F. Scott Fitzgerald Books

The literary voice of the ninteen-twenties' "Jazz Age," F. Scott Fitzgerald was out of step with the grimmer thirties. Facing his wife's insanity, increasing alcoholism, and his own obsolesence as a writer, the stories collected here show Fitzgerald facing his demons in bracingly honest prose. If "Crazy Sunday" and the other tales of the adventures of Pat Hobby, down-and-out screenwriter, feel a bit like autobiographical wallow, and "Family In The Wind," about a doctor in the midst of a country tornado, is an interesting if uncharacteristic journey into Steinbeck country, it's the title story of the collection that's worth the price of admission.
Charlie Wales is an ex-broker, returned to Paris after all the good times have gone, with only the goal of regaining custody of his daughter after the death of his wife. A thinly veiled take on Fitzgerald's own troubled relations with daughter Scottie after wife Zelda's madness, it's at once a suspenseful, moving, and lyrical story. All his powers are at work here, as if he knew this was his last shot at literary immortality, and he was just about right.

I bought this volume of stories simply to get a copy of Fitzgerald's "May Day" which I'd read in one of my college texts and then could not find for years. I have always felt that "May Day" would make a superb film--and the screenwriter could lift most of the dialogue right out of the story. It is that good and simple and dramatic. Actually every one of the stories in this collection is first rate. Here is Fitzgerald, only in his 20's, writing of American aspirations before, during and after World War I. And no one wrote about this subject better than he did. The characters are rich and complex, all of them dissatisfied with the bones that life has thrown them, all of them desiring what others have. The reader sees their foibles and loves them anyway. These are not perfect people. They are real people in a time of trouble--fighting, most of them, simply to stay afloat in a world changing faster than anyone would have thought possible. I cannot recommend these brilliant stories highly enough. There is also a brief life and appreciation of Fitzgerald in this lovely Scribner edition.

The Book of Revelations in the New Testament is the most likely source from which F. Scott Fitzgerald draws his "Babylon Revisited". In Revelations, Babylon the Great (also an ancient Near Eastern city of materialism and sexual excess) is the `mother of whores' and the source of all evil in the Roman Empire. She is said to have been defeated by God and judged for her excessive sin. Upon her destruction, the saints rejoice while the merchants and hedonistic pleasure seekers morn. Symbolism abounds in this revision of the timeless tale and the choice of Fitzgerald's title could not be more appropriate.

Charlie himself is the regeneration of Babylon. During the economic boom of the 20's, Charlie and his wife lived life to its fullest and most shallow degree. They partied until sunup. They squandered wealth. We even get the impression that there was a significant amount of infidelity existing on both sides. As with Babylon, Charlie is punished: The stock market crash in 1929 liberates him of a fortune, "his child [is] taken from his control, [and] his wife escaped to a grave in Vermont."

As with Babylon, Charlie's fall had its rejoicers and mourners. Marion, his wife's bereaved sister, saw Charlie's fall as an opportunity to gain control of his child, and with sincere intentions rid her family of the sinner. Though she doesn't expressly rejoice in her brother-in-laws demise, she does blame him for her sister's death and understands why his life has turned out askew. Duncan and Lorraine, on the other hand, mourned the loss of their sinister partner in indulgence.

This story is complete with all of the historic reference and symbolism that has come to define F. Scott Fitzgerald. What a fantastic, unbelievably creative writer. It's amazing how timeless his writings are, and "Babylon Revisited" is the perfect example of that fact. It really makes you think about your own life.

The king of the 1920's Lit World wrote short stories for big money in Scribner's Magazine, Collier's, Esquire, and Saturday Evening Post. His first novel made him famous, This Side of Paradise, but his subsequent novels including The Great Gatsby sold meagerly. Zelda and Scott went through dough like drunken sailors, so Scott wrote short stories for a quick buck. This group of stories is among his best and though some or all were written commercially, Scott's talent was so huge that they rival his chief competitor's: Hemingway, Parker, Anderson, and Larder in charm and precision.

Above all, Fitzgerald is charming. The drunken rich boys of May Day are close to the authors experience and poignantly revealing. Scott was the son of a failed businessman. His mother's family was well to do and Scott associated with rich beauties that seemed always just beyond a snow covered golf course as in Winter Dreams. His experience with his future wife, Zelda Sear, an Alabama debutante is cloaked in fantasy in Ice Palace. Surely newlyweds are surprised to find they have married strangers. In that there is no secret, but Fitzgerald gives his bride a hysterical nightmare in a St Paul carnival ice maze. The reader loves Sally Carrol and is genuinely caught up in her dilemma of Minnesota in-laws and a suddenly stern husband.

Fitzgerald was a dreamer and The Diamond As Big As the Ritz is a parable about a family so rich, and so self-centered in their luxuries, they murder their guests less the secret of the their wealth be known. In an era where a million dollars could buy a country, Fitzgerald's fascination with success and the rich permeates his work.

F. Scott Fitzgerald is one of our greatest writers. He is best known today for his many wonderful novels, especially The Great Gatsby. As time has passed, his marvelous magazine stories have faded from sight . . . even though those were more widely read than his novels when they were written.

In Babylon Revisited: And Other Stories you will deepen your understanding of the novels . . . and of their author in these often semi-autobiographical tales. The best stories have as much impact as any of the novels in a spare exposition that adds to their power.

Each story deals with the same general theme: We live on hope which is based on illusions about reality. When faced with reality, we happily escape into new hopes based on different illusions. We are sort of like Peter Pan: We don't want to grow up.

The theme comes across with startling persuasiveness as Fitzgerald unpeels the many forms of hopeful illusions that will seem familiar to every reader.

The stories build chronologically across the backdrop of the United States after World War I in the 20's and 30's. That shift in authorship times also inadvertently adds the drama of seeing how the psychology of the young and educated changed as American went from mindless boom to seemingly unending bust.

Fitzgerald has a rich imagination to makes his world open up for readers so that you can feel both the physical sensations and the emotions of the characters . . . and become the characters while you are reading.

