both the life and literary career of Nathanael West. When he was graduated from Brown University in 1924, the college annual said, 'He seems a bit eccentric at times, a characteristic of all geniuses.' His first novel, The Dream Life of Balso Snell, dispensed entirely with plausibility, and his other three could certainly be labeled 'grotesque.' If Balso Snell was ignored and A Cool Million called a disappointment, Miss Lonelyhearts and The Day of the Locust were highly regarded by his friends, especially Edmund Wilson. Yet A Cool Million was remaindered; Miss Lonelyhearts came out just as Live-right was going bankrupt; and when The Day of the Locust had sold but 1,480 copies, West wrote F. Scott Fitzgerald, 'So far the box score stands: Good reviews—fifteen per cent, bad reviews—twenty-five percent, brutal personal attacks—sixty per cent.' Although he went to Hollywood after 20th Century-United Artists bought Miss Lonely-hearts, he never worked on the script and it came out under another title; and except for RKO's 'I Stole a Million,' his talents were wasted by the movies on Westerns and B-pictures. Nine months after he married his Irish beauty they were both killed in an auto collision in California. The New York Times account of the accident featured his wife, the Eileen of 'My Sister Eileen,' put her in the headline, misspelled his name, got two of the titles of his novels wrong, erred on his age and in other particulars. Even his sister-in-law, Ruth McKenney, got his age wrong in her book, Love Story, as do Stanley J. Kunitz and Howard Haycraft's Twentieth Century Authors (also the day of his death), Malcolm Cowley's Exile's Return, and most other accounts.

Those who have written on West cite his four novels, but there is no bibliography of his work and of writings about him. He is ignored by Alfred Kazin's On Native Grounds (New York, 1942), by W. M. Frohock's The Novel of Violence, 1920-1950 (Dallas, 1950), by Blanche Housman Gelfant's The American City Novel (Norman,

1954), and by Fred B. Millet's Contemporary American Authors (New York, 1940), which treats 219 writers. The three-volume Literary History of the United States (New York, 1948), edited by Robert Spiller and others, gives him but two sentences; Lewis Leary's Articles on American Literature, 1900-1950 (Durham, 1954) lists only one article about him, and the Hoffman-Allen-Ulrich The Little Magazine (Princeton, 1946) gives his name in one place and spells it wrong. James Hart's Oxford Companion to American Literature omitted him from the first edition (New York, 1941) and the second edition (1948), but in the third edition (1956) he is given a brief paragraph.

In addition to his being treated in the Oxford Companion, there are other indications that Nathanael West may be given the attention many think he deserves. A Ph.D. dissertation and at least two M.A. theses have been written on his work; Miss Lonelyhearts and The Day of the Locust have both been reprinted by New Directions in their 'New Classics' series; these two and A Cool Million were recently published in London; Miss Lonelyhearts and The Day of the Locust have been reissued in paperbacks; Miss Lonelyhearts was translated into French; and finally, critical essays—such as those by Robert M. Coates, Malcolm Cowley, Richard B. Gehman, Alan Ross, and Edmund Wilson—continue to appear from time to time. An ironical footnote to West criticism is that the longest essay yet printed, in the Western Review, which the editors called 'definitive,' resulted in a charge of plagiarism.[1]

Asked to choose the 'most undeservedly neglected book' of the past twenty-five years, Leslie A. Fiedler wrote in the Autumn 1956 American Scholar that he considered A Cool Million but decided against it because West had 'after all, achieved [a] reputation, though not for the works I prefer.' While this reputation is not yet fixed, it is surely true that West at the moment is neither brutally attacked by critics nor completely ignored.

Finally, in May 1957 Farrar, Straus and Cudahy issued The Complete Works of Nathanael West, containing the four novels and an introduction by Alan Ross (from Horizon). The Saturday Review put his portrait on its cover, every review I have seen has been laudatory, and The New Yorker said the book 'contains some of the best writing

that has been produced by an American in this century.' To paraphrase Richard B. Gehman: 'Seventeen years after his death: that is the final ironic, tragic, Westian joke.'

CHRONOLOGY

• 1902 Born Nathan Weinstein, 17 October[2]
• 1924 Graduated, Brown University, Ph.B. degree
• 1931 The Dream Life of Balso Snell
• 1933 Miss Lonelyhearts
• 1934 A Cool Million
• 1939 The Day of the Locust
• 1940 Married Eileen McKenney, May
• 1940 Died, with his wife, in automobile crash, 22 December
• 1957 The Collected Works

BOOKS BY NATHANAEL WEST

The Dream Life of Balso Snell

• 1931
• THE DREAM LIFE OF BALSO SNELL / By / N / A / T / H / A / N / A / E / L / W / E / S / T /CONTACT EDITIONS / Paris New York / (The whole inclosed within vertical and diagonal rules in blue and black)
• Collation: [1]-[98] pp., as follows: [1]-[2] blank; [3] bastard title: The Dream Life / of / Balso Snell /; [4] blank; [5] quotation: "After all, my dear fellow, / life, Anaxagoras has said, / is a journey." / Bergotte /; [6] blank; [7] title-page as above; [8] notices: Copyright 1931 by / MOSS and KAMIN, Inc. / Printed in the United States of States of America. /; [9] notice: This edition of "The Dream Life of Balso / Snell" is limited to 500 numbered copies of / which 300 are for sale in America and 200 for / Great Britain and the Continent. / This is copy No. /; [10] blank; [11] dedication: To A. S. /; [12] blank; 13-95 text: [96]-[98] blank.

• Issued stitched in heavy paper cover folded over paper, with transparent paper wrapper. Front cover similar to title-page. Printed in black on spine: THE / D / R / E / A / M / L / I / F / E / OF / B / A / L / S / O / S / N / E / L / L / By / N / A / T / H / A / N / A / E / L / W / E / S / T /. All edges untrimmed. The leaves measure 9½ by 6¼ inches.

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  Published August 1931 in an edition of 500 copies. The original price was $3.00 and (boards) $10.00.

  First edition.

  Copies were sold by Moss & Kamin, Inc., then of 1423 Sixth Avenue, New York City. I have not seen a copy in boards. The book has for some time been a collector's item, copies in good condition bringing $25.00, although they do not turn up very often in catalogues. An advertisement for the book in Contact, I (May 1932), 4, reads: 'A strange anti-literary novel best characterized by Kurt Schwitter's definition "Tout ceque l'artiste crache, c'est l'art!"' And in Contact, I (October 1932), 3: 'If you desire two parallel lines to meet at once, or even in the near future, it is important to make all arrangements beforehand, preferably by wireless.' The book has never been reprinted.

