Author: Julia Deitermann Publisher: GRIN Verlag ISBN: 3638546411 Category : Literary Collections Languages : en Pages : 20
Book Description
Seminar paper from the year 2001 in the subject American Studies - Comparative Literature, grade: 1,3, University of Augsburg (Lehrstuhl für Amerikanistik), course: Proseminar: Novels of the American Modernism, language: English, abstract: Although Nathanael West’s novel The Day of the Locust did not receive much attention when published in 1939, it is today considered one of the best and most revealing novels about Hollywood. Its reviews are outstanding and it has therefore become one of the landmarks in American writing. The Day of the Locust demonstrates the fragility of the American Dream and presents it from various perspectives. It points out the cruel world of film industry using devices of irony and satire. Therefore it resembles a “nightmare vision of humanity destroyed by its obsession with film”. West took the title of the novel from the Bible. In Revelation, people turn into locusts in order to follow their aim of destroying the whole world. They do not kill immediately, though, but only sting and hurt in order to let their victims die slowly. These locusts can be compared to the film industry in Hollywood which also exploits and slowly kills its people. Besides, in the Bible Jeremiah prophesies a necessary ending of the world which ought to lead mankind to a new life and a rebirth. In the novel, this image is taken up again. This aspect will be thoroughly discussed later, though. The concept of apocalypse can be found throughout the novel and beside violence and decadence, the devaluation of love is a prominent theme, too. West illustrates the moral decay of characters on the fringe of the entertainment industry, that are Homer Simpson, Faye Greener and Tod Hackett. Each character has come to California seeking fame or health in the shining city Los Angeles, and each suffers from his or her own history of desperation and shattered dreams. Producers had already thought about turning West’s novel into a film in the early 1950’s. As they feared that most of the satirical view would get lost, however, the film was not shot until 1974, when the famous director John Schlesinger committed himself to the adaptation. [...] This survey focuses on the translation from novel to film, compares and contrasts differences, and reveals the different perspectives of the characters. Furthermore, it will both examine the use of film techniques in Schlesinger’s adaptation and the meaning of symbolism in the film. Last but not least, a few commonly invoked critical viewpoints of the film will be discussed.
Author: Gale, Cengage Learning Publisher: Gale, Cengage Learning ISBN: 1410343839 Category : Literary Criticism Languages : en Pages : 34
Book Description
A Study Guide for Nathanael West's "The Day of the Locust," excerpted from Gale's acclaimed Novels for Students. This concise study guide includes plot summary; character analysis; author biography; study questions; historical context; suggestions for further reading; and much more. For any literature project, trust Novels for Students for all of your research needs.
Author: Intelligent Education Publisher: Influence Publishers ISBN: 1645423484 Category : Study Aids Languages : en Pages : 132
Book Description
A comprehensive study guide offering in-depth explanation, essay, and test prep for Nathanael West’s The Day of the Locust, one of West’s great novels that comments on the social and cultural properties of American life. As a novel of the post-Great Depression era, The Day of the Locust depicts the failure of one popular conception of the “American Dream.” Moreover, West’s novels highlight and intensify aspects of American life to show what it is, as opposed to what it ought to be, or even what it could be. This Bright Notes Study Guide explores the context and history of Nathanael West’s classic work, helping students to thoroughly explore the reasons it has stood the literary test of time. Each Bright Notes Study Guide contains: - Introductions to the Author and the Work - Character Summaries - Plot Guides - Section and Chapter Overviews - Test Essay and Study Q&As The Bright Notes Study Guide series offers an in-depth tour of more than 275 classic works of literature, exploring characters, critical commentary, historical background, plots, and themes. This set of study guides encourages readers to dig deeper in their understanding by including essay questions and answers as well as topics for further research.
Author: Charles Bernstein Publisher: Salt Publishing ISBN: 9781907773303 Category : Languages : en Pages : 0
Book Description
All the Whiskey in Heaven brings together Charles Bernstein’s best work from the past thirty years, an astonishing assortment of different types of poems. Yet despite the distinctive differences from poem to poem, Bernstein’s characteristic explorations of how language both limits and liberates thought are present throughout. Modulating the comic and the dark structural invention with buoyant soundplay, these challenging works give way to poems of lyric excess and striking emotional range. This is poetry for poetry’s sake, as formally radical as it is socially engaged, providing equal measures of aesthetic pleasure, hilarity, and philosophical reflection. Long considered one of America’s most inventive and influential contemporary poets, Bernstein reveals himself to be both trickster and charmer.
Author: Charles Bernstein Publisher: ISBN: 9781581771947 Category : Literary Criticism Languages : en Pages : 0
Book Description
Homophonic translations create poems that foreground the sound of the original more than the lexical meaning: sound-alike poems or "sound writing." This essay presents a dizzying number of examples of sound mimesis as a way to explore the poetics of sound and the politics of translation. Covering modernists (such as Pound, Bunting, and Khelbnikov) and contemporaries (such as David Melnick and Caroline Bergvall), the Bernstein also addresses homophonics in popular culture including an extended discussion of TV comedian Sid Caear's "double talking." The essay raises a thorny question: Are homophonic poems a form of cultural appropriation or a form of transnationalism?
Author: Julia Deitermann
Author: Gale, Cengage Learning
Author: Intelligent Education
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Author: Modern Language Association of America
Author: Charles Bernstein
Author: Charles Bernstein