The stories themselves have that delightful quality of exaggeration that makes his points indelible.

The Ice Palace explores a Southern beauty's pursuit of an advantageous marriage in the frozen tundra of Minnesota in winter. May Day recounts the pursuit of pleasure and accomplishment by those of various social classes and beliefs. The Diamond as Big as the Ritz is a wild tale of a mythical place and the consequences of unlimited wealth. Winter Dreams deals with the painful consequences of acting on the illusions of romantic love. Absolution is an amazing story about how we can carelessly end up being untrue to God and ourselves. The Rich Boy considers how being rich and powerful can get in the way of being close to others. The Freshest Boy looks at being an awkward teenage boy and how he came to make peace with the world. Babylon Revisited shows how our mistakes can come home to roost after we believe we are invulnerable. Crazy Sunday is an astonishing look at the psychology of how we connect to one another through others. The Long Way Out is about a woman who suffers from a mental collapse and is now ready to return to her husband . . . when fate steps in.

My favorite stories in the book are May Day, The Diamond as Big as the Ritz, The Freshest Boy, Babylon Revisited and Crazy Sunday.

If you haven't read these stories before, you have a great treat ahead of you. If you can find a copy of George Guidall's narration for Recorded Books, your pleasure will be even greater.

I am an English teacher, and I bought this to aid in my classroom discussion of the novel. After receiving this version of Gatsby, I discovered that our school library had a copy read by a different narrator. I listened to both, but Alexander Scourby's reading was much more entertaining to my 11th graders. The other version put them to sleep. I highly recommend Scourby's reading of "The Great Gatsby."

I listened to this book over a few nights with my wife, after having read it first some sixteen years ago. It is a masterpiece, and known widely as such, but what surprised me on hearing it was how the book I'd remembered as terribly romantic was actually rather clear-eyed and dark. My wife, who had never read it, listened spell-bound, and at the end burst into tears at the sadness of it. A word about Scourby as reader - he is restrained but emotional, captures the personality of each character with a slightly different tone, and - most importantly for me - brings out the fact that the closing pages, which are often quoted out of context as deeply romantic, are in fact painfully cynical, a voice of disenchantment about the cost of America, not its promise. A masterpiece on the page and on tape. Can't recommend it too highly.

Scott Fitzgerald, a monumental talent who only occasionally got things working right, made Gatsby great by the extraordinary invention of Nick Carraway. Carraway as narrator provided the exact perfect pitch: more awestruck than he would admit, more moral than it was fashionable to reveal -- always objective and distanced and subtle and charming, genuinely decent and impeccably well mannered, a little dangerously smitten himself by the lovely but corrupt Jordan Baker.

Alexander Scourby, one of the greatest reading voices of his era (overlapping Fitzgerald's enough to know and feel it all) here does Carraway in a way that cannot, therefore, again be quite equalled. Imagine having a recording of a great contemporary actor reading Ahab's speeches in Moby Dick, and one begins to appreciate the gift that we only now have in recorded sound, something we are already quite casual about. But there is much more here than historical accuracy. Scourby's voice wraps around every phrase of Fitzgeral's text with both an actor's professionalism and a good reader's care, making it not only uncannily his own monument but also a monument in audio book history. It sets the bar, and anyone interested in the recorded voice as an art form should own this for repeated learning.

There is a reason why this is required reading in advanced literature classes throughout the country. This is without a doubt one of the best tales ever told. It should be used as an example to any aspiring writer of what great writing can be. The thing that makes it so great is Fitzgerald's ability to formulate characters, both large and small, and his ability to have them interact in a manner that is at once both imaginative and realistic. This makes the story, which in and of itself is not more amazing than other books, more amazing because you are compelled to believe the plausibility of a story that is incredible. Even if you are not a literature student you will find this book an enjoyable read that is intellectually stimulating, yet easy reading for those reading to relax. Many have copied this story directly and indirectly because of the lesson it teaches (that in the story about life and that about creating a story) and many will continue to do so in the future.

After living abroad in the Middle East for a year and traveling through more than twenty-five countries, I recently re-read The Great Gatsby, seeking the familiarity of America. The Great Gatsby captures what is different about Americans and the American experience. At its most basic, America represents endless striving for greatness. Whether in business, science, athletics or world affairs, Americans imagine and seek the best. Though we often stumble and fall short; though we often cut corners to achieve our dreams - striving for greatness is the essence of America. In Gatsby, we feel what it is like to want something so badly, to succeed in reaching it and to ultimately fail. How many of us have not shared these experiences in some way or another? American writings today, such as David Ebershoff's Pasadena (2002) and Scott Gaille's The Law Review (2002), continue to explore Gatsby's central theme of obsession with greatness. In this time of global uncertainty, we can get back in touch with what it means to be an American by reading such books.

I've admired Fitzgerald all my life and regard his work as singularly underrated as time goes on. He was a brilliant and witty writer who could turn a phrase as well as any American author of the 20th century. This biography is the best I've ever read on Fitzgerald. It's particularly strong in the depiction of his gaudy, booze-soaked life with Zelda, especially when they were ex-pats living in France. Bruccoli really draws the reader in with deft descriptions of their marital rows, woes, break-ups and innumerable reconcilations. I was happy to see that their daughter, Scottie, was also illuminated so brilliantly.

The material on Sheila Graham, Scott's lover in Hollywood, was also intriguing. Graham's own book about Scott is a great read, but the author brings out elements to the story which Graham omitted. I was genuinely sad when Scott dies and the narrative concludes. The debauchery, booze and high times of the Flapper era are all here. This is a highly recommended, beautifully tribute to one of the great writers of the past 100 years.

