BREAKING DOWN FITZGERALD HELEN M. TURNER Copyright © 2022 by Helen Turner. All rights reserved. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey. Published simultaneously in Canada. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise, except as permitted under Section 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without either the prior written permission of the Publisher, or authorization through payment of the appropriate per‐copy fee to the Copyright Clearance Center, Inc., 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, (978) 750‐8400, fax (978) 750‐4470, or on the web at www.copyright.com. Requests to the Publisher for permission should be addressed to the Permissions Department, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030, (201) 748‐6011, fax (201) 748‐6008, or online at http://www.wiley.com/go/permission. Limit of Liability/Disclaimer of Warranty: While the publisher and author have used their best efforts in preparing this book, they make no representations or warranties with respect to the accuracy or completeness of the contents of this book and specifically disclaim any implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. No warranty may be created or extended by sales representatives or written sales materials. The advice and strategies contained herein may not be suitable for your situation. You should consult with a professional where appropriate. Neither the publisher nor author shall be liable for any loss of profit or any other commercial damages, including but not limited to special, incidental, consequential, or other damages. For general information on our other products and services or for technical support, please contact our Customer Care Department within the United States at (800) 762‐2974, outside the United States at (317) 572‐3993 or fax (317) 572‐4002. Wiley also publishes its books in a variety of electronic formats. Some content that appears in print may not be available in electronic formats. For more information about Wiley products,visit our web site at www.wiley.com.
Library of Congress Cataloging‐in‐Publication Data is Available:
ISBNs: 9781119805328 (paperback), 9781119805335 (epub), 9781119805342 (ePDF) COVER ART & DESIGN: PAUL MCCARTHY Breaking Down Fitzgerald: Introduction This guide to F. Scott Fitzgerald has three key purposes. The first is to explore his most famous and most widely studied novel, The Great Gatsby (1925). Detailed consideration is given to the novel's composition, motifs, themes, and characters. The second purpose is to engage with other aspects of Fitzgerald's life and work. By contextualizing the text in this manner, students will deepen their understanding and appreciation of the novel. The third goal of this guide is to garner wider interest in Fitzgerald. The majority of students encounter the author for the first time through his most famous novel, but unfortunately, this can also be where engagement with Fitzgerald ends. However, he was a writer for a period of more than twenty years, and during that time he wrote three additional complete novels and an unfinished one, close to two hundred short stories, as well as dozens of essays and magazine articles. The structure of the book is as follows: Chapter One provides an overview of Fitzgerald's life, the details of which read like a novel in themselves. The second chapter is concerned with important cultural and literary contexts that influenced the writer and his work. Chapter Three is focused on Fitzgerald's first two novels, This Side of Paradise (1920) and The Beautiful and Damned (1922). Chapter Four is the longest in the book as it is focused on The Great Gatsby (1925). Consideration is given to its composition, major characters, and motifs as well as structure and themes. In Chapter Five attention turns to Fitzgerald's later novels, Tender Is the Night (1934) and The Last Tycoon (1941). The final chapter is concerned with the author's short stories and essays. At the end of each chapter are details for further reading but also further viewing and listening, which opens up Fitzgerald's work and world through a variety of resources in different media. Before turning attention to the man and his work, it is worth pondering the question: why Fitzgerald? In recent decades there has been a reconsideration of the literary canon. Who is included in the western literary tradition, who has been excluded and—importantly—why? Traditionally it has privileged the narratives of dead white men at the expense of the voices of others. So, does this particular dead white man have something valuable to tell the modern reader? Some of the attitudes he expresses in his fiction and in personal correspondence seem out of step with contemporary values. His depiction of race, gender, and sexuality can at times rely on crude stereotypes. For example, it is impossible to see Meyer Wolfshiem as anything other than a caricature of anti‐Semitic tropes. Many critics have raised concerns about Fitzgerald's depiction of women as they are simultaneously infantilized and held responsible for the frustrations and disappointments of men. His descriptions of black people lack depth and agency. However, through a close reading of his work, it is possible to see that Fitzgerald's response to a changing world is complex. He inherited the beliefs and attitudes of a Victorian world. However, in the aftermath of the First World War, assumptions about gender, race, and sexuality that previously appeared “correct” or “normal” were brought into question. In his work it is evident that he is wrestling with these changing attitudes, creating ambivalence and at times apparent agreement with both progressive and reactionary views. His description of “three modish negroes, two bucks and a girl” that made Nick laugh “aloud as the yolks of their eyeballs rolled towards us in haughty rivalry” (Fitzgerald 2019, p. 83) is countered with Nick's recognition of there being “something pathetic in his [Tom's] concentration, as if his complacency, more acute than of old, was not enough to him any more” as Tom attempts to explain his racist theories regarding the collapse of civilization (p. 17). Fitzgerald was living in a frantic, changing world: a world contending with the aftermath of war, changing social relationships between men and women, bans on alcohol and illicit boozing, new media and entertainment, and a flu pandemic that killed millions. In many respects, it was a time not unlike our own where certainty seems like a concept that will never return. People are bombarded with contrary attitudes and opinions toward sexuality, gender identity, climate change, and public health. There is something familiar in Fitzgerald's life and work in terms of mood if not in the exact detail. He explores the anxieties and excitement of change that we can all understand. He certainly does have something to tell the modern reader. Chapter 1 Fitzgerald's Life F. Scott Fitzgerald's life has garnered almost as much interest as his most famous novel. At the beginning of his career in the 1920s, he went through extraordinary highs at a time when fame combined with mass media to create
