Six weeks after The Day of the Locust was published in 1939, Nathanael West wrote a letter to his friend, F. Scott Fitzgerald. He was updating F. Scott Fitzgerald on how book sales were going.
The letter contained this quote from West:
“The box score stands: Good reviews— fifteen per cent, bad reviews—twenty five per cent, brutal personal attacks—sixty percent. Sales: practically none.
“I’ll try another one anyway, I guess.”
Source: Nathanael West: Novels and Other Writings
Interestingly enough, Fitzgerald was writing his own Hollywood expose’ of sorts, The Last Tycoon, so he was probably interested in how West and his book were faring.
We’ve talked about this many times on the blog, but I always find it interesting how we often appreciate the great authors much more after they’re gone.
It’s a bit mind boggling to think that a book like The Day of the Locust, a book that ends up on a greatest 100 novels list, sold so poorly when it was first published. Gatsby was just a well-received, modest-selling novel before Fitzgerald died, and only 25 people attended his funeral.
And, with Nathanael West, it seems like another case of an author who become much more recognized—in both fame and sales—after he was gone.
That makes me wonder—are there any authors struggling out there today who, once they are gone 50 years from now, will be household names? I’m sure there are many.