I am a writer, and first took out the book suffering from similar problems to Fitzgerald's at the beginning of his career, hoping to get some guidence. Reading it, I was struck by the profundity of the advice on writing he gave his daughter Scottie, which is copied in excerpts. I felt like I was getting the same benefits he gave her, and I also got the sense that he would want this. He meant what he had learned to be accessable to everyone; in a way, it was what his life was based around. Then, I got a good deal out of the analyses the biographer devotes to transcibing the process Fitzgerald went through in mapping out each of his extaordinary novels- I took notes I'll keep for ever. I only wish I could find a source like this on my other favorite writers. I'll have to appeal to Amazon's reccomendations for advice.

I bought this book and read it before reading any of the works of F. Scott Fitgerald.

The book opens with an interesting literary hook as we follow the last few hours in the life of Fitzgerald on December 21, 1940. He is an unemployed screen writer living in Hollywood at the apartment of his companion Sheilah Graham. On the previous day, he had symptoms of a heart problem. That morning on the 21st, he was working on "The Last Tycoon." He was sitting in a chair, stood up, grasped the mantlepiece, collapsed, and died at age 44.

That book is one of seemingly dozens of short stories on F. Scott, Zelda his wife, and others. The book is not a seamless story but is a chronoligcal collection of short - almost disconnected - stories about his life and works.

It is an excellent reference book to consult as you read the works of Fitzgerald. I found the book on its own too dry with too many facts and it gives no idea of what the writing was like. It was not until I read "This Side of Paradise" did I understand what all the fuss was about with F. Scott Fitzgerald, and it was at that point the present biography came to life. For example, I quote a passage from Chapter 2 of Book I, as Amory sits on the steps of his dorm at Princeton after his first day on campus:

"Now, far down the shadowy line of University Place a white-clad phalanx broke the gloom, and marching figures, white-shirted, white-trousered, swung rhythmically up the street, with linked arms and heads thrown back:

"Going back-going back,
Going-back-to-Nas-sau-Hall,
Going back-going back-
To the-Best-Old-Place-of-All.
Going back-going back,
From all-this-earth-ly-ball,
We'll-clear-the-track-as-we-go-back-
Going-back-to-Nas-sau-Hall!"

Amory closed his eyes as the ghostly procession drew near. The song soared so high that all dropped out except the tenors, who bore the melody triumphantly past the danger-point and relinquished it to the fantastic chorus. Then Amory opened his eyes, half afraid that sight would spoil the rich illusion of harmony."

One learns more about Fitgerald's writing from that passage than the entire biography.

Having said the above, this is a fact filled reference book that acts as a wondeful guide and supplement to the F. Scott's life and the background for the works. There are many photographs and other documents among the 61 short chapters. I especially liked the ledger notes that were kept by Fitzgerald that clearly outline the characters and plot details for the books. Bruccoli has included a huge notes section and appendix at the back of the book, about 100 illustrations, plus many more documents. I have read many interpretations of "Tender is the Night" but it is a lot clearer when you actually read the author's own notes as produced here in the present biography.

Highly recommend: excellent collection of short stories and documents.

This is an excellent biography, full of a great wealth of detail. In truth, Fitzgerald is a pretty easy biographical subject, because his fiction was so closely based on his own life and experiences and because he wrote so many letters and kept such detailed notebooks and ledgers accounting for his own life. He also had relationships with many people (Zelda, other writers, etc.) who left behind many accounts of him. Still, Bruccoli does an extremely thorough job and the book is very well-written.

I would give it five stars except for an extremely irritating tendency Bruccoli has to be dismissive of almost all of Fitzgerald's short stories. Bruccoli is way too arrogant about pronouncing dozens of the stories F. Scott wrote as being "minor," or "disappointing," or even "embarrassing," while reserving his praise for a select few, such as "May Day" and "The Rich Boy." Personally, having read every one of FSF's currently collected short stories (well over 100 in all), I don't rate "May Day" or "The Rich Boy" very highly, but I love lots and lots of the "commercial" ones Bruccoli dismisses. I think he should leave the assessment of which stories are good up to the reader. Bruccoli's literary analysis -- of Fitzgerald's novels -- is outstanding, but the short stories should not be so dismissed (even if Scott himself at times dismissed them and hated having to write them to earn money).

I am an absolute diehard fan of F. Scott Fitzgerald, both his life and his literature. So, I knew when I purchased this book I was bound to scrutinize its every nook and cranny. Well, my scrutiny proved to be a wasted effort. Without question, Matthew Bruccoli is the number one Fitzgerald scholar in the country, and after reading this biography, it is impossible to question why.
Bruccoli covers every aspect of Fitzgerald's life and includes several bits of correspondence to really give readers a look inside Fitzgerald's thinking. --Perhaps my favorite thing about the book is that it does not sentimentalize the author (which I myself have a habit of doing). Fitzgerald is spelled out here in all his glory, yet, we also get to see his unflattering side...paranoia, arrogance, unharnessed alcoholism, and downright neurosis.
F Scott Fitzgerald was a brilliant man whose life became legend. It is my humble opinion that Bruccoli has written the most thorough and best possible biography. Simply put, the read is fascinating. It might be 600 pages, but you will fly through it. It is "never dry" (like Fitzgerald :)) and always entertaining. For Fitzgerald fanatics like myself, this book is a must, but I am convinced that anyone who takes to "human interest" stories would find themselves engulfed in its pages.
Also recommended: "The Romantic Egoists"...a scrapbook collection put together concerning the lives of the Fitzgeralds. It is packed with pictures and is a wonderful companion to the biography. It was also published by Bruccoli.

