English
Julia Deitermann
Nathanael West and John Schlesinger: "The
Day of the Locust" - A Survey of the
Translation from Novel to Film
Seminar paper
Universität Augsburg
Lehrstuhl für Amerikanistik
Proseminar: Novels of the American Modernism
Wintersemester 2001
Nathanael West & John Schlesinger: The Day of the Locust
A Survey of the Translation from Novel to Film
© Julia Weinmann
Table of contents
1. Introduction .....................................................................................................................1
2. Story and protagonists in The Day of the Locust ............................................................2
3. Criticism of the film ........................................................................................................2
3.1 Lack of satirical elements .........................................................................................2
3.2 Loss of Tod’s narrative point of view ......................................................................3
3.3 Film cannot criticise film industry ........................................................................... 3
3.4 The end of the film ...................................................................................................4
4. Comparison of novel and film.........................................................................................5
4.1 The Battle of Waterloo .............................................................................................5
4.2 Harry Greener and the faith-healer...........................................................................5
4.3 Homer’s hands..........................................................................................................6
5. Film techniques ...............................................................................................................6
5.1 Sound as a device for connecting scenes..................................................................6
5.2 Repetition and symbolism ........................................................................................7
5.2.1 Rose ...............................................................................................................7
5.2.2 Water ..............................................................................................................8
5.2.3 Red lips ..........................................................................................................8
5.2.4 Mirror ............................................................................................................9
5.2.5 Colours ...........................................................................................................9
5.3 Light and shadow .....................................................................................................9
5.4 Film within a film.....................................................................................................10
6. The change of order in the film.......................................................................................10
7. Conclusion.......................................................................................................................11
Bibliography........................................................................................................................12
1
1. Introduction and aim of the examination
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”1.
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. The
cast included the well-known actor Donald Sutherland, who took the role of Homer Simpson,
and Oscar nominations went to the actor who played Harry Greener, Burgess Meredith, and to
the cinematographer Conrad Hall. The story of the film fit Schlesinger’s earlier works which
usually focused on “lost beings in search of security, love, and self”.2 Applied to The Day of
the Locust, this can be compared to the protagonist of novel and film, the painter Tod Hackett.
He works in an artificial environment where he is searching for ‘security’ – that is his job in
Hollywood, ‘love’ – which he tries to find with the actress Faye Greener, and ‘self’ – which
might refer to his disillusion in life. One way of coping with the cruel circumstances in
Hollywood seems to be art, the others violence and insanity.
1
2
Ballard, J.G.; Sunday Times Review in West, Nathanael: The Day of the Locust. Middlesex: Penguin 2000
McEntee, Jason T.: The Novel-to-Film Translatability of Satire in The Day of the Locust and Wise Blood, p.230