• Excerpts

  'The Dear Public,' Americana, I (August 1933), 29. (Published in New York City by the American Group, Inc., this issue lists Nathaniel [sic.] West with George Grosz and Gilbert Seldes as Associates on the staff; the editor was Alexander King. West's first name is also misspelled in the by-line.)

  'Excerpt,' Americana, I (September 1933), 25. (Nathanael West's name is correctly spelled in this issue, and Seldes no longer is on the staff.)

• Review

  G[aroffolo], N. G. [The Dream Life of Balso Snell], Contempo (Chapel Hill, N. C.), I (21 August 1931), 3. (This is the only review of the novel I have been able to find.)

• Miss Lonelyhearts
• 1933
• (Decorated rule) / (wavy rule) / MISS / LONELYHEARTS / (short wavy rule) / by Nathanael West / (device of monk at writing table) / LIVERIGHT · INC · PUBLISHERS / NEW YORK /
• Collation: [1]-[216] pp., as follows: [1] bastard title: MISS LONELYHEARTS /; [2] blank; [3] title-page as above; [4] notices of copyright, printing, and presswork; [5] dedication: TO MAX /; [6] blank; [7]-[8] contents; [9] section half-title [these also occur on pp. 21, 35, 45, 57, 73, 95, 113, 131, 143, 159, 173, 185, 199 and 207, followed by a blank page]; [10] blank; 11-213 text; [214]-[216] blank.

• Issued in tan cloth. Stamped on spine in silver on black: (rule) / MISS / LONELYHEARTS / (rule) / NATHANAEL / WEST in (rule) (The above lines inclosed within a silver rule on black) / LIVERIGHT (in black) /. Top edge yellow; bottom edge trimmed; fore edge untrimmed. The leaves measure 7⅜ by 5 inches.

  Published April 1933 in an edition of 2,200 (?) copies. The original price was $2.00.

  First edition.

  While the first edition was being issued Liveright, Inc. went bankrupt and the printer refused to release 1,400 copies of the book after 800 had

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  been shipped. Publication was finally taken over by Harcourt, Brace and Company, using the plates of the Liveright edition, except for the bottom of the title-page. Replacing the Liveright device was that of Harcourt, Brace, followed by: HARCOURT, BRACE AND COMPANY / NEW YORK /. The verso of the title-page read: COPYRIGHT, 1933, BY NATHANAEL WEST / MANUFACTURED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA /. Issued in red cloth. Stamped in black on spine: (wavy rule) / Miss / Lonely- / hearts / (wavy rule) / NATHANAEL / WEST / (wavy rule) / Harcourt, Brace / and Company /. Reissued 1934 by Greenberg: Publisher, with this name on the title-page.

• Reprints

  Miss / Lonelyhearts / A NOVEL BY / NATHANAEL / WEST / WITH AN / INTRODUCTION / BY ROBERT M. / COATES / THE NEW CLASSICS /

  214 pp. New York: New Directions, 24 August 1946 (5,000 copies). 6¾ by 4½ inches. Text printed from the original plates. Issued in red cloth. Stamped in gold on spine, reading downwards: MISS LONELYHEARTS /. New Classics No. 15, $1.50.

• MISS / LONELYHEARTS / by / NATHANAEL WEST / with an introduction by / Alan Ross / THE GREY WALLS PRESS / Crown Passage, Pall Mall / London /

  116 pp. 1949. 7¼ by 4¾ inches. Issued in light blue cloth. Stamped in silver on spine, reading downwards: MISS LONELYHEARTS (small heart) NATHANAEL WEST /; reading across: GREY / WALLS / PRESS /. First British edition. 7s 6d.

• Miss Lonelyhearts / A NOVEL BY NATHANAEL WEST / With an introduction by Robert M. Coates / THE NEW CLASSICS / xvi, 142 pp. New York: New Directions, January 1950 (5,000 copies).

  7 by 4⅜ inches. Printed from new plates. Issued in yellow cloth. Printed in black on spine, reading downwards: MISS LONELYHEARTS /. $1.50.

• Miss Lonelyhearts / NATHANAEL WEST / Complete and Unabridged / AVON PUBLICATIONS, INC. / 575 Madison Avenue New York 22, N. Y. /

  96 pp. 19 April 1955 (190,000 copies). 6⅜ by 4⅛ inches. Issued in paperback with multi-colored illustration on front cover. Spine and back cover in yellow, gray, red, and black. Avon No. 634. 25&c.nt;.

• Translations

  'Miss Lonelyhearts, aidez-moi, aidez-moi'; Miss Lonelyhearts en expédition,' L'Arbalète: revue de littérature (Lyon: Marc Barbezat), 9 autome 1944, pp. 193-206. (Translation, by Marcelle Sibon, of two chapters from Miss Lonelyhearts, 'Miss Lonelyhearts, Help Me, Help Me' and 'Miss Lonelyhearts on a Field Trip.')

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• NATHANAEL WEST / MADEMOISELLE / CŒUR-BRISÉ / "MISS LONELYHEARTS" / ROMAN / Traduit par Marcelle Sibon / PRÉFACE DE PHILIPPE SOUPAULT / (publisher's device) / ÉDITIONS DU SAGITTAIRE / 56 RUE-RODIER — PARIS /

  156 pp. 5 April 1946. 7¼ by 4⅝ inches. Issued in paper-back. Printed on front cover: NATHANAEL WEST / LA DEMOISELLE DES / CŒURS BRISÉS / "MISS LONELYHEARTS" / ROMAN (in red) / Traduit par MARCELLE SIBON / Préface de Philippe Soupault / (drawing of woman's wig, envelopes, and pen) / D'UNE TERRE A L'AUTRE (in red) / (eight heavy rules in red) / EDITIONS DU SAGITTAIRE / (two heavy rules in red) /. Printed on spine: NATHANAEL / WEST / La / Demoiselle / des / CŒURES / BRISÉS / SAGITTAIRE /. 125 fr.

• Original Appearances

  'Miss Lonelyhearts and the Lamb,' Contact, I (February 1932), 80-85. (This chapter and the others below are early versions, with variations. Contact, sub-titled An American Quarterly Review, was published by Moss and Kamin, Publishers of The Dream Life of Balso Snell, and edited by William Carlos Williams with Robert McAlmon and Nathanael West as associate editors.)

  'Two Chapters from Miss Lonelyhearts' ('Miss Lonelyhearts and the Dead Pan' and 'Miss Lonelyhearts and the Clean Old Man'), Contact, I (May 1932), 13-21, 22-27.

  'Miss Lonelyhearts in the Dismal Swamp,' Contempo, II (5 July 1932), 1, 2.

  'Miss Lonelyhearts on a Field Trip,' Contact, I (October 1932), 50-57.

  'Some Notes on Miss Lonelyhearts,' Contempo, III (15 May 1933), 1,2. (Comments by West after the book's publication.)