Originally published serially in "The Saturday Evening Post," Fitzgerald's "The Basil and Josephine Stories" was probably underappreciated in its time--the late 1920s. Fitzgerald's mastery of prose and storytelling shine, however, in this collection of short stories. The book is divided into two halves, the first dealing with Basil (a fictionalized version of Fitzgerald as a young man) and the second with Josephine (a fictional young woman in America in the early part of the 20th century). We follow Basil through the adventures and misadventures of his early life as he searches for acceptance and meaning. Josephine searches for love and friendship, among other things. Both meet with success that can only be described as questionable. Beautifully written and suprisingly deep, this collection offers profound insight into the psyche of the Lost Generation. I highly recommend it to anyone interested in modern American literature.

this charming collection of stories written by f. scott fitzgerald follows the physical, emotional, and social growth of two characters at the turn of the century. Basil, the typical rebellious child, struggles to find some understanding of life, school, friendship, and, most importantly, women. fitzgerald details a number of episodes in basil's life starting with his childhood and following him through his entrance into school. i don't know if basil ever entirely grew up or learned as much as he desired, but he came as close as any man can. the josephine stories follow roughly the same time span, but tend to focus more on her relationships and her place in society as a young woman at the turn of the century. all of the stories are masterfully told and it is obvious why fitzgerald became such a well known and respected writer. his storytelling is unparalleled and his descriptive language and imagery transports the reader to a different place and time. i highly recommend this book to any fitzgerald fan, whether an experienced one or a not-so-experienced one. i think it a shame that this book does not get more recognition than it does, recognition that it most definitely deserves.

I found the Basil stories to be much better written than the Josephine stories. Basil's stories are fun and full of irony and satire. The reader sees definite growth in Basil. The Basil stories are excellent and worthy of great praise. As for Josephine's stories, I often found myself loosing interest in the stories. They tended to be bland, and I found it much more difficult to connect with Josephine than with Basil. The four star rating is largely based on the Basil stories, which account for about 2/3 of the book, and for the one Josephine story I really liked.

Pure genius! Only Gatsby is better. Basil and Josephine are lyrical, magical; everything good that can be said about writing can be said about this book. It's great. Genius.

I really liked this book. And this isn't coming from some super-articulate adult. This is coming from a 14-year-old High School Freshman. It really shows you what life was like back then in the early 1910's, and how teens back then deal with the same stuff as we do, such as popularity, dating, cars, etc.

That Summer in Paris by Morley Callaghan is another version of Hemingway in Paris which is probably a lot closer to the truth.

If you need or want to know the truth, read this book. Hemingway sure made a seductive myth about himself. We don't fault him for improving on the truth. The Hemingway version is fun to read but this one is fun too.

By the way, Callaghan wrote an outstanding short story called "Luke Baldwin's Vow." You can see why Hemingway thought highly of him.

A perfect companion to Hemingway's "A Moveable Feast"...written about the same people and time, but with a different point of view...

I had never heard of Morley Callghan before reading this book. Which is unfortunate because the book is hard to put down. It is well-written, informative, amusing, thought provoking and gives insight into several notable literary figures from a first hand perspective.

Canadian writer Morley Callaghan (1903-1990) published 16 novels and more than 100 works of short fiction, and he was one of the first Canadian authors to make his living solely from his craft. Callaghan believed in capturing the bare truth and honest emotional content of people's lives, so his prose shuns stylistic busyness. Edmund Wilson called him "the most unjustly neglected novelist in the English-speaking world," and Maxwell Perkins called him the world's best short story writer.

THAT SUMMER IN PARIS, as a memoir of Paris in the 20s, is every bit as engaging a book, if more limited in scope, as Hemingway's A MOVEABLE FEAST. The book begins with Callaghan's inspiring story of meeting Hemingway while working on the same paper in Toronto--at the time Callaghan was in his early 20s (still in college), and Hemingway was a couple years older. Hemingway had temporarily left Paris and was in town working for the paper to provide his wife Hadley with the benefits of Toronto hospitals during childbirth. Hemingway quickly became a sort of literary patron for Callaghan and, when he returned to Europe, took Callaghan's short stories with him and passed them around Paris. Fitzgerald became enthusiastic about Callaghan's work and also began championing him with Paris and New York publishers. After Callaghan published 2 books of fiction (in no small part due to the help of his "Paris friends"), Callaghan finally made his own visit, with his wife, to Paris in 1929. The anecdotes he recounts are simply marvelous, and I can't recommend the book highly enough. Boxing matches with Hemingway, Fitzgerald's drunken histrionics, a strange evening with Joyce and a phonograph... it's priceless stuff.

They say that timing is everything and the fact that this particular writer just happened to be sitting on the Boulevard Montparnasse on the right evening of the right year, means we have a further insight into the lives of those Paris expatriates, Hemingway and Fitzgerald and others. At the same time, this may be an opportunity for some people to discover Morley Callaghan, who is a very fine writer in his own right. His life ran parallel to Hemingway's for some time, as they met in Toronto and later in Paris and remained friends thereafter, even if they saw each other only rarely. In a sense, he is just the person to give us a penetrating look behind the legends that were being created in the cafés and bars of the ville lumière at the end of the thirties. This is a delightful book as well; Callaghan is nobody's fool, which means he's not writing for the mundane reasons that might otherwise be expected, and you can trust him. He is painting a portrait of a world teetering on the very brink (it is the summer of 1929), and in his own artful way, he has succeeded in giving us a rare glimpse into the ill-lit streets and nightclubs just before it all fades away into the decade of hopelessness that followed. It's well worth finding this book if you can - it's a little gem.

Richard Buller's knowledge seems to have no bounds. With clarity and confidence, the author presents key moments in the life of Lois Moran. He also spends a third of the book exploring her relationship with F. Scott Fitzgerald. Buller had a vast amount of information at his disposal: Moran's journal and autobiographical notes, her son Tim, and Moran herself. Plus, he researched numerous books and contemporary newspaper articles. Intimidated? Don't be. Buller pulls all the pieces of the puzzle together for us, in a seemingly effortless flow of historical events. Don't know the works of Moran or Fitzgerald? Buller provides clear summaries. Then, he takes us to the next level by analyzing how Moran influenced Fitzgerald. In addition, the book provides many pictures with helpful captions. Even if you've never heard of Lois Moran, this is a "must have" for anyone interested in F. Scott Fitzgerald, movies, or the Jazz age.

