The Great Gatsby

“An author ought to write for the youth of his generation, the critics of the next, and the schoolmasters of ever afterward.” –F. Scott Fitzgerald, 1920

The Great Gatsby is a novel written by a man of the 1920s about the 1920s. Further, not only is Fitzgerald truly a man of his time, this novel is considered by many to be the defining novel of the Twenties—in fact, it is one of perhaps only three novels that are consistently competing for the title of ‘the greatest American novel’. F. Scott Fitzgerald was a man obsessed with success. He was born Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald in September of 1896. From a very young age he was already driven by his desire for material and social success. Another drive established early on was a passion for writing, and by 1910 he was already publishing stories in the school magazine. His passion for writing continued and he began writing plays. He later began more serious writing—poetry and later novels—but his writing was troubled by his desire for a romantic match with a wealthy and socially powerful woman. In 1917, after a failed relationship, he left Princeton in his senior year to join the army. While stationed in Alabama, he met the wealthy young socialite, Zelda Sayre. He immediately wanted to marry her, but in her mind he wasn’t successful or wealthy enough, the two things that had already haunted young Scott all his life. Desperate for success, in 1919 he went to New York in the hopes of becoming a famous writer. He spent 8 months destitute and disappointed before he sold his first novel, This Side of Paradise, and was instantly famous. In light of his newfound fame and blossoming fortune, Zelda agreed to marry him. Theirs was a life of lavish spending and riotous parties. Fitzgerald was forced to write at a frenzied pace just to be able to pay the bills. Things between the couple began to deteriorate, and by the time he was writing The Great Gatsby in 1925, Zelda was having an affair and both were drinking heavily. The book was well received by other authors and critics, but the public didn’t like it. By the early 1930s, Fitzgerald was considered a washed up has been and Zelda had to be permanently institutionalized for schizophrenia.

Obviously, the 20s were the high point of Fitzgerald’s life…they were the ‘fairy tale’ years. He was famous. He got the girl. It seems only natural then that the focus of his work in the 20s. But does his focus clearly mirror the reality of this era or is it skewed? He clearly illustrates the money, the parties, the illegal booze…but he doesn’t discuss the way that WWI affected “The Jazz Age” as he called it…or does he? What connections can we draw between Fitzgerald’s life and his fictional characters? Can we identify him only with Jay Gatsby, or is there a part of Nick Adams in him too? Do we think he is trying to work out personal demons through his novel? Does this make the book a more or less valid choice as ‘the great American novel’? Why?