• Movie

  Advice to the Lovelorn. Adapted from the novel, Miss Lonelyhearts. Screenplay by Leonard Praskins. 20th Century-United Artists. Released 1933. (West did not work on the script. No copy of the script is available. The movie was reviewed in Harrison's Reports, XV [26 August 1933], which I have not seen.)

• Reviews

  • Britten, Florence Haxton. 'Grotesquely Beautiful Novel,' New York Herald Tribune Books, IX (30 April 1933), 6.
  • Brown, Bob. 'Go West, Young Writer!' Contempo, III (25 July 1933), 4-5. (This was one of several reviews in this issue under the general heading 'Miss Lonelyhearts Is Reviewed.' There was also a sketch by S. J. Perelman and ads for the book.)
  • Caldwell, Erskine. [Comments on Miss Lonelyhearts in an ad], Contempo, III (15 May 1933), 7. (This same ad appeared in the issue 25 July 1933 issue, but this time Harcourt, Brace has been substituted for Liveright as publisher. Four other writers are quoted. Contempo, III [15 March 1933], 2, mentions Miss Lonelyhearts having been accepted for publication by Liveright.)
  • Coates, Robert M. [Comments on Miss Lonelyhearts in an ad], Contempo, III (15 May 1933), 7.

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  • -----. 'Messiah of the Lonely Hearts,' New Yorker, IX (15 April 1933), 59.
  • D[avies], H[ugh] S[ykes]. 'American Periodicals,' The Criterion, XI (July 1932), 772-[775]. (Reviews the issue of Contact, February 1932, containing West's story 'of the clumsy sacrificial slaughter of a lamb by drunken students.')
  • Flores, Angel, 'Miss Lonelyhearts in the Haunted Castle,' Contempo, III (25 July 1933), 1.
  • Hammett, Dashiell. [Comments on Miss Lonelyhearts in an ad], Contempo, III (15 May 1933), 7.
  • Herbst, Josephine. [Comments on Miss Lonelyhearts in an ad], Contempo, III (15 May 1933), 7.
  • -----. 'Miss Lonelyhearts: An Allegory,' Contempo, III (25 July 1933), 4.
  • Matthews, T. S. 'Novels-A Fortnight's Grist,' New Republic, LXXIV (26 April 1933), 314-315.
  • Mott, Frank Luther. [Miss Lonelyhearts], Journalism Quarterly, X (June 1933), 120.
  • Swann, Michael. 'New Novels,' New Statesman and Nation, XXXVIII (6 August 1949], 153-154. (Review of the Grey Walls Press edition.]
  • Troy, William. 'Four Newer Novelists,' Nation, CXXXVI (14 June 1933), 672-673.
  • Williams, William Carlos. 'Sordid? Good God!' Contempo, III (25 July 1933), 5, 8.
  • Wilson, T. C. 'American Humor,' Saturday Review of Literature, IX (13 May 1933), 589.
  • Unsigned. [Miss Lonelyhearts], Boston Transcript, 26 July 1933, p. 2.
  • -----. 'Books and Reviews,' New Outlook, CLXII (July 1933), 55, 58.
  • -----. '"Miss Lonelyhearts" and Some Other Recent Works of Fiction,' New York Times Book Review, [XXXVII] (23 April 1933), 6.
• A Cool Million
• 1934
• A COOL / MILLION / The Dismantling of Lemuel Pitkin / BY / NATHANAEL WEST / (ornament) / COVICI · FRIEDE · Publishers / NEW YORK /
• Collation: [1]-[236] pp., as follows: [1] bastard title: A COOL MILLION /; [2] blank; [3] title-page as above; [4] notices of copyright, reservation of rights, printing, press-work, and designer; [5] dedication: TO / S. J. PERELMAN /; [6] blank; [7] half title: A COOL MILLION / ; [8] quotation: "John D. Rockefeller would give a cool million / to have a stomach like yours." —OLD SAYING /; 9-229 text; [230]-[236] blank.

• Issued in light tan cloth. Stamped in green on front cover: A COOL / MILLION / (ornament) /. Stamped in green on spine: WEST / A COOL MILLION (reading downwards) / Covici · Friede /. Top edge yellow; fore and bottom edges trimmed. The leaves measure 7⅜ by 5 inches.

  Published 19 June 1934 in an edition of 3,000 (?) copies. The original price was $2.00.

  First edition.

• Reprint

  A COOL / MILLION / The Dismantling of Lemuel Pitkin / BY / NATHANAEL WEST / (ornament) / (publisher's device of lion and spear) / NEVILLE SPEARMAN / London / (The whole enclosed within a rule within a decorated rule)

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  140 pp. 1954. 7¼ by 4¾ inches. Issued in red cloth. Stamped in white on spine: A / COOL / MILLION / (decorated rule) / Nathanael / West / (publisher's device of lion and spear) / NEVILLE / SPEARMAN /. First British edition. 9s. 6d.

• Reviews

  • Britten, Florence Haxton. 'Youth Against Age in Recent Leading Fiction,' New York Herald Tribune Books, X (1 July 1934), 8-9.
  • Brickell, Herschel. [A Cool Million], New York Post, 23 June 1934, p. 7. Chamberlain, John. 'Books of the Times,' New York Times, 19 June 1934, p. 17. Gannett, Lewis. [A Cool Million], New York Herald Tribune, 21 June 1934, p. 19. Marsh, Fred T. 'A Cool Million and Other Recent Works of Fiction,' New York Times Book Review, [XXXIX] (1 July 1934), 6.
  • Matthews, T. S. 'A Gallery of Novels,' New Republic, LXXIX (18 July 1934], 271. S[tevens], G[eorge]. 'The New Books,' Saturday Review of Literature, X (30 June 1934], 784.
  • Unsigned. [A Cool Million], Boston Transcript, 14 July 1934, p. 2.
  • -----. 'Shorter Notices,' Nation, CXXXIX (25 July 1934), 112.
  • -----. 'In the Jungle,' Review of Reviews, XC (August 1934), 6-7.
• The Day of the Locust
• 1939
• Nathanael West / THE DAY / OF THE / LOCUST / Random House, New York / (Half-inch right-angle rules at each corner)
• Collation: [i]-[viii] + [1]-[240] pp., as follows: [i]-[ii] blank; [iii] publisher's device of house; [iv] note: Other Books by / Nathanael West: / Miss Lonelyhearts / A Cool Million /; [v] title-page as above; [vi] notices: Copyright, 1939, by / Random House, Inc. / First Printing / Manufactured in / the U.S.A. by / H. Wolff, New York /; [vii] dedication: For Laura /; [viii] blank; [1] half title: The Day of the Locust/; [2] blank; 3-238 text; [239]-[240] blank.

