Thesis (M.A.)--Kutztown University, 1988. / Source: Masters Abstracts International, Volume: 45-06, page: 2837. Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 344-357).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1964. / Typescript. Vita. Abstracted in Dissertation abstracts, v. 25 (1965) no. 7, p. 4155-6. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references.

Before we can judge a writer, we must tentatively decide upon the appropriate criteria by which to measure his achievement. Various critics have praised Nathanael West for the exact things for which others have damned him. This study is an attempt to clarify the nature of West's work, and thereby to clarify the grounds upon which he must be judged. The nature of his fictional world is crucial. This study puts West's images, which are largely responsible for the creation of the fictional world and its characters, into five groups, each of which exhibits a separation of qualities. After the results of West's divided images are seen, the study considers the function of plot within West's four works. Essentially, the plot, like the extremely limited characterization, enables us to see the inter-relationships within the fictional world and, at the same time, prevents us from becoming emotionally involved with the fictional world and characters as we normally do in, novels. Thus West is seen as a satirist who, in his best works, Miss Lonelyhearts and The Day of the Locust, uses the conventions of the novel with considerable skill to show us the all-pervasiveness of illusion in life. But, unlike most satirists, West provides no alternatives and does not even provide a sense of “what ought to be" in his work. He merely records his vision in such a way that we can see and are compelled to acknowledge the nature of his vision of life and of existence. West uses his plots to order his images into a coherent, logical pattern which sets forth the consequences of man's being divided within and among himself. When we see that West is primarily a satirist working within the conventions of the novel, we can understand the flatness of his characters, their divided natures, the horrible ironies of the plot, the cryptic treatment of events, and the concentration upon images. We can, in fact, see that West was an excellent satirist who succeeded in his attempt to use the novel as a vehicle for satire. / Arts, Faculty of / English, Department of / Graduate

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Thesis (Ph.D.)--Boston University / This dissertation presents a biography of Nathanael Emmons, 1745-1840, and evaluate his work as a Congregational minister and theologian. To achieve this goal the following sources were used: a published autobiography, manuscript and published sermons and letters, the records of the town of Franklin, Massachusetts where he served as a pastor for fifty-seven years, the records of the church in Franklin, and published memoirs of his life by the editors of his works, Jacob Ide (1842) and Edwards A. Park (1861). No major assessment of Emmons' life and work has appeared since Park's "Memoir." This "Memoir" was both panegyrical and incomplete. The passage of over a hundred years since its publication makes possible new perspectives of interpretation. This dissertation proposes to take advantage of them as well as to utilize data unknown or ignored by previous writers on Emmons [TRUNCATED]

"Today, more than seventeen years after his death, West's novels are beginning to appear in selection lists, and his reputation as a writer has been firmly established. The purpose of this paper is to present evidence in support of the contention that West's novels now deserve a place on the shelves of every major academic and public library. The body of the study is concerned with the growth of his literary reputation and with the recent accelerated interest in his works as indicated by the appearance of their titles in creditable selection aids and other important reference tools"--Introduction. / Carbon copy of typescript. / "August, 1958." / "Submitted to the Graduate Council of Florida State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science." / Advisor: Sarah Rebecca Reed, Professor Directing Paper. / Includes bibliographical references.

Nathanael West is typically considered to be a “major minor” American writer of the late modernist period. Best known today for Miss Lonelyhearts (1933) and The Day of the Locust (1939), West wrote four dark novellas that excoriated mainstream American culture of the 1930s. Earlier critics viewed his writing mainly as an existentialist exploration of universal human suffering; more recently, critics have claimed West as an avant-garde devoted to the criticism of Depression-era capitalism and consumer society. This thesis represents something of a return to the earlier, humanist study of West’s fiction, which he himself regarded primarily as moral satire. What differentiates this project from earlier studies, however, is its style of criticism. Since the 1980s, a new revitalized and reoriented ethical criticism has emerged, as evidenced by the proliferation of scholarly works and journal special issues on the topic of literature and ethics, the growing number of readers like Todd Davis and Kenneth Womack’s Mapping the Ethical Turn (2001), and the general trend toward linking moral philosophy and literary criticism, as carried out by Martha Nussbaum and Richard Rorty, among others. The new ethical criticism tends to be descriptive, rather than prescriptive. Using approaches inspired by the scholarship of this late-twentieth century wave of ethical critics, including Wayne Booth and Daniel Schwarz, this dissertation provides a new critical illumination of West the implied author’s unique system of ethics, as dramatized through his narrative explorations of particular lives. It attempts to answer the question that has puzzled Americanist scholars contemplating his works since their initial publication: how can a fictional world so sordid and savage still evoke feelings of compassion and humanity in so many readers? The answer, I will argue, lies in the very ferocity of the author’s depictions of universal human suffering, which ultimately inspire empathy and solidarity despite West’s very real misanthropy.

Nathanael West is typically considered to be a “major minor” American writer of the late modernist period. Best known today for Miss Lonelyhearts (1933) and The Day of the Locust (1939), West wrote four dark novellas that excoriated mainstream American culture of the 1930s. Earlier critics viewed his writing mainly as an existentialist exploration of universal human suffering; more recently, critics have claimed West as an avant-garde devoted to the criticism of Depression-era capitalism and consumer society. This thesis represents something of a return to the earlier, humanist study of West’s fiction, which he himself regarded primarily as moral satire. What differentiates this project from earlier studies, however, is its style of criticism. Since the 1980s, a new revitalized and reoriented ethical criticism has emerged, as evidenced by the proliferation of scholarly works and journal special issues on the topic of literature and ethics, the growing number of readers like Todd Davis and Kenneth Womack’s Mapping the Ethical Turn (2001), and the general trend toward linking moral philosophy and literary criticism, as carried out by Martha Nussbaum and Richard Rorty, among others. The new ethical criticism tends to be descriptive, rather than prescriptive. Using approaches inspired by the scholarship of this late-twentieth century wave of ethical critics, including Wayne Booth and Daniel Schwarz, this dissertation provides a new critical illumination of West the implied author’s unique system of ethics, as dramatized through his narrative explorations of particular lives. It attempts to answer the question that has puzzled Americanist scholars contemplating his works since their initial publication: how can a fictional world so sordid and savage still evoke feelings of compassion and humanity in so many readers? The answer, I will argue, lies in the very ferocity of the author’s depictions of universal human suffering, which ultimately inspire empathy and solidarity despite West’s very real misanthropy.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Ohio State University, 2007. / Microfiche of typescript. UMI Number: 32-68957. Includes bibliographical references. Available online via OhioLINK's ETD Center.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Indiana University, Dept. of English, 2007. / Title from PDF t.p. (viewed Nov. 18, 2008). Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 68-02, Section: A, page: 0571. Adviser: Thomas Foster.