Yes, but can you make it a little more personal » Nathanael West had always been a distracted driver

Nathanael West had always been a distracted driver

In New York, driving into the city for a meeting, he once ran eleven consecutive traffic signals after leaving the Lincoln Tunnel and eventually crashed into a cab; his passenger got out and walked the rest of the way.

Three days before Christmas 1940, West and his wife Eileen McKenney were down in El Centro, near the Mexican border, returning in their station wagon from a duck hunt. F. Scott Fitzgerald had died in his bed the day before following his second heart attack; friends would speculate that West was driving fast, hurrying to be back in town for the funeral.

Ignoring a stop sign, they pulled out from a side road and were struck and killed by a farm truck he never saw.

The train that carried the body of Fitzgerald eastward carried West as well.

STEFANO BOSCUTTI is an independent writer and director and ideas man. He loves stories about true mavericks and outsiders who want to change the world. Larger than life characters who either wildly succeed or go down in flames. (Often both at the same time.) Boscutti's stories are usually laced with humor and a ton of irony. Question? Hey, you can ask him anything.

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