I suppose I first encountered Lois Moran as most people did, via Scott Fitzgerald's portrayal of her as Rosemary Hoyt, the ingenue in his tragic 1934 romance TENDER IS THE NIGHT. Since Arthur Mizener identified Lois Moran as Rosemary's "original" in his 1950s biography of Fitzgerald THE FAR SIDE OF PARADISE, her name once again became recognizable, and we began to think of her as a silent film star who must have beeen cute, but surely without talent otherwise wouldn't her performances have survived? Now Richard Buller steps forward with this biography of the actress herself, both in and out of her relationship with the great novelist, and his book shows us that she's perhaps even more interesting when considered as an actress alone, and not just a Lolita-like playtoy.

Buller explores the bond between Gladys (Lois Moran's mother) and her daughter, and rebuts the myth that Gladys was a conventional stage mother who disliked her daughter's interest in married men. Gladys is worthy of a book all of her own! She took Lois from their settled life in Pittsburgh and brought her to Paris as a teen to escape the repressive US climate of the day, and to show her daughter life in big beautiful capital letters.

Stardom in the movies was only a sort of lagniappe to Lois, who abandoned Hollywood when she married in 1935. And she was signally a free-lance player, one who evaded the contractual obligations of any one studio (except for a brief and not too happy contract with Fox). That may have precipitated her withdrawal from cultural memory, however, for I think in the classical cinemaa the studio really built their stars up, and the ones who played it free-lance aren't as well remembered today. (We know Clark Gable, for example, better than we know, say, Irene Dunne.)

Buller has uncovered three short stories that Lois Moran wrote about Scott Fitzgerald, it's a shame that his publishers couldn't have authorized their publication in an appendix, for the excerpts he quotes are fascinating. Just as tantalizing are his descriptions of some of Moran's movies. I for one am going to go on a hunger strike until Turner Classic Movies schedules a showing of WEST OF BROADWAY with John Gilbert--the ultimate "bad luck" movie from Buller's description.

Lois Moran went to Broadway and starred in two Gershwin musicals (OF THEE I SING and LET 'EM EAT CAKE), then married an industrialist who ran Pan Am, Clarence Young. In the Youngs' luxury apartment here in SF's North Beach, on Vallejo Street, they hosted a secret wartime conference with FDR, Lindbergh, and other luminaries. I'm going to go there later today and try to talk my way into the graces of the current owners of the building and photograph the room where it all took place. After Clarence and Gladys died, Moran's later struggles with alcohol make for sad reading. What a story! And what a woman!

Lois Moran's life and body of work, so carefully portrayed by Richard Buller, are a living tribute to the wonderment of Lois Moran, the person. Here is a portrait of some eighty years of giving without reservation to the people of this planet.

The author's insightful and diligent research, coupled with some memorable findings in her journals, papers and photographs, have made this book a true and masterfully constructed literary achievement.

I had never heard of Lois Moran - now I am a fan! Richard Buller's fascinating account of this remarkable woman is brilliantly researched and beautifully written. Why more has not been made of this shining Hollywood star is a curious mystery. Happily, Mr. Buller fills us in with style. He describes the era adroitly and offers surprisingly intimate historical nuggets, sly humor, and a deep poignancy that moved this reader to tears. I felt as if I were walking with Lois every step of the way. Like meeting an old friend for the first time. Her gleeful, almost childlike kinship with life attracted sparkling people and events; yet her "grown-up" values guided her to always hone her gifts and to help others. A unique example that despite our heartaches, we can indeed create a "beautiful fairy tale" of our lives. A delightful, revelatory read. Inspiring.

If you want to gain insight into the life of F. Scott Fitzgerald then seek no further. This amazing compilation of Fitzgerald's correspondences to family, friends, business associates and acquaintances portrays the man and the writer in a way no biographer could imagine. In his letters can be clearly seen Fitzgerald the literary genius, Fitzgerald the loving husband and father as well as Fitzgerald the sycophant and Fitzgerald the tortured and insecure neurotic.The genesis and the demise of one of the most fascinating men of his time eloquently presented in his own words.

F. Scott Fitzgerald scholar Matthew J. Bruccoli offers a discerning sample of Fitzgerald's letters that serve as an informal biography. Fitzgerald suffered many demons. Alcoholism and poor health were the obvious problems. From reading his letters, we learn that protecting his artistic integrity also weighed heavily on him. Money problems forced him to spend time writing lightweight but commercially viable stories for magazines. This took precious time away from his major work of writing serious novels. His afflicted wife, Zelda, was another dilemma. In 1930, Zelda had her first breakdown, and never recovered. Providing for her care and treatment added to his money woes. Although Fitzgerald enjoyed early success in 1920 with "This Side of Paradise," it was short-lived. By 1924, he wrote to Edmund Wilson, "I really worked hard as hell last winter--but it was all trash and it nearly broke my heart." There was critical success in 1925 with "The Great Gatsby," but it was a financial disappointment. Fitzgerald spent the next nine years writing, revising, and agonizing over "Tender Is the Night." Contrary to hope, that book failed to restore his reputation. The letters display deep introspection, opinions on other writers, comments of manners and morals, and daily concerns of money. There are also amusing and chatty letters to his daughter, Scottie. Fitzgerald's letters to Scribner's Maxwell Perkins and his literary agent, Harold Ober, are the most interesting, and reveal much of his concerns and ideas. Letters written to Zelda in the sanitarium are generally tender and loving, but occasionally they are cross and complaining. The book stops with a letter written to Scottie shortly before Fitzgerald's death in December 1940. Recommended reading for F. Scott Fitzgerald fans. ;-)

This is the sort of book that makes one long for the days prior to-email, when people actually wrote letters to one another and correspondence other than bills and junk mail filled one's mailbox. The book is a valuable supplement to Fitzgerald's many biographies; his letters reveal a remarkable clarity and self-awareness. My heart ached after reading some of them. A must read for all Fitzgerald historians.

I do recommend reading one of Fitzgerald's many biographies prior to reading his letters, as it is a fascinating exercise comparing Fitzgerald's interpretation/rationalization of an event with a third party's.

