Nathanael West as proto-noir? Works for me. I re-read Miss
Lonelyhearts about six months ago and found it as gripping as
ever. I have the Library of America collection, which also
contains West's short essay, "Some Notes on Miss L." Some
very interesting musings on West's part; it proved to me that
no matter how much you think you understand a story, you
might have no idea what the author had in mind. Just a short
quote:
"...Miss Lonelyhearts became the portrait of a priest of our
time who has a religious experience. His case is classical
and is built on all the cases in James' _Varieties of
Religious Experience_ and Starbuck's
_Psychology of Religion_. The pyschology is theirs not mine.
The imagery is mine."
It's a short essay, barely a page, but boy is it a read.
Another quote, one some of you may have heard before:
"Leave slow growth to the book reviewers, you only have time
to explode. Remember William Carlos Williams' description of
the pioneer women who shot their children against the
wilderness like cannonballs. Do the same with your
novels."
Doug Hoffman
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