• Issued in red cloth. Orange paper label on spine, lettered : West / THE DAY / OF THE / LOCUST / Random / House / (3/16-inch right-angle rules at each corner). Top edge black; fore and bottom edges trimmed. The leaves measure 8 by 5 inches.

  Published 16 May 1939 in an edition of 3,000 copies. The original price was $2.00.

  First edition.

• Reprints

  NATHANAEL WEST / The Day of the Locust / WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY RICHARD B. GEHMAN / THE NEW CLASSICS /

  xxiv, 168 pp. New York: New Directions, 28 August and December 1950 (5,000 copies each printing). 7 by 4¾ inches. Issued in light green cloth. Stamped in black on spine, reading downwards: THE DAY OF THE LOCUST /. New Classics No. 29. $1.50.

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• THE DAY / OF THE LOCUST / BY NATHANAEL WEST / THE GREY WALLS PRESS / CROWN PASSAGE, PALL MALL / LONDON S. W. 1 /

  208 pp. 1951. 7¼ by 4¾ inches. Issued in dark blue cloth. Stamped in gold on spine, reading downwards: Nathanael West THE DAY OF THE LOCUST /; reading across: GREY / WALLS / PRESS /. First British edition. 9s 6d.

• THE DAY OF THE / LOCUST / WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY / RICHARD B. GEHMAN / by NATHANAEL WEST / (publisher's device of a bantam) BANTAM BOOKS · New York / (2¾-inch vertical decorated rule above publisher's device)

  xvi, 144 pp. March 1953 (250,000 copies). 6⅜ by 4¼ inches. Issued in paper-back with multi-colored illustration on front cover. Spine and back cover in yellow, blue, red, and black. Bantam No. 1093. 25&c.nt;

• Reviews

  • Aaron, Daniel. 'Writing for Apocalypse,' Hudson Review, III (Winter 1951), 634-636. (Review of the New Directions edition.)
  • Britten, Florence Haxton. 'New Novels from Far and Near,' New York Herald Tribune Books, XV (21 May 1939), 7.
  • Fadiman, Clifton. 'Books: Assorted Fiction,' New Yorker, XV (20 May 1939), 78-80.
  • Friedman, Robert. [The Day of the Locust], Daily Worker, 23 November 1950. (Review of the New Directions edition. I have not seen this review nor one quoted on p. i of the Bantam Books edition by Kelsey Guilfoil in the Chicago Tribune.)
  • Markfield, Wallace. 'From the Underbelly,' The New Leader, XXXIII (27 November 1950, 25. (Review of the New Directions edition.)
  • Milburn, George.'The Hollywood Nobody Knows,' Saturday Review of Literature, XX (20 May 1939), 14-15.
  • Rosenfeld, Isaac. 'Faulkner and Contemporaries,' Partisan Review, XVIII (January-February 1951), 106-114. (Review of the New Directions edition.)
  • Salomon, Louis B. 'California Grotesque,' Nation, CXLIX (15 July 1939), 78-79.
  • Schulberg, Budd. 'Feeble Bodies, Disordered Minds,' New York Times Book Review, [LV] (10 October 1950), 4 (portrait). (Review of the New Directions edition.)
  • Van Gelder, Robert. 'A Tragic Chorus,' New York Times Book Review, XLIV (21 May 1939), 6-7.
  • Williams, William Carlos. [Day of the Locust], Tomorrow, X (November 1950), 58-59. (Review of the New Directions edition.)
  • Wilson, Edmund. 'Hollywood Dance of Death,' New Republic, LXXXXIX (26 July 1939), 339-340. (Reprinted in part in Boys in the Back Room.)
  • Unsigned. 'Truly Monstrous,' Time, XXXIII (19 June 1939), 84.
  • -----. 'Neglected Novelist,' Newsweek, XXXVI (4 September 1950), 77-78. (Review of the New Directions edition.)
• The Complete Works
• 1957
• The Complete Works of / NATH / ANAEL / WEST / Farrar, Straus and Cudahy : New York / (Title covers two pages, with author's name on three uneven lines)

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• Collation: [i]-[ii] + [i]-xxii + [1]-[424] pp., as follows: [i]-[ii] blank; [i] blank; [ii]-[iii] title-page as above; [iv] notices: © 1957 by Farrar, Straus & Cudahy, Inc. / Copyright 1931 by Moss and Kamin / Copyright 1933, 1934 by Nathanael West / Copyright 1939 by the estate of Nathanael West / Library of Congress catalog card number 57-6259 / Manufactured in the United States of America / by H. Wolff, New York / First printing, 1957 / Design: MARSHALL LEE /; [iv]-[v] contents; [vi] blank; [vii]-xxii 'The Dead Center: An Introduction to Nathanael West', by Alan Ross; [1] half title: 1931 / The Dream Life of Balso Snell /; [2] dedication and quotation: To A. S. / "After all, my dear fellow, / life, Anaxagoras has said, / is a journey." / BERGOTTE /; [3]-62 text; [63] half title: 1933 / Miss Lonelyhearts /; [64] dedication: To MAX /; [65]-140 text; [141] half title: 1934 / A Cool Million / or, The Dismantling of Lemuel Pitkin /; [142] dedication and quotation: To S. J. PERELMAN / "John D. Rockefeller would give a cool million to have a stomach / like yours." — OLD SAYING /; [143]-255 text; [256] blank; [257] half title: 1939 / The Day of the Locust /; [258] dedication: For LAURA /; [259]-421 text; [422]-[424] blank.

• Issued in black paper-covered boards with a yellow cloth backstrip. Stamped in blind on front cover: NATH / ANAEL / WEST / (Uneven lines, as on title-page). Stamped in white on spine: The / Complete Works / of / Nathanael / West / Farrar, Straus & Cudahy / (Initial letter of author's last name in black). Top edge black; fore and bottom edges trimmed. The leaves measure 7¼ by 5 inches.

  Published 10 May 1957. The original price was $5.00.

  First edition.

  An errata slip is inserted, loose, in the book, calling attention to errors in the introduction. The year of his birth is given, p. x, as 1906; the errata slip gives it as 1903; his age is given, p. x, as thirty-four when he died; the errata slip gives it as thirty-seven. The introduction mentions that he was associate editor of Americana (with George Grosz); the errata slip says that he was associate editor of Contact (with William Carlos Williams). Both are correct: he was on Contact's masthead February, May and October 1932, and listed in Americana from August through November 1933.