If you want to gain insight into the life of F. Scott Fitzgerald then seek no further. This amazing compilation of Fitzgerald's correspondences to family, friends, business associates and acquaintances portrays the man and the writer in a way no biographer could imagine. In his letters can be clearly seen Fitzgerald the literary genius, Fitzgerald the loving husband and father as well as Fitzgerald the sycophant and Fitzgerald the tortured and insecure neurotic.The genesis and the demise of one of the most fascinating men of his time eloquently presented in his own words.

I first encountered "The Great Gatsby" in 11th grade and its sheer lyric beauty has transfixed me to the point of at least 4 readings per year ever since. Therefore, "Trimalchio" was a joy for me to read and I believe it will bring the same amount of happiness to fellow Fitzgerald fans. The book is a brief read at only 146 pages of actual text,( as opposed to "Gatsby's" 189 in the most recent Scribner paperback edition) but the opportunity to read the rough draft of a genuis like Fitzgerald is an invigorating experience- reading passages from "Trimalchio" and then looking at their equivalent passages in "Gatsby" allows you to enter the mind of Fitzgerald through his revisionary decisions and enchances your appreciation of the sheer amount of work which Fitzgerald devoted to crafting his masterpiece. That being said, do not expect incredible differences between the two texts: the most notable changes are minor details and the chronilogical order of events and revelations. Reading "Trimalchio" is ultimately like watching deleted scenes from a movie on a DVD- they are of comparatively minor significance, but they enhance one's appreciation of the work as a whole. If you loved "The Great Gatsby," take the time to read "Trimalchio."

For all the talk about the many differences with The Great Gatsby, Trimalchio is still essentially a rough draft of the classic it became rather than a separate and distinct novel. Only the final two chapters are appreciably different beyond the point of reading both novels side by side a page at a time (and as much as I admire Fitzgerald, I'll leave that task to someone else!). Nonetheless, there are enough slight changes in character development and imagery throughout the book to make it interesting.

In one sense - especially in the little-changed early chapters - this version of the story is interesting mostly in that it demonstrates the improvement brought about by the relatively few changes that were still to come. For example, Jordan Baker's climactic recollection of seeing Daisy and Gatsby together during the war is quite a bit less scandalous here than in the final version, so that the plot still advances but much of the tension of the scene is lacking. Some of the party scenes are also less detailed than they would become. None of this is to say these parts of the book aren't still enjoyable, especially if you haven't read Gatsby recently; it's just that the changes Fitzgerald made really did improve the story in small but noticeable ways.

Although the end of the story is largely the same, the last two chapters do hold several surprises for those who are already familiar with the final version. Gatsby is portrayed at least slightly more sympathetically, Nick is less of a shadow, and the past events leading up to the currently unfolding plot are both different and somewhat less vague. This takes away some of the mystique of several of the characters, but it's not necessarily better or worse; in any case, it's fascinating to see Fitzgerald's original approach and how it changed. One thing he arguably didn't change enough is Nick's bleak outlook in the closing pages; life doesn't end at 30 just because of a lousy summer! I've always considered that the weakest point of the novel, but this version at least offers a slightly different context and narration of the ending.

Imperfections and all, it's still brilliant. Recommended for all Gatsby fans.

"The Great Gatsby" is my favorite book. This early version is absoultutely fascinating to me. I've read much about the history of the manuscript and the changes made to it, and with "Trimalchio" we get to read for ourselves one version. I was thrilled to have this unusual opportunity; I felt privileged. (Only one complaint in this review is in my last paragraph.)

Aside from the sheer thrill of witnessing at least part of the transition and revision, the book itself is a wonder--to one end--to be viewed along with "The Great Gatsby." Things I've been bothered by in "Gatsby" are different in this book, and it's interesting to read that they had indeed been altered - most notably, the mid-section in "Gatsby" when Nick tells the reader in a near omnicient narration Gatsby's true story; this happens entirely differently in "Trimalchio" and in my opinion does not break the narrative flow the way it does in the final "Great Gatsby."

Some unanswered questions, some debated items become clearer after reading this. Is Gatsby a good guy or a bad guy? Is Nick? Who is Jordan Baker really? Is Nick the agent of the action or an observant/removed narrator? "Trimalchio" presents the answers to some of these questions differently than does "The Great Gatsby," or in a more straightforward and clear fashion. In a sense, this could be a truer-to-Fitzgerald's-soul account, as many of the changes were suggested to him from the outside. Many of the characters underwent changes from this version to "The Great Gatsby," though some changes more major than others.

I'm trying, in this review, not to write what would be a book's worth of my opinion about which is a superior book. Gatsby is such a part of me I could write forever. I will mention that typos and other necessary changes were made from this to the final, as well. And although some things I've questioned and have bothered me simply because I do love the book so much are different in this early version, I don't know how I'd feel if this were the *only* version of the book, as what we have here is an early version of a book I'd always thought brilliant.

The language is beautiful; the characters amazing, sad, complex. I'm infinitely impressed by this book, whichever level of "completion."

I've got one complaint about this edition of "Trimalchio": at the back of the book, there is a list of changes made - galley version, holograph, 1st edition, etc. They are laid out in such a way that they are hard to follow and hard to study. I nearly know "The Great Gatsby" by heart. While reading "Trimalchio" I noticed tiny, tiny differences. But, after I finished, I wanted to truly study the changes at each stage of Fitzgerald's writing, and the lay-out and lack of explanation made it oppressively uninviting. It's too bad, too, because I am ceaselessly (as FSF might say) interested in this - this book, the revision process, its history, everything Gatsby.

As a die hard Fitzgerald fan, Trimalchio has enhanced my love and understanding of The Great Gatsby. I really loved the signifance of the name Trimalchio, once I understood it. (For those of you who haven't read the 2nd century AD play by Titus Petronius in which Trimalchio is orignially referenced, Trimalchio is a slave who throws an extragavent feast that everyone laughs behind his back at.) Knowing the reference gave such new depth to my understanding of Gatsby's character, for who was he really if not an updated Trimalchio?

