Pen name of Cicely Isabel Fairfield (1892-1983) Irish journalist and novelist, an active feminist from 1911. The Meaning of Treason 1959 deals with the spies Burgess and Maclean. Her novels have political themes and include The Fountain Overflows 1956 and The Birds Fall Down 1966.

(1892-1980) US vaudeville, stage, and film actress. She wrote her own dialogue, setting herself up as a provocative sex symbol and the mistress of verbal innuendo. She appeared on Broadway in Sex 1926, Drag 1927, and Diamond Lil 1928, which was the basis of the film (with Cary Grant) She Done Him Wrong 1933. Her other films include I’m No Angel 1933, My Little Chickadee 1940 (with W C Fields), Myra Breckinridge 1969, and Sextette 1977. Both her plays and her films led to legal battles over censorship.
Two of her often quoted lines are “It’s better to be looked over than to be overlooked”, and “Beulah, peel me a grape”. Her autobiography, Goodness Had Nothing to Do with It, was published 1959.

Pen name of Nathan Weinstein (1904-1940) US writer. He is noted as an idiosyncratic black-humor parodist. His surrealist-influenced novels capture the absurdity and extremity of American life and the dark side of the American Dream. His most powerful novel, The Day of the Locust 1939, is a vivid exploration of the apocalyptic violence given release by the fantasies created by Hollywood, where West had been a screenwriter.
His other work consisted of The Dream Life of Balso Snell 1931, a surreal comedy written in Paris; Miss Lonelyhearts 1933, a black farce about a newspaper agony columnist who feels the misfortunes of his correspondents; and a A Cool Million 1934, which satirizes the rags-to-riches dream of success. West and his wife died in an automobile accident.

(1916-) Australian novelist. An abandoned vocation with the Christian Brothers and experience as secretary to a former Australian prime minister and as Vatican correspondent for the Daily Mail contributed to the recurring themes of Catholicism in crisis, political power, and moral dilemma in his novels. He first attracted international attention with the award-winning Devil’s Advocate 1959, filmed 1977.
Later novels include The Shoes of the Fisherman 1963, about a fictional pope, The Clowns of God 1981, and The World is Made of Glass 1983, an imaginative reconstruction of the psychological and moral ordeal of one of Jung’s female patients. Moon in my Pocket 1945 is West’s semiautobiographical account of his disillusionment with the Catholic church. He has also written plays.

(1738-1820) American Neo-Classical painter. He was active in London from 1763. He enjoyed the patronage of George III for many years and was a noted history painter. His The Death of General Wolfe 1770 (National Gallery, Ottawa) began a vogue for painting recent historical events in contemporary costume.
West was born in Pennsylvania. Many early American artists studied with him, including Washington Allston, Gilbert Stuart, and J S Copley.

ETYM AS. west, adv; akin to Dutch west, German west, westen, Old High Germ. westan, Icel. vestr, Swed. vest, vester, vestan, Dan. vest, vesten, and perhaps to Latin vesper evening, Greek. Related to Vesper, Visigoth.
The cardinal compass point that is a 270 degrees; SYN. due west, W.

Situated in or facing or moving toward the west.

ETYM AS. west.
To, toward, or in the west.

1. The countries of (originally) Europe and (now including) North and South America; Also called: occident.
2. The region of the United States lying to the west of the Mississippi River.
3. City in Texas (USA); zip code 76691.
4. Town in Mississippi (USA); zip code 39192.