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The Great Gatsby ()


Modern Library Top 100 Novels of the 20th Century (2)

I reread this one immediately after seeing the list, because I couldn't believe it was #2, a classic American novel sure, but number 2?

It is undeniably well written, but the story still leaves me unmoved.  Jay Gatsby's pursuit of Daisy Buchanan (& the wealth with which to win her) is apparently supposed to represent the more general striving for the American Dream and his fall would then  be a cautionary lesson to those who would pursue the dream.

But the underlying assumption is that  the American Dream consists of nothing more than gaining great wealth.  Perhaps in the first blush of Marxist Socialism it was possible to so misread man's motivation as being merely materialistic.  However, as the Socialist Century ends, we've surely seen that man is motivated by a dream of Freedom, not a lust for wealth.

Thus, the real tragedy of Gatsby is not that he is destroyed pursuing the American Dream, rather it is that he pursues an empty dream.

(Reviewed:)

Grade: (B)


Websites:

F. Scott Fitzgerald Links:

    -WIKIPEDIA: F. Scott Fitzgerald
    -SHORT STORY: F. Scott Fitzgerald, “Winter Dreams” (Library of America)
    -PODCAST: Poured Over: Min Jin Lee on The Great Gatsby (BN Editors/August 31, 2021, Barnes & Noble)
    -PODCAST: Mike Palindrome on F. Scott Fitzgerald’s Masterpiece: From The History of Literature Podcast with Jacke Wilson (LitHub, August 14, 2023)
    -VIDEO: The Great Gatsby Explained: How F. Scott Fitzgerald Indicted & Endorsed the American Dream (1925) (Open Culture)
    -
   
-ESSAY:The Crack-Up: How individual and civilisational identities collapse. (Peter Hughes, 2 Feb 2023, Quillette)
    -ESSAY: How the Male Point of View Shapes the Narrative of The Great Gatsby: Jillian Cantor Reimagines Fitzgerald’s Classic Novel from the Perspectives of Women (Jillian Cantor, February 1, 2022, LitHub)
    -ESSAY: On Jay Gatsby, the Most Famous North Dakotan: Sarah Vogel Traces the Humble Midwest Origins of an Iconic Character (Sarah Vogel, November 2, 2021, LitHub)
    -ESSAY: Why Do We Keep Reading The Great Gatsby? (Wesley Morris January 11, 2021, Paris Review)
    -ESSAY: The world's most misunderstood novel (Hephzibah Anderson, 9th February 2021, BBC)
    -REVIEW ESSAY: On Heartbreak, Absence, and Falling in Love with The Great Gatsby (David Stuart MacLean, January 21, 2021, LitHub)
    -REVIEW ESSAY: The Imperfect and Sublime ‘Gatsby’ (Min Jin Lee, January 21, 2021, NY Review of Books)
    -REVIEW: of Some Unfinished Chaos: The Lives of F. Scott Fitzgerald by Arthur Krystal (William H. Pritchard, WSJ)
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Book-related and General Links:
   
-F. Scott Fitzgerald Links
    -Enchanted Places: The Use of Setting in F. Scott Fitzgerald's Fiction
    -USC: F. Scott Fitzgerald Centenary Home Page
    -FIRST CHAPTER: The Great Gatsby
    -ONLINE STUDY GUIDE : The Great Gatsby  by F. Scott Fitzgerald.  (SparkNote by Brian Phillips)
    -ESSAY: Was Gatsby black? A professor claims that only an African-American scholar could spot Fitzgerald's secret meaning (Elizabeth Manus, Salon)
    -ESSAY : Fitzgerald's 'Radiant World'  (Thomas Flanagan, NY Review of Books)
    -REVIEW: of Trimalchio: An Early Version of ëThe Great Gatsbyí by F. Scott Fitzgerald (Adam Begley, NY Observer)
    -REVIEW: of Trimalchio  & Flappers and Philosophers by  F Scott Fitzgerald  (Julian Evans, New Statesman)

Comments:

I think The Great Gatsby is fantastically good. I think the problem is that everyone thinks Gatsby is supposed to be this tragic figure. He's obviously not, though, and I don't think he was ever meant to be tragic. He's like the guy who owns the Dallas Mavericks. Tom and Daisy and Gatsby are all equally detestable.

The greatness of the book lies in the choice of narrarator, so that we get to see these people from a certain "normal" point of view, and in the true tragic figure of the book: the mechanic (George?), a minor character who had more actual moral character than any of the major players.

- Seven Machos

- Dec-30-2004, 11:44

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