What “Miss Lonelyhearts” Teaches Us About How To Live

Analyzing Nathaniel West’s masterpiece and our collective, existential nightmare.

Photo by Esmee de Heer.

In 1931, in the throes of the Great Depression and at the conclusion of the Jazz Age, Nathanael West wrote Miss Lonelyhearts, his “remorseless masterpiece.” (1) To some critics, West’s novel surpasses well-known literary classics, like The…