• Reviews

  • Bittner, William. 'Catching Up with Nathanael West,' Nation, CLXXXIV (4 May 1957), 394-396.
  • Cowley, Malcolm. 'It's the Telling That Counts,' New York Times Book Review, LXII (12 May 1957), 4-5 (portrait).
  • Podhoretz, Norman. 'A Particular Kind of Joking,' New Yorker, XXXIII (18 May 1957), 144-153.
  • Russell, Ralph. 'He Might Have Been a Major Novelist,' Reporter, XVI (30 May 1957), 45-46.
  • Schoenwald, Richard L. 'No Second Act,' Commonweal, LXVI (10 May 1957), 162-163.

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  • Smith, Roger H. 'SR's Spotlight on Fiction: "The Complete Works of Nathanael West,"' Saturday Review, XL (11 May 1957), 13-14 (portrait from the dustwrapper of the book). (On the first page of this review is a biographical sketch, 'The Happy Mortician,' by Archibald Van Voorhees; and a full-page portrait of West is on the cover of the Saturday Review.)
  • Unsigned. 'Rubbing Off the Sheen,' Newsweek, XLIX (13 May 1957), 126-127 (portrait).
  • White, William. 'Belated Fame,' Detroit Free Press, 26 May 1957, p. C-5.
• Plays by Nathanael West
• Good Hunting: A Satire in 3 Acts (with Joseph Schrank). Produced by Jerome Meyer and Leonard Field at the Hudson Theatre, New York City on 21 November 1938; ran two performances. (See Burns Mantle, The Best Plays of 1938-39 [New York: Dodd, Mead and Company, 1939], pp. 427-428, for a brief synopsis and cast of the play.)
• Even Stephen (with S. J. Perelman). Never produced; unpublished. (The MS of this play and of the short stories listed below are in the possession of S. J. Perelman, executor of Nathanael West's estate.)
• Movies by Nathanael West
• Advice to the Lovelorn. See Miss Lonelyhearts.
• Ticket to Paradise (in collaboration). Republic, 1936.
• Follow Your Heart (in collaboration). Republic, 1936.
• The President's Mystery (in collaboration). Republic, 1936.
• Rhythm in the Clouds (adaptation). Republic, 1937.
• Born to be Wild (original). Republic, 1938. (These five screenplays are listed under Nathaniel [sic.] West in The 1940-41 Motion Picture Almanac; I have been unable to get any further information.)
• Five Came Back (in collaboration with Dalton Trumbo and Jerry Cady). RKO Radio, 1938; released 1939. (No copy of the script is available.)
• I Stole a Million (original story by Lester Cole; screenplay by Nathanael West). Universal, released 21 July 1939. (Copy of the script available in Central Files Department, Universal-International Pictures, Universal City, California.)
• Men Against the Sky. RKO Radio, released 1940. (West alone received credit for this picture. No copy of the script is available.)
• Spirit of Culver (original story by George Green, Tom Buckingham, and Clarence Marks; screenplay by Nathanael West and Whitney Bolton). Universal, 1939. (A copy of this script is in the New York Public Library; [164] pp. typescript of the shooting script.)
• Periodical Pieces by Nathanael West[3]
• 'Euripides—A Playwright,' Casements (Providence, R. I.: The Brown Union), I (July 1923), unpaged.[4]

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• 'Death,' Casements, II (May 1924), 15. (A 12-line poem, signed N. von Wallenstein-Weinstein.)
• 'Some Notes on Violence,' Contact, I (October 1932), 132-133.
• 'Christmass [sic.] Poem,' Contempo, III (21 February 1933), 4. (A 19-line free verse poem.)
• 'Business Deal,' Americana, I (October 1933), 14-15. (An original sketch on Hollywood, concerning a writer and a movie producer. For more information about Contact, Contempo and Americana see annotation above to Miss Lonelyhearts. The November 1933 issue of Americana; Vol. II, No. 1, was the final issue; it contains no articles signed by West.)
• 'Soft Soap for the Barber,' New Republic, LXXXI (November 1934), 23.
• Unpublished Short Stories by Nathanael West
• 'L'Affair Beano,' called 'The Fake' earlier. (Quoted by Richard B. Gehman in his Introduction to The Day of the Locust [New York: New Directions, 1950], pp. xiv-xv.)
• 'Mr. Potts of Pottstown.'
• 'The Sun, the Lady, and the Gas Station.'
• 'Tibetan Night.'
• 'Western Union Boy.'

MS Letters by Nathanael West

• To Josephine Herbst, 24 March 1932. (This and the following three letters are in the possession of Miss Herbst.)
• To Josephine Herbst, 10 May 1932.
• To Josephine Herbst, 31 May 1932.
• To Josephine Herbst, n. d., 1935.
• To Bennett Cerf, c. 1939. (This and the following five letters are in the possession of S. J. Perelman.)
• To an anonymous correspondent, on Clifton Fadiman, c. 1939.
• To Edmund Wilson, c. 1939.
• To Jack Conroy, c. 1939.
• To an anonymous correspondent, on Dostoevsky, c. 1932.
• To Josephine Herbst, c. 1931.[5]
• To Saxe Cummins, 13 January 1939. (This and the following eleven letters are in the possession of S. J. Perelman.)
• To Bennett Cerf, 13 January 1939.
• To Saxe Cummins, 20 January 1939.
• To Saxe Cummins, 14 February 1939.
• To F. Scott Fitzgerald, 5 April 1939.
• To George Milburn, 6 April 1939.
• To Bennett Cerf, 29 May 1939.
• To Bennett Cerf, 13 June 1939.
• To Jack Conroy, 30 June 1939.
• To F. Scott Fitzgerald, 30 June 1939.
• To Edmund Wilson, 30 June 1939.
• To Bennett Cerf, 30 June 1939.[6]

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• To George Brounoff, n. d., c. 1933. This letter is in the possession of Cyril M. Schneider.)
• To Malcolm Cowley, 11 May 1939. (A copy is in the possession of Malcolm Cowley.)
• To F. Scott Fitzgerald, 11 September 1934. (This and the following two letters are in the Fitzgerald papers in the Princeton University Library.)
• To F. Scott Fitzgerald, 5 April 1939.
• To F. Scott Fitzgerald, 30 June 1939.

