Nathanael West

The Day of the Locust is a 1939 novel by American author Nathanael West, set in Hollywood, California during the Great Depression, depicting the alienation and desperation of a disparate group of individuals whose dreams of success have effectively failed. One of the main characters in the novel is named Homer Simpson (which was not the source of the name Homer Simpson in The Simpsons animated television series). The novel was adapted for the screen in 1975.