Ready Reference Treatise: Miss Lonelyhearts

By Raja Sharma

“Miss Lonelyhearts” by Nathanael West was first published in 1933. It was the author’s second novel. It is categorized as an Expressionist Black Comedy. The story is set in the time of Great Depression in New York City.

It is said that the author had an opportunity to read some letters, which were written to Susan Chester who was the advice columnist for the Brooklyn Eagle. He showed the letters to his friend Perelman but he refused to use those letters as source material. West was able to recognize the raw potential of those letters, and consequently he composed the story of “Miss Lonelyhearts” using the letters.

Ready Reference Treatise: Miss Lonelyhearts
Copyright
Chapter One: Introduction
Chapter Two: Plot Overview
Chapter Three: Major Characters
Chapter Four: Complete Summary
Chapter Five: Critical Analysis

• Language: English
• Publisher: Raja Sharma
• Release date: Oct 7, 2015
• ISBN: 9781311646736

Raja Sharma

Raja Sharma is a retired college lecturer.He has taught English Literature to University students for more than two decades.His students are scattered all over the world, and it is noticeable that he is in contact with more than ninety thousand of his students.

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Ready Reference Treatise: Miss Lonelyhearts

Copyright

Ready Reference Treatise: Miss Lonelyhearts

Raja Sharma

Copyright@2015 Raja Sharma

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Chapter One: Introduction

Miss Lonelyhearts by Nathanael West was first published in 1933. It was the author’s second novel. It is categorized as an Expressionist Black Comedy. The story is set in the time of Great Depression in New York City.

It is said that the author had an opportunity to read some letters, which were written to Susan Chester who was the advice columnist for the Brooklyn Eagle. He showed the letters to his friend Perelman but he refused to use those letters as source material. West was able to recognize the raw potential of those letters, and consequently he composed the story of Miss Lonelyhearts using the letters.

Initially many of the chapters were published in the form of a series in magazines, and then the complete novel was published as single volume in the year 1933.

In the year 1933, West worked as a screenwriter for a brief period. He began to be interested in the workings of Hollywood. During that period, he started writing A Cool Million: The Dismantling of Lemuel Pitkin. It was published in the year 1934. It was a direct critique of the American Dream.

Eventually, West decided to move to Hollywood in the year 1935. He started working as a screenwriter. During that period, he began to collect material for The Day of the Locusts which was published in the year 1939. The story of the novel revolved around shattered hopes and corrupt power. The story was based on the author’s personal experiences.

In Hollywood, he initially remained unemployed for quite some time, but he gradually made it as a screenwriter. Between 1936 and 1940, he wrote the screenplays for twelve movies.

It is noticeable that Miss Lonelyhearts has been filmed four times. It was sometimes filmed under different titles. The most remarkable movie made on this story is Adam White which was released in 1959.

Although West had been working in Hollywood for some time, he was financially not secured. However, he got success in the following years as a screenwriter. While he was on the peak of his success, unfortunately, on 22nd December 1940, he and his new wife, Eileen McKenney were killed in a car crash.

F. Scott Fitzgerald was also a friend of West’s. It was merely a coincident that Fitzgerald also passed away the same weekend. Thus, two remarkable writers left the world. Both of them had seen through the glamour of the American Dream.

Miss Lonelyhearts is still a very popular novel and it