Biography and Criticism

• Aaron, Daniel. 'The Truly Monstrous: A Note on Nathanael West,' Partisan Review, XIV (February 1947), 98-106.
• -----. See Reviews of The Day of the Locust.
• Ames, Stanley Edward, editor. The 1924 Liber Brunensis. Providence: Brown University, 1924, p. 142. (Nathaniel Von Wallenstein Weinstein, New York, N. Y. 'Pep'. 'From his seat in U. H., "Pep" looks across at the Dean's office and smiles placidly, for he is an easy going, genial fellow. Addicted to reading the latest and best, he introduced "Jurgen" and "De Maupassant" to us—for which we are truly thankful. He passes his time in drawing exotic pictures, quoting strange and fancial poetry, and endeavoring to uplift Casements. He seems a bit eccentric at times, a characteristic of all geniuses. To predict his future would indeed be a hard task, so we'll leave the answer to the crystal and the astrologer. May his slogan always be "Honi soit qui mal y pense."' No honors, activities, or organizations are cited.)
• Benét, William Rose, editor. 'West, Nathanael,' The Reader's Encyclopedia. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell Company, 1948, p. 1200.
• Bittner, William. See Reviews of The Collected Works.
• Block, Maxine, editor. 'West, Nathanael,' Current Biography: Who's News and Why, 1941. New York: The H. W. Wilson Company, 1941, p. 912. (Eight lines, mainly on the death of West and his wife.)
• Breit, Harvey. 'Go West,' New York Times Book Review, LXII (24 March 1957), 8.
• Brickell, Herschel. See Reviews of A Cool Million.
• Britten, Florence Haxton. See Reviews of Miss Lonelyhearts.
• -----. See Reviews of A Cool Million.
• -----. See Reviews of The Day of the Locust.
• Brown, Bob. See Reviews of Miss Lonelyhearts.
• Caldwell, Erskine. Call It Experience: The Years of Learning How to Write. New York: Duell, Sloan and Pearce, 1951, pp. 110-112. (On Caldwell's living at the Sutton Club Hotel in 1931 for three weeks, and a brief account of his relationship with West.)
• -----. See Reviews of Miss Lonelyhearts.
• Chamberlain, John. See Reviews of A Cool Million.
• Coan, Otis W., and Richard Lillard. America in Fiction. Third Edition. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1949, p. 93; Fourth Edition, 1956, p. 101. (Lists The Day of the Locust.)
• Coates, Robert M. Introduction to Miss Lonelyhearts. New York: New Directions, 1946, pp. 1-7; 1950, pp. ix-xiv.
• -----. See Reviews of Miss Lonelyhearts (2).
• Cohen, Arthur. 'Nathanael West's Holy Fool,' Commonweal, LXIV (15 June 1956), 276-278.
• Collins, Carvel. 'Nathanael West's The Day of the Locust and Sanctuary,' Faulkner Studies, II (Summer 1953), 23-24.
• Cowley, Malcolm. 'American Books Abroad,' in Robert Spiller [and others], editors, The Literary History of the United States. New York: The Macmillan Company, 1948, II, 1378. (One sentence mentions West: 'The French. . . were also discovering

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  and publishing, in the midst of a paper shortage, American books that had been largely neglected at home; for example, the fantastic Miss Lonelyhearts, by Nathanael West, which had been published here in 1933 and had promptly gone out of print.')
• -----. Exile's Return: A Narrative of Ideas. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 1934, pp. 230-233. (Refers to Miss Lonelyhearts as 'a brilliant novel that had few readers.' Like Robert M. Coates, he gives the year of West's birth as 1904.)
• -----. Exile's Return: A Literary Odyssey of the 1920's. New York: The Viking Press, 1951, pp. 237-240. (A revision of the 1934 material; he says that The Day of the Locust is 'still the best of the Hollywood novels' and that Miss Lonelyhearts is a 'tender and recklessly imaginative novel that had few readers,' adding in a footnote: 'When it was reissued after the author's death, Miss Lonelyhearts had a somewhat larger public.')
• -----. See Reviews of The Collected Works.
• Davies, Hugh Sykes. See Reviews of Miss Lonelyhearts.
• Fadiman, Clifton. See Reviews of The Day of the Locust.
• Fielder, Leslie A. [A Cool Million 'a neglected book'], The American Scholar, XXV (Autumn 1956), 478.
• Flores, Angel. See Reviews of Miss Lonelyhearts.
• Friedman, Robert. See Reviews of The Day of the Locust.
• Gannett, Lewis. See Reviews of A Cool Million.
• Garoffolo, N. G. See Review of The Dream Life of Balso Snell.
• Gehman, Richard B. 'My Favorite Forgotten Book [The Day of the Locust],' Tomorrow, VIII (March 1949), 61-62. (Gives West's birth date as 17 October 1903.)
• -----. 'Nathanael West: A Novelist Apart,' The Atlantic Monthly, CLXXXVI (September 1950), 69-72. (Considerable reworking of the previous essay.)
• -----. Introduction to The Day of the Locust. New York: New Directions, 1950, pp. ix-xxiii. (Slightly revised from the Atlantic.)
• -----. Introduction to The Day of the Locust. New York: Bantam Books, 1953, pp. x-xvi. (The same as in the New Directions edition.)
• -----. 'Miss Lonelyhearts and the Surrealists,' an unpublished essay.
• Gulifoil, Kelsey. See Reviews of The Day of the Locust, under Robert Friedman.
• Hammett, Dashiell. See Reviews of Miss Lonelyhearts.
• Hart, James D. 'West, Nathanael,' The Oxford Companion to American Literature, Third Edition. London, New York: Oxford Unixersity Press, 1956, p. 814. (West was omitted from the first [1941] and second [1948] editions; he is given 11 lines in the third. His birth year is given as 1902.)
• Haydn, Hiram, and Edmund Fuller, editors. Thesaurus of Book Digests: Digests of the World's Permanent Writings from the Ancient Classics to Current Literature. New York: Crown Publishers, 1949, p. 493. (A digest of Miss Lonelyhearts and one paragraph on The Day of the Locust.)
• Herbst, Josephine. See Reviews of Miss Lonelyhearts (2).
• Hoffman, Frederick J. The Modern Novel in America, 1900-1950. Chicago: Henry Regnery Company, 1951, pp. 115n, 129. (Two short sentences on The Day of the Locust.)
• Kunitz, Stanley J., and Howard Haycraft, editors. 'West, Nathanael (1906?-Dec. 21, 1940,' Twentieth Century Authors: A Biographical Dictionary of Modern Literature. New York: The H. W. Wilson Company, 1942, p. 1500. (First Supplement, 1955, p. 1069, adds eight lines, mainly bibliographical.)
• Levart, Herman H. Nathanael West: A Study of His Fiction. Unpublished M. A. essay. New York: Columbia University, 1952, 58 pp. (This may be read in the Columbia University Library, but it is not available under Interlibrary Loan. His bibliography lists 4 novels, 12 periodical pieces, 7 unpublished works, 17 letters; about West, 5 books [in part], 8 articles, 32 book reviews.)
• -----. 'Correspondence,' Western Review, XX (Sprying 1956), 254-255. (Accuses Cyril

