Nathanael West's Miss Lonelyhearts and the Problem of Suffering

Abstract

Nathanael West's novella Miss Lonelyhearts, the harrowing story of a newspaper advice columnist who struggles to cope with the misery of his correspondents, illustrates the often dramatic challenge of locating meaning in human suffering. Situated in an implicitly nihilistic world in which neither transcendent nor immanent meaning can be taken for granted, the story raises vexing questions about how value and significance can arise and be nourished within a therapeutic relationship. The title character's doomed pursuit of faith and his inability to tolerate and acknowledge human suffering constitute a cautionary tale of spiritual failure in the broadest sense.