Origins & Early Life

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. Nathanael West was born Nathan Weinstein in New York City, the first child of prosperous Ashkenazi Jewish parents Max (Morduch) Weinstein (1878–1932), a construction contractor, and Anuta (Anna, née Wallenstein, 1878–1935), from Kovno, Russia (present-day Kaunas, Lithuania), who lived in a Jewish neighborhood on the Upper West Side. West displayed little ambition in academics, dropping out of high school and only gaining admission into Tufts College by forging his high school transcript.

Pivotal Works & Achievements

After being expelled from Tufts, West got into Brown University by appropriating the transcript of a fellow Tufts student, his cousin, Nathan Weinstein. Although West did little schoolwork at Brown, he read extensively. He ignored the realist fiction of his American contemporaries in favor of French surrealists and British and Irish poets of the 1890s, in particular Oscar Wilde. West's interests...

Enduring Legacy & Impact

The historical impact and works continue to influence the modern world.

Contemporary Figures & Related Historical Timelines

• Alan Paton — Contemporary (Born in 1903) (1903): Pioneering South African author and fierce anti-apartheid activist.
• Andrey Kolmogorov — Contemporary (Born in 1903) (1903): Pioneering Soviet mathematician central to modern probability, topology, and information theory.
• Barbara Hepworth — Contemporary (Born in 1903) (1903): Pioneering English Modernist sculptor, celebrated for her abstract forms and connection to St Ives.
• Abbas Kiarostami — Contemporary (Born in 1940) (1940): Master Iranian filmmaker known for blending fiction and documentary styles.
• Al Pacino — Contemporary (Born in 1940) (1940): Intense American actor celebrated for his powerful stage and screen performances.
• Alan Kay — Contemporary (Born in 1940) (1940): Pioneer of GUI, Object-Oriented Programming, and modern computing paradigms.
• Adam Michnik — Shared historical date (10-17 · Born) (1946): Prominent Polish intellectual, dissident, and journalist advocating for democracy.
• Al-Suyuti — Shared historical date (10-17 · Died) (1505): Egyptian Sunni polymath, renowned for authorship across nearly all Islamic sciences.
• Al-Nawawi — Shared historical date (12-22 · Died) (1278): Influential Syrian Shafi'ite jurist and renowned hadith scholar.
• Angela James — Shared historical date (12-22 · Born) (1964): Pioneering Canadian ice hockey star, celebrated for her dominance in the 1980s and 1990s.
• 1903 Historical Timeline & Archive — Explore world events and figures from 1903
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• 1940 Historical Timeline & Archive — Explore world events and figures from 1940
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