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  M. Schneider of plagiarism, saying his article in the previous Western Review was taken without permission or acknowledgement from Mr. Levart's M. A. essay. See also Mr. Schneider's reply in the same issue and the Editor's note.)
• Liebling, A. J. 'Shed a Tear for Mr. West,' New York World Telegram, 24 June 1933, p. 14. (On Miss Lonelyhearts and Liveright's bankruptcy; see also the New York Evening Post, 10 May 1933.)
• Light, James F. 'Miss Lonelyhearts: The Imagery of Nightmare,' American Quarterly, VIII (Winter 1956), 316-327.
• -----. Nathanael West: A Critical Study, With Some Biographical Material. Unpublished Ph. D. dissertation. Syracuse: Syracuse University, 1953, viii, 255 pp. (This is available on Interlibrary Loan. His bibliography lists 4 novels, 8 briefer writings, 19 letters, 10 biographical and critical pieces, and 7 background books. In the dissertation, about 53 pages are devoted to biography, the rest to a critical study of the novels. The American Quarterly essay above is from the thesis.)
• -----. 'Violence, Dreams, and Dostoevsky: The Art of Nathanael West,' College English, to be published.
• Markfield, Wallace. See Reviews of The Day of the Locust.
• Marsh, Fred T. See Reviews of A Cool Million.
• Matthews, T. S. See Reviews of Miss Lonelyhearts.
• -----. See Reviews of A Cool Million.
• McKenney, Ruth. Lave Story. New York: Harcourt, Brace and Company, 1950, pp. 175-176, 195-197, (On her sister Eileen's marriage to West, their accident, and death. She says West was 41 when he died.)
• McLaughlin, Richard. 'West of Hollywood,' Theatre Arts, XXXV (August 1951), 46-47, 93. (Mainly a review of The Day of the Locust, much of the material from Gehman, with West's age given as 36.)
• Milburn, George. See Reviews of The Day of the Locust.
• Mjöberg, Jöran. 'Nathanael West: En ironisk papetiker,' Bonniers Litterära Magasin (Stockholm), XXV (1956), 133-137.
• Mott, Frank Luther. See Reviews of Miss Lonelyhearts.
• Perelman, S. J. 'Nathanael West: A Portrait,' Contempo, III (25 July 1933), 1, 4.
• Podhoretz, Norman. See Reviews of The Collected Works.
• Ramsey, Terry, editor. 'West, Nathaniel [sic.].' 1940-41 International Motion Picture Almanac. New York: Quigley Publishing Co., 1940, p. 635. (Lists eight movies on which West worked, with dates and studios. In the 1941-42 issue of the Almanac, p. 1098, under 'Deaths of the Year,' West's name appears.)
• Root, Wells. 'Notes on Nathanael West,' an unpublished essay in the possession of Richard B. Gehman.
• Rosenfeld, Isaac. See Reviews of The Day of the Locust.
• Ross, Alan. 'Novelist-Philosophers: XIV—The Dead Centre: An Introduction to Nathanael West,' Horizon, XVIII (October 1948), 284-296. (Reprinted in The Collected Works, pp. vii-xxii.)
• -----. 'An Introduction to Nathanael West,' Miss Lonelyhearts. London: The Grey Walls Press, 1949, pp. 7-25. (The same as the above essay, with a few changes.)
• Russell, Ralph. See Reviews of The Complete Works.
• Salomon, Louis B. See Reviews of The Day of the Locust.
• Sanford, John [Julian L. Shapiro]. 'Nathanael West,' The Screen Writer, II (December 1946), 10-13. (A memorial essay by a personal friend on the sixth anniversary of West's death.)
• -----. 'Tired Men and Dung,' The New Review, X (Winter 1931-1932), 395-396. Schneider, Cyril M. 'The Individuality of Nathanael West,' Western Review, XX (Autumn 1955), 7-28. (See annotation to Herman H. Levart, above.)
• -----. Nathanael West: A Study of His Work. Unpublished M. A. thesis. New York: New York University, 1953, 74 pp. (Available on Interlibrary Loan, this thesis is at the moment out of circulation.)

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• -----. The Novels of Nathanael West: A First Critical Study, an unpublished 133-page book. (His annotated bibliography lists 4 novels, 9 reprints, 13 periodical pieces, 7 unpublished works, 31 letters; about West, 10 books [in part], 10 articles, and 35 reviews.)
• Schoenwald, Richard L. See Reviews of The Complete Works.
• Schulberg, Budd. See Reviews of The Day of the Locust.
• Shapiro, Julian L. See John Sanford above.
• Smith, Roger H. See Reviews of The Collected Works.
• Soupault, Philippe. Préface to Mademoiselle Cœur-Brisé. Paris: Éditions du Sagittaire, 1946, pp. 7-13.
• Spiller, Robert [and others], editors. The Literary History of the United States. New York: The Macmillan Company, 1948, III, 151. (West appears in one sentence in the bibliographical section: 'Recent writers of fiction, together with a representative volume by each author, include . . . Nathanael West [1906-1940], Miss Lonelyhearts [1933-reissued by New Directions, 1946] . . .')
• Straumann, Heinrich. American Literature in the Twentieth Century. London: Hutchinson's University Library, 1951, pp. 80, 87. (A paragraph by a Swiss professor mainly on Miss Lonelyhearts.)
• Stevens, George. See Reviews of A Cool Million.
• Swann, Michael. See Reviews of Miss Lonelyhearts.
• Troy, William. See Reviews of Miss Lonelyhearts.
• Van Gelder, Robert. See Reviews of The Day of the Locust.
• Van Voorhees, Archibald. See Reviews of The Collected Works.
• White, William. 'How Forgotten Is Nathanael West?' read at the Michigan Academy of Science, Arts and Letters, 22 March 1957, to be published.
• -----. See Reviews of The Complete Works.
• Williams, William Carlos. Autobiography. New York: Random House, 1951, pp. 301-302. (Reminiscences, especially regarding Contact, and on West's choosing his pseudonym.)
• -----. See Reviews of Miss Lonelyhearts.
• -----. See Reviews of The Day of the Locust.
• Wilson, Edmund. 'Postscript,' The Boys in the Back Room: Notes on California Novelists. San Francisco: The Colt Press, 1951, pp. 67-72.
• -----. 'Facing the Pacific' (from Boys in the Back Room), Classics and Commercials: A Literary Chronicle of the Forties. New York: Farrar, Straus, 1950; London: W. H. Allen, 1951, pp. 45-46. (The same as the above essay, which repeats, in part, a New Republic review of The Day of the Locust.)
• -----. 'Postscript,' A Literary Chronicle: 1920-1950. Garden City, New York: Double-day & Company, Inc., 1956, pp. 245-249. (A third reprint of the essay from The Boys in the Back Room.)
• -----. See Reviews of Miss Lonelyhearts.
• -----. See Reviews of The Day of the Locust.
• Wilson, T. C. See Reviews of Miss Lonelyhearts.
• Unsigned. The Historical Catalogue of Brown University, 1764-1934. Providence, Rhode Island: Published by the University, 1936, p. 813. (West is listed under Class of 1924 by the name of Nathan Wallenstin Weinstein, degree Ph. B., and: 'Editor, Americana Magazine, writer. Author, The Dream Life of Balso Snell, 1931; Miss Lonelyhearts, 1933, etc. Covici-Friede, 384 4th Ave., New York, N. Y.')
• -----. Historical Catalogue of Brown University: 1950 Edition. Providence: Brown University, 1951, p. 216. (West is listed under Class of 1924, with an asterisk to indicate deceased: '*WEST Nathanael Ph. B. novelist and film writer Oct. 17, 1902-Dec 22, 1940.')
• -----. The New York Times, 23 December 1940, p. 23. ('"My Sister Eileen" / Killed in Accident / Subject of Ruth McKenney Play / and Husband Die in West / El Centro, Calif., Dec. 22 (AP) — Nathaniel West, 34 years old, novelist and screen writer, and his wife, Eileen, of North Hollywood . . . .')

