By Robert C. Cuddy
When Nathanael West died in a desert auto crash near El Centro, CA in 1940, he was 37-years-old. He had written four novels. Two became classics: “Miss Lonelyhearts” and “The Day of the Locust,” considered by many (yours truly included) as the best book ever written about Hollywood.
Another, “The Dream Life of Balso Snell,“ was a psychedelic acid trip of a read before the term psychedelic existed or anyone had heard of LSD.
And then we have this week‘s nugget, “A Cool Million,” a hilarious send up of the old Horatio Alger myths
For the young’uns among our readers, Horatio Alger wrote novels about people in dire straits who, through hard work, became successful. As much as any cultural force, the Horatio Alger books perpetuated the ludicrous notion – still clung to by many today – that anyone can succeed financially if he only works hard enough. Tell that to farm workers and hotel maids.
West begins with that assumption and then systematically and hysterically shreds it until only rags remain. The subtitle of his novel gives you a clue as to where it is going: “The Dismantling of Lemuel Pitkin.”
Young Lemuel is living an idyllic existence in rural Vermont when his house on the Rat River is foreclosed upon, placing his dear, sweet old mother in peril. Lemuel sets out to make his fortune in Alger-like fashion, and save both mother and the old homestead
I don’t think it’s too much of a reveal to say that things don’t turn out the way they would in an Alger book. The young man is betrayed by just about everyone, beginning with the local banker, a retired president named Nathan “Shagpoke” Whipple, who brings to mind Calvin Coolidge.
Before he is ultimately assassinated in a move set up by revolutionaries to make him a martyr (it’s complicated; you have to read the book), he loses a leg, his teeth, his hair (he is scalped), and an eye.
He sees furniture from his old farm being sold in a trendy Fifth Avenue store window. His girl friend from Vermont ends up in a brothel, and he never does find out what happened to his mother.
OK, is that overkill? Maybe, but the way West tells the tale, set against the backdrop of Lemuel’s unyielding naivete and ingenuousness, is brilliant, and falling-down funny.
West also takes shots at Nazi types, anarchists, and left-wing revolutionaries, among others. He’s an equal opportunity take-no-prisoners writer.
In a way, “A Cool Million’s” theme mirrors that of the far more serious “Day of the Locust,” which dissected the emptiness of people who came to Los Angeles from the Midwest in the early 20th century to find new lives (and leave the old behind), only to discover the old truth that “wherever you go, there you are.”
One critic wrote that, in his writings, West presented “a sweeping rejection of political causes, religious faith, artistic redemption and romantic love.”
“A Cool Million” certainly fits that description. It sounds depressing and horrible, but isn’t; like “Candide” and all great satire, it gets its message across with biting humor.
West dedicated the book to his brother-in-law, the unparalleled satirist S.J. Perlman, and I can’t help thinking he was trying to prove that Sid wasn‘t the only funny guy in the family. If that was his goal, he succeeded
This week’s gold mine: Alias Books, two locations in Los Angeles, Atwater Village and near UCLA. aliasbooks.com.
Information provided courtesey of the Grover Beach Community Library.
