Classics · DarkArtist Tod Hackett comes to 1930s Hollywood to work as a set designer and befriends a group of hangers-on
The Day of the Locust
A young artist joins a circle of Hollywood hopefuls in the Depression
Tod Hackett is an Ivy League-trained artist who comes to Hollywood to work as a set designer, and he plans a painting called "The Burning of Los Angeles." He befriends a group of Hollywood hangers-on, among them Faye Greener, an aspiring actress whose dreams of stardom are out of reach, Homer Simpson, a former hotel accountant from Iowa, and the screenwriter Claude Estee. Random House published it on May 16, 1939. The original title was The Cheated.
More about this book
Who
Tod Hackett, Homer Simpson, Faye Greener, Abe Kusich, Claude Estee and Harry Greener.
World
Hollywood, California, in the 1930s.
What makes it different
It sold only about 1,480 copies at first, and critics did not place it in the literary canon until the 1950s. Matt Groening took the name Homer Simpson from a minor character.
Feel
Bleak and darkly funny.
Page count and cover shown for: Selected edition
Further reading
- The Day of the LocustWikipedia