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• -----. The Publisher's Weekly. CXXXVIII (28 December 1940), 2326. (Under 'Obiturary Notes: Nathanael West', gives 17 lines, listing his four books and screen play adaptation 'Advice to the Lovelorn'; gives death date 21 December, his age 34.)
• -----. Los Angeles Times, 23 December 1940, Part II, p. 1. ('Scenario Writer and Wife Killed in Auto Collision [7-column banner] / Nathaniel W. Wests / Both Known for Work / in Hollywood Studios /'. Among errors are his name as Nathaniel W. West, his age as 36, one of the studios he worked for as Columbia, one of his novels as 'Miss Lonely Hearts.' In the Los Angeles Times, 26 December 1940, Part I, p. 9, under 'Deaths' is: 'West, Nathaniel W. / Pierce Brothers' Hollywood. 5959 / Santa Monica Blvd. /'. No other data given.)
• -----. See Reviews of Miss Lonelyhearts (3).
• -----. See Reviews of A Cool Million (3).
• -----. See Reviews of The Day of the Locust (2).
• -----. See Reviews of The Collected Works.

MS Letters About Nathanael West

• Erskine Caldwell to Nathanael West, 12 March 1933. (This and the following four letters are in the possession of S. J. Perelman. I have not seen them; they are listed in the bibliography of Herman H. Levart's M. A. essay.)
• C. A. Pearce to Nathanael West, 7 September 1933.
• F. Scott Fitzgerald to Nathanael West, 15 September 1933.
• George Milburn to Nathanael West, 16 May 1939.
• Bennett Cerf to Nathanael West, 16 June 1939.
• James T. Farrell to Richard B. Gehman, 29 January 1947. (This and the following two letters are in the possession of Richard B. Gehman. I have not seen them; they are listed in the bibliography of James F. Light's Ph. D. dissertation.)
• Malcolm Cowley to Richard B. Gehman, 21 February 1947.
• Wells Root to Richard B. Gehman, c. 1947.
• Quentin Reynolds to James F. Light, 31 July 1952. (This and the following five letters are also listed in Dr. Light's bibliography; they are all to him and are in his possession.)
• Edward Newhouse, 31 July 1952.
• I. J. Kapstein, 23 August 1952.
• Josephine Herbst, 22 October 1952.
• Nathan Asch, 19 November 1952.
• Mrs. Richard Pratt, 20 November 1952.
• Josephine Herbst to Richard B. Gehman, n. d. (In the possession of S. J. Perelman and listed in the bibliography of Cyril M. Schneider.)
• Edmund Wilson to Cyril M. Schneider, 19 March 1952. (This and the following nine letters, all to Mr. Schneider, are in his possession. I have seen all of them.)
• James T. Farrell, 25 March 1952.
• Josephine Herbst, 27 March 1952.
• Allan Seager, 15 April 1952.
• John Sanford, 30 April 1952.
• William Carlos Williams, 25 May 1952.
• I. J. Kapstein, 28 May 1952.
• Robert M. Coates, 6 June 1952.
• Quentin Reynolds, 30 July 1952.
• William Faulkner, c. July 1954.

Addenda

• Berolzheimer, H. F. Library Journal, LXXXII (1 June 1957), 1539. (Review of The Collected Works.)
• Bleiber, Everett F., editor. Checklist of Fantastic Literature. Chicago: Shasta Publishers, 1948, p. 283. (Lists A Cool Million among 'fantasy, weird, and science fiction books.')
• Coates, Robert M. 'The Four Novels of Nathanael West, That Fierce, Humane Moralist,' New York Herald Tribune Book Review, XXXIII (9 May 1957), 4. (Review of The Collected Works.)
• Engle, Paul. Chicago Sunday Tribune, 12 May 1957, p. 3 (Book Reviews). (Review of The Collected Works.)
• Fadiman, Clifton, editor, assisted by Charles Van Doren. The American Treasury, 1455-1955. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1955, p. 971. (Under 'Teller of Tales,' West is listed with a quotation from Miss Lonelyhearts: 'He sat in the window thinking. Man has a tropism for order. Keys in one pocket, change in another . . . All order is doomed, yet the battle is worth while.')
• Hayes, E. Nelson. 'Recent Fiction,' The Progressive, XXI (June 1957), 38. (Review of The Collected Works.)
• Hogan, William. San Francisco Chronicle, 22 May 1957, p. 23. (Review of The Collected Works.)
• Light, James F.'Author's Query [about West],' New York Times Book Review, LXII (11 August 1957), 21. (Also appearing in the New York Times are notices of the play, 'Miss Lonelyhearts,' starring Pat O'Brien, opening in New York at the Music Box Theatre on 3 October 1957; it was adapted from the novel by Howard Teichmann.)
• -----. 'Nathanael West, Balso Snell, and the Mundane Millstone', Modern Fiction Studies, to be published.
• Peden, William. 'Nathanael West', Virginia Quarterly Review, XXXIII (Summer 1957), 468-472. [Review of The Complete Works.]
• Schrank, Joseph. 'Pep', New York Times Book Review, LXII (9 June 1957), 30. [On West's nickname.]
• Unsigned. 'The Great Despiser', Time, LXIX (17 June 1957), 102-105. [Review of The Complete Works, with a portrait.]
• -----. 'Is a Nathanael West Revival Under Way?' College English, XVIII (May 1957), 430. [Two brief notes, no the New York Times announcement of The Complete Works and on Mr Light's American Quarterly article.]
• Unsigned. Virginia Kirkus Bookshop Service, XXV (1 March 1957), 194. (Review of The Collected Works.)

Notes