The Day of the Locust (Google Books ⧉, Amazon ⧉, Bookshop ⧉)

by Nathanael West

Contributed by NobleBibliophile506

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References To Other Books

Indirect References

Cinderella

It was a familiar version of the Cinderella theme, but her technique was much different from the one she had used for the South Sea tale.

book of abnormal psychology

Original coil…In a book of abnormal psychology borrowed from the college library, he had once seen a picture of a woman sleeping in a net hammock whose posture was much like Homer’s.

Direct References

Les Miserables

They were Victor Hugo’s soldiers. He had worked on some of the drawings for their uniforms himself, following carefully the descriptions in 'Les Miserables.

Sargasso Sea

He thought of Janvier’s 'Sargasso Sea.' Just as that imaginary body of water was a history of civilization in the form of a marine junkyard, the studio lot was one in the form of a dream dump.

Referenced By

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Places Referenced

Hollywood, Los Angeles, California
"On the sidewalk outside the studio he stood for a moment trying to decide whether to walk home or take a streetcar. He had been in Hollywood less than three months and still found it a very exciting place, but he was lazy and didn’t like to walk."
Vine Street, Los Angeles, California
"He decided to take the streetcar as far as Vine Street and walk the rest of the way."
Yale School of Fine Arts, New Haven, Connecticut
"A talent scout for National Films had brought Tod to the Coast after seeing some of his drawings in an exhibit of undergraduate work at the Yale School of Fine Arts."
La Huerta Road, Los Angeles, California
"On the corner of La Huerta Road was a miniature Rhine castle with tarpaper turrets pierced for archers."
Los Angeles, California
"And “The Burning of Los Angeles,” a picture he was soon to paint, definitely proved he had talent."
Santa Monica, California
"Who got her fiddle out of hock that time in Santa Monica? Who?"
Glendale, California
"He had gone all the way to Glendale to see her in that movie."
Damascus, Syria
"It was about an American drummer who gets lost in the seraglio of a Damascus merchant and has a lot of fun with the female inmates."
Biloxi, Mississippi
"Claude was a successful screen writer who lived in a big house that was an exact reproduction of the old Dupuy mansion near Biloxi, Mississippi."
Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana
"What about the barber in Purdue? He’s been cutting hair all day and he’s tired. He doesn’t want to see some dope carrying a valise or fooling with a nickel machine."
Sunset Boulevard, Los Angeles, California
"Tod rode in the front of the one Claude drove and as they went down Sunset Boulevard he described Mrs. Jenning for him."
Medicine Hat, Wyoming
"An “exploding stove” was any catastrophe, natural or human, from a flood in Medicine Hat, Wyoming, to an angry policeman in Moose Factory, Ontario."
Moose Factory, Ontario
"An “exploding stove” was any catastrophe, natural or human, from a flood in Medicine Hat, Wyoming, to an angry policeman in Moose Factory, Ontario."
Brooklyn, New York
"The commedia del arte is not dead, but lives on in Brooklyn, or was living there last week on the stage of the Oglethorpe Theatre in the person of one Harry Greener."
Mystic, Connecticut
"Mr. Greener is of a troupe called ‘The Flying Lings,’ who, by the time this reaches you, have probably moved on to Mystic, Connecticut, or some other place more fitting than the borough of large families."
Des Moines, Iowa
"He came from a little town near Des Moines, Iowa, called Wayneville, where he had worked for twenty years in a hotel."
California, United States
"They offered to take him on again, but his doctor advised him to go to California for a rest."
Los Angeles, California
"After living for a week in a railroad hotel in Los Angeles, he rented a cottage in Pinyon Canyon."
New England, United States
"In the two small bedrooms still another style had been used. This the agent had called 'New England."
Vine Street, Los Angeles, California
"A few days later, Tod went into a stationary store on Vine Street to buy a magazine."
Pinyon Canyon, California, United States
"He reached the end of Vine Street and began the climb into Pinyon Canyon."
Hollywood Boulevard, Los Angeles, California
"That year Tyrolean hats were being worn a great deal along Hollywood Boulevard and the dwarf’s was a fine specimen."
California, United States
"Now in California, he was crying because he had never seen Miss Martin again."
Hawaii, United States
"He had been getting pamphlets in the mail from a travel bureau and he thought of the trips he would never take. Mexico was only a few hundred miles away. Boats left daily for Hawaii."
San Bernardino Apartments, San Bernardino
"In the afternoon, he decided to go for a walk. There was only one way for him to go and that led past the San Bernardino Apartments."
Point Barrow, Alaska
"There were usually other guests. Sometimes Abe Kusich, sometimes Anna and Annabelle Lee, a sister act of the nineteen‐tens, more often the four Gingos, a family of performing Eskimos from Point Barrow, Alaska."
Vine Street, Los Angeles, California
"When that happened, she would either go to Vine Street for an ice cream soda or, if she was broke, thumb over the pack again and force herself to choose."
Los Angeles, California
"In “The Burning of Los Angeles” Faye is the naked girl in the left foreground being chased by the group of men and women who have separated from the main body of the mob."
Arizona, United States
"Earle was a cowboy from a small town in Arizona."
Sunset Boulevard, Los Angeles, California
"He worked occasionally in horse‐operas and spent the rest of his time in front of a saddlery store on Sunset Boulevard. In the window of this store was an enormous Mexican saddle covered with carved silver..."
Azusa, California
"Coin’ some place, Calvin?' he asked. 'Azusa, there’s a rodeo."
LaBrea, Los Angeles, California
"When she reached LaBrea, she turned right to Hollywood Boulevard and then left along it."