Something else that seemed rather interesting to me were some of the white supremecy illusions that Fitzgerald sprinkled lightly throughout the novel, notably in conversations with Tom and Daisy about the "Master Race". I also noticed a Swastika Holding Company noted in one of Nick's outings to NYC. That alone, the Swastika Holding Company within an F. Scott Fitzgerald novel, is worthy of a dissertation.

This early draft seems far darker than The Great Gatsby, yet far clearer in character definition. I understood Gatsby and Daisy's characters far more clearly in this draft. This is an absolutely gorgeous, gorgeous preview of what would become "The Great Gatsby" and I highly recommend it.

It's fair to say more books have been written about F Scott Fitzgerald and Ernest Hemingway than either man wrote, and arguably the most fascinating topic concerns their rocky friendship.

Matthew J. Bruccoli is considered the expert on Fitzgerald, having written and edited more than two dozen books on the writer. His classic, 'Fitzgerald and Hemingway: A Dangerous Friendship' is the result of 15 years' research which includes a fascinating and careful analysis of a newly-released batch of Hemingway's letters to and about Fitzgerald.

The book covers the length and breadth of the writers' friendship, from when they met in 1925 in Paris following publication of Fitzgerald's third and best-known novel, 'The Great Gatsby', and a year before Hemingway published his first, 'The Sun Also Rises' (thanks partly to Fitzgerald for introducing Hemingway to his publisher, Scribner's).

Bruccoli covers enormous ground and in great detail, exploding many myths regarding the writers' stormy friendship up until Fitzgerald's death in 1940. He shows that while Fitzgerald was the older and more successful of the two authors at the time they met, from the beginning to the end, he assumed a subordinate role to the gregarious Hemingway.

Bruccoli sums up the writers' relationship this way:

"On the evidence of their correspondence, Hemingway emerges as a better friend than his self-portrait in 'A Movable Feast' shows ~ until 1936. Both men were savers and preserved most of their letters to each other. Fifty-seven letters or telegrams have been located; 28 from Fitzgerald, and 29 from Hemingway.

"Fitzgerald and Hemingway functioned differently as letter writers. Fiztgerald's letters are carefully written and have his characteristic warmth of expression; they have no direct connection with his literary work. Hemingway's letters are informal and discursive. In addition to imparting information, his letters document the Hemingway image. They had a literary function: Hemingway was an almost compulsive letter writer and used correspondence as warm-up or cooling-off exercises for his literary work."

When it comes to relationships, writers generally have a poor score card, as Bruccoli concedes:

"The mortality rate of literary friendships is high. Writers tend to be bad risks as friends ~ probably for much the same reasons that they are bad matrimonial risks. They expend the best parts of themselves in their work. Moreover, literary ambition has a way of turning into literary competition; if fame is the spur, envy may be a concomitant."

In addition to analyzing anecdotes and the writers' correspondence, the book also includes a number of photos, a timeline of events covering both of their lives as well as an appendix of Fitzgerald's 'Notebooks' references to Hemingway which were printed in 'The Crack Up'.

'Fitzgerald and Hemingway: A Dangerous Friendship' is a detailed and exhaustive examination of the friendship of two great American writers. It offers a fresh insight into their working lives and creative rivalries.

-- Michael Meanwell, author of the critically-acclaimed 'The Enterprising Writer' and 'Writers on Writing'. For more book reviews and prescriptive articles for writers, visit www.enterprisingwriter.com

And thus we are presented with the personal letters of the two roots of modern literature, Hemingway and Fitzgerald, the former's influence to be found in every Grisham book that tops the charts, the latter in his most diluted form in the paperback romance read by the housewife in Des Moines. It was inevitable that, on what starts as a fairly even friendly competition, we see Hemingway become the unreachable success and celebrity, and the communal feeling of the 20's letters gives way to silence through much of the thirties, Fitzgerald a troubled alcoholic who no one wanted much of. But Bruccoli winds us through the dead spaces, keeps us updated as to their whereabouts and gives us revelations through their letters to others (i.e. Fitz's review of 'For Whom the Bell Tolls' as a tiresome boy's adventure, Hem's betrayal of Scott in 'Snows of Kilimanjaro). He does a fine, unhysterical job of setting the record straight, as the ying and yang of 20th century writing descend from friendship into the petty bitchery that plagues all us mere mortals.

This has new stuff that wasn't in Brucolli's previous book on the two authors SCOTT AND ERNEST. I read that one, and when starting FITZGERALD AND HEMINGWAY, thought I'd read the same book, but with a few added facts. Well, there are tons of new facts in F & H that are EXTREMELY interesting to the Fitzgerald and Hemingway fan. I recommend this book highly. I've read much of it more than once.

This book is a gem and should be on the reading list of any fan of Fitzgerald or Hemingway. Much of the contents are anecdotal recollections of Hemingway regarding Fitzgerald who he regarded as immensely talented but weak and dominated (by Zelda and the bottle). A variety of letters between the two help to bring to life the closeness that was in evidence in the early friendship before Fitzgerald's decline and Hemingway's enormous success (followed by his growing intolerance of the waning and less successful like FSF). This book also does not attempt to hide the sometimes incomprehensible mean -spiritedness of Hemingway when despite all his success (largely aided by the early support of others he later cast aside) still felt enough threatened to throw his drowning friends an anchor.

The Great Gatsby, written by F. Scott Fitzgerald is a fiction novel that took the world by storm. Nick, Jay Gatsby, Tom and Daisy Buchanan, Jordan a tangled mess of social relationships, some intended for love, some for friendships, others stemmed from old running love. Nick lives on West Egg, near the Gatsby mansion, Gatsby a man whom Nick comes to know well, as well as possible.

Gatsby throws huge social gatherings that people come to even if not familiar with the man Gatsby himself. Nick goes to these gatherings and soon meets Gatsby and becomes friends of leisure. When reading of these lavish parties of Gatsby's F. Scott Fitzgerald makes you feel as though you have been there and wish to stay one second and leave the next by feelings of discomfort. But yet you will want to continue to read to see what is in store next.

