THE FITZGERALD READER

by Arthur-Ed. Mizener ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 26, 1963

Scott Fitzgerald's finest critic has made this representative selection of his work which includes the whole of his best novel, The Great Gatsby (in which Fitzgerald achieved the greatest range), extensive parts of Tender is the Night and The Last Tycoon, two novelettes-May Day and The Rich Boy, and four or five of the best short stories from each phase of his career along with his most famous four essays. The four distinct periods here in which the works are divided begin after This Side of Paradise: 1920-1928, when the ""winter dreams of success and happiness"" had not given way to the progressive disenchantment to follow; 1928-1934 with Tender is the Night as the apogee; 1934-1936 (The Crack Up) when Fitzgerald was suffering a breakdown; and the final phase, the last five years before his death. Mizener's splendid introduction makes very clear the dichotomy in Fitzgerald between the dream and reality, his tremendous awareness during the early years of the ""possibilities of life""- the ""magical glory"" -- all diminished, vitiated, exhausted in the later years with the drift from ""ecstasy into dissipation"". The volume is a fine selection and the moving introduction should serve as more than an invitation -- a real incentive to read or re-read the short and longer works collected here.

Pub Date: April 26, 1963

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Scribners

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 1963

Categories: FICTION