Nathanael West y la ética de "Interim"

Abstract

Nathanael West’s last novel "The Day of the Locust" has often been labelled as immoral or unethical by modern scholars, due to the characters’ apparent rejection of traditional principles and respectable ideologies. However, when considered from the eschatological perspective, this kind of conduct clearly responds to an ethical system, fairly unknown outside theological circles, but with a long tradition in Western culture: the "interim ethics". This behaviour, commonly rooted in societies with apocalyptic expectations, belittles the value of personal morality and civic duty, supported by a firm belief in an imminent global catastrophe. The result is a state of ethical suspension, easily confused with amorality, where ordinary responsibilities are cancelled and common feelings are trivialized or even completely suppressed. This paper analyses the social and psychological factors that shape the ethical code presented in "The Day of the Locust" in order to demonstrate that they are motivated by a disastrous perception of time which redefines the attitudes of the protagonists and relieves them of their vital exigencies. Thus, it will be explained how West recovers and renews the concept of "interim ethics" so that it reflects the existential anxiety of modern life.