Gatsby throws these gatherings in hopes of meeting Daisy once again, for in the past they were lovers. Tom, who is Daisy's husband, is also Nick's old college buddy, is clueless of Gatsby's intentions with Daisy. Which Tom himself is not so faithful to Daisy. Nick agrees, not so whole heartedly, to help Gatsby and Daisy meet. As all of this falls into place Tom continues to see a mistress by the name of Mrs. Wilson, a woman who is married to a mechanic living in a dreary place. Meanwhile Nick starts to fall for a flirtatious and wildly mannered Ms. Jordan Baker. The parties continue to exist, and the company continues to fall into a social web of deceit and denial. As this all takes place you feel for Gatsby because of his longing for Daisy, but are struck by a weak appalling feeling for the way he seems to go about his business.

As the story continues to fall into place some find true love, some find old love, while others find the truth. The plot thickens as a death occurs causing an uproar of suspension of motive and a scandalous cover up causing suspension and tension among the old acquaintances.

F. Scott Fitzgerald throws twist and turns at you in this novel just when you think nothing else could happen. He has quite the talent for hooking a read and slowly reeling them in to feel every slight bump and jerk before reaching the shore, or the end. Which leads to another misfortunate death in the novel that was a great mistake, but yet made a great ending to a great novel that will have you intrigued from the first page to the last.

There is a reason why this is required reading in advanced literature classes throughout the country. This is without a doubt one of the best tales ever told. It should be used as an example to any aspiring writer of what great writing can be. The thing that makes it so great is Fitzgerald's ability to formulate characters, both large and small, and his ability to have them interact in a manner that is at once both imaginative and realistic. This makes the story, which in and of itself is not more amazing than other books, more amazing because you are compelled to believe the plausibility of a story that is incredible. Even if you are not a literature student you will find this book an enjoyable read that is intellectually stimulating, yet easy reading for those reading to relax. Many have copied this story directly and indirectly because of the lesson it teaches (that in the story about life and that about creating a story) and many will continue to do so in the future.

The Great Gatsby, written by F. Scott Fitzgerald, was published by Simon & Schuster Inc. in New York in 1925. The book is about the American Dream and the failure of the attempt to reach its illusionary goals, especially the Gatsby's. The attempt to capture the American Dream is central theme to many stories of all times. For Gatsby, the dream is that one can acquire love and happiness through wealth and power. F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896 - 1940) was born in St Paul, Minnesota. He was an American short-story writer and novelist. The Great Gatsby is considered as Fitzgerald's finest novel.
The story was set in New York and Long Island in 1920's. Nick Carraway is a young man working as a bond broker in New York. He is used as the narrator throughout the story. Nick acts as an insider as well as an outsider. He eyes everything that is happening in between, but has no intention to interfere. I think he chooses not to lose anybody close to him in the story. This arrangement makes it easy for Fitzgerald to give the audience detailed inside information and to back out as an outsider as needed. The core character, Jay Gatsby, is a character that longs for the past. He devotes most of his adult life trying to recapture it and he finally pays his life as the price in his pursuit. When he was young in the military, Gatsby fell in love with the beautiful Daisy, but he could not marry her because of the difference in their social status. So he left her to acquire wealth. When he got the wealth legally or illegally, he moved near to Daisy, who has already married to another wealthy man, and threw extravagant parties every week hoping Daisy might show up one day at the party. Finally, he set up a meeting with Daisy through her cousin Nick. Fitzgerald uses Gatsby's personal dream to symbolize the larger American Dream where all have the opportunity to get what they want.
Nick is a multi-functional character to the author. He uses Nick as the approach for Gatsby to Daisy. The author naturally arranges all these. Gatsby cannot accept that the past is gone and done with. Nick once attempts to show him the folly of his dream, but Gatsby innocently replies to Nick's assertion that the past cannot be relived. For Gatsby, his American Dream is not material possessions, although it may seem that way. He only comes into wealth to fulfill his Dream, Daisy.
Gatsby believes that he is acting for good beyond his personal interest and that should guarantee success. However, he is terribly wrong. He is so determined and so blind that he would do anything to get Daisy, even covering her up for the fatal accident. His dream never comes about and he ends up paying the ultimate price for it. The idea of the American Dream still holds true in today's time, which is wealth, love, or fame. But one thing never changes about the American Dream. That is everyone desires something in life and strives to get it. Gatsby is a good example of pursuing the American Dream.
A society naturally breaks up into various social groups over time. Members of the lower statuses constantly suppose that their problems can be solved if they gain enough wealth to reach the upper class. Fitzgerald believes in his story that many people interpret the American Dream as being this passage to high social status. They believe once reaching that point, they do not have to worry about money any more. Though, the American Dream involves more than the social and economic standings of an individual.
It seems that the more Gatsby tries to obtain, the less he ends up with. The saddest part of Gatsby is the funeral, which symbolizes the ultimate failure of Gatsby to ever achieve what he has wanted. The women he loved and died for was not present. None of the people who frequented the parties over the summer showed up. Wolfsheim, whom Nick believed to be a close friend to Gatsby, refused to attend. The idealism conflicts with the materialism and is torn apart. However, it is his father who lives at the bottom of the society, who is the most natural and native person in the story, whom Gatsby has never mentioned about, finds his way to his son's mansion for the funeral. What greatness of a father's love is in contrast to the love that Gatsby died for? That is the love of eternity. The father loves his son no matter his son is rich or poor. At this moment, both the idealism and materialism are eclipsed by the truthfulness and naturalness. And that is why Nick was tired of the life there, the carelessness of the people, and the corruption of the society in the American East. He decided to head back to his origin, to the more natural and traditional American Mid-West.
Gatsby possesses an extreme imbalance between the material and spiritual sides of himself. Fitzgerald uses him as a portrait of the ultimate failure of the American Dream in that individuals tend to believe wealth is everything. Maybe what Fitzgerald wants to say is that a nation cannot operate solely on materialism. The spirits of individuals are the true composition of a nation.