The Great Gatsby

F. Scott Fitzgerald was born in Saint Paul, Minnesota, in 1896, attended Princeton University in 1913, and published his first novel, This Side of Paradise, in 1920. That same year he married Zelda Sayre, and he quickly became a central figure in the American expatriate circle in Paris that included Gertrude Stein and Ernest Hemingway. He died of a heart attack in 1940 at the age of forty-four.

“[Fitzgerald] had one of the rarest qualities in all literature—charm. It’s not a matter of pretty writing or clear style. It’s a kind of subdued magic, controlled and exquisite, the sort of thing you get from good string quartets.” — Raymond Chandler“[Gatsby’s] exuberant ambitions and his abrupt tragedy have merged with the story of America, in its self-creation and its failure.”  — The New Yorker“Fitzgerald’s novel is a portal to the savage heart of the human spirit, affords a glimpse at our humanity and wonders at our enormous capacity to dream, to imagine, to hope and to persevere.”  — Irish Times“[Gatsby] is a celebration of intemperance, and a condemnation of its destructiveness. It is about trying to recapture our fleeting joys, about the fugitive nature of delight. It is a tribute to possibility, and a dirge about disappointment. It is a book in which the glory of imagination smacks into the grimness of real life.”  — The Guardian“A stunning illumination of the world, not only a miracle of talent but a triumph of technique.”  — Richard Yates