Hollywood Boulevard, Los Angeles, California
"When she reached LaBrea, she turned right to Hollywood Boulevard and then left along it."
Zacarias Street, Los Angeles, California
"At Zacarias Street, she turned into the hills."
Los Angeles, California
"He began to think about the series of cartoons he was making for his canvas of Los Angeles on fire."
Havana, Cuba
"‘Tony’s wife, The boys in Havana love Tony’s wife…’"
Fifth Avenue, New York City
"Well, the night ‘The Great Divide’ opened, Joe was laying up with a whisker in the old Fifth Avenue when the stove exploded."
Cambridge Latin School, Cambridge, Massachusetts
"He made his audience see him start out in his youth to play Shakespeare in the auditorium of the Cambridge Latin School, full of glorious dreams, burning with ambition."
Bowery, New York City
"While fixing her face, she told him that she had seen Ben Murphy and that Ben had said if Harry were feeling better he might be able to use him in a Bowery sequence."
Alaska, United States
"Although it had been released long ago, they refused to return to Alaska."
Paris, France
"There was no back to the building and he found himself in a Paris street. He followed it to its end, coming out in a Romanesque courtyard."
Fourteenth Street, New York City
"He pushed his way through a tangle of briars, old flats and iron junk, skirting the skeleton of a Zeppelin, a bamboo stockade, an adobe fort, the wooden horse of Troy, a flight of baroque palace stairs that started in a bed of weeds and ended against the branches of an oak, part of the Fourteenth Street elevated station, a Dutch windmill, the bones of a dinosaur."
Waterloo, Belgium
"When he saw a red glare in the sky and heard the rumble of cannon, he knew it must be Waterloo. From around a bend in the road trotted several cavalry regiments."
Berezina, Belarus
"It turned into a route. The victors of Bersina, Leipsic, Austerlitz, fled like schoolboys who had broken a pane of glass. 'Sauve qui peut!' they cried, or, rather, 'Scram!"
Leipzig, Germany
"It turned into a route. The victors of Bersina, Leipsic, Austerlitz, fled like schoolboys who had broken a pane of glass. 'Sauve qui peut!' they cried, or, rather, 'Scram!"
Mexico City, Mexico
"He had been getting pamphlets in the mail from a travel bureau and he thought of the trips he would never take. Mexico was only a few hundred miles away. Boats left daily for Hawaii."
San Pedro, Los Angeles, California
"…I fight them next week in San Pedro. That’s Villa, he’s a blinker, but still good."
Pinyon Canyon, California, United States
"When he reached the corner that led to Pinyon Canyon and saw how steep and black the hill looked, he turned back along the lighted boulevard."
Hollywood Boulevard, Los Angeles, California
"There was nothing to eat in the house and he had to go down to Hollywood Boulevard for food."
South Seas, Pacific Ocean
"A young girl is cruising on her father’s yacht in the South Seas."
Austerlitz, Czech Republic
"It turned into a route. The victors of Bersina, Leipsic, Austerlitz, fled like schoolboys who had broken a pane of glass. 'Sauve qui peut!' they cried, or, rather, 'Scram!"
California, United States
"“You like it then?” Tod asked. “Like California?” she laughed at the idea that anyone might not like it. “Why, it’s a paradise on earth!” “Yes,” Homer agreed gravely."
Soboba Hot Springs, California
"He was probably just in from one of the colonies in the desert near Soboba Hot Springs where he had been conning over his soul on a diet of raw fruit and nuts."
Western Avenue, Los Angeles, California
"Tod drove with them to the “Cinderella Bar,” a little stucco building in the shape of a lady’s slipper, on Western Avenue."
San Diego, California
"A man from San Diego was coming north with his birds to pit them against Miguel’s."
Lindale, Texas
"“Juju was bred by John R. Bowes of Lindale, Texas,” Miguel said proudly."
Pinyon Canyon, California, United States
"Climbing the hill to Pinyon Canyon made his head throb and he was relieved when no one answered his repeated knocks."
California, United States
"Where else should they go but California, the land of sunshine and oranges?"
Iowa, United States
"Did they slave so long just to go to an occasional Iowa picnic? What else is there?"
Los Angeles, California
"That’s fine. But you can’t walk to the station from here. It’s in Los Angeles."
Hollywood, Los Angeles, California
"During this time, he took his pad and pencils on a continuous hunt for other models. He spent his nights at the different Hollywood churches, drawing the worshipers."
Sioux City, Iowa, United States
"Although his name most likely was Thompson or Johnson and his home town Sioux City, he had the same countersunk eyes, like the heads of burnished spikes, that a monk by Magnasco might have."
Glendale, California
"The same is true of the airplanes at Glendale. If only a plane would crash once in a while so that they could watch the passengers being consumed in a “holocaust of flame,” as the newspapers put it."
Venice, Italy
"They watch the waves come in at Venice."
South Sea Islands, Pacific Ocean
"What a perfect escape the return to the womb was. Better by far than Religion or Art or the South Sea Islands. It was so snug and warm there, and the feeding was automatic."
Broadway, Los Angeles, California
"“I’d like to do a show on Broadway,” she continued. “That’s the way to get a start nowadays. They won’t talk to you unless you’ve had stage experience.”"
Hollywood, Los Angeles, California
"After trying to get a job by inserting a small advertisement in Variety (“…’some producer should put Mr. Greener into a big revue…’ The Times), he had come to Hollywood, thinking to earn a living playing comedy bits in films."
Hollywood, Los Angeles, California
"The Gingos were Eskimos who had been brought to Hollywood to make retakes for a picture about polar exploration. They liked Hollywood."
Pinyon Canyon, California, United States
"After living for a week in a railroad hotel in Los Angeles, he rented a cottage in Pinyon Canyon. It was only the second house the real estate agent showed him, but he took it because he was tired and because the agent was a bully."