This Side of Fitzgerald

Sources

Here are mine and Audrey's sources for this project:

Higgins, Lee, and Associated Press. "Matthew J. Bruccoli." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. 5 June 2008. Web. 31 Jan. 2011. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matthew_J._Bruccoli.

"Browse Dates by Year." HistoryOrb.com - Articles, Birthdays & Today in History. Web. 31 Jan. 2011. <http://www.historyorb.com/dates-by-year.php>.

Crain, Caleb. "F. Scott Fitzgerald Was Different." The New York Times [New York City] 24 Dec. 2000. NY Times. Web. http://www.nytimes.com/books/00/12/24/reviews/001224.24craint.html.
"This Side of Paradise Summery & Study Guide." ENotes. Web. Jan. 2011. <http://www.enotes.com/this-side>.
Fitzgerald, Francis Scott. Introduction. This Side of Paradise. Ed. Maya Angelou. New York: Modern Library, 1996. V-Vii. Print.

Michael Adams. "F. Scott Fitzgerald." Dictionary of World Biography: The 20th Century. Salem Press, 1999. eNotes.com. 2006. 8 Jan, 2011

Michael Witkoski. "F. Scott Fitzgerald." Magill’s Survey of American Literature, Revised Edition. Salem Press, 2007. eNotes.com. 2006. 8 Jan, 2011

Leon Lewis. "The Great Gatsby: Techniques/Literary Precedents." Beacham's Encylopedia of Popular Fiction. Ed. Kirk H. Beetz. Vol. 1. Beacham-Gale, 1996. eNotes.com. January 2005. 31 January 2011 .

Leon Lewis. "The Last Tycoon: Characters/Techniques." Beacham's Encylopedia of Popular Fiction. Ed. Kirk H. Beetz. Vol. 4. Beacham-Gale, 1996. eNotes.com. January 2005. 31 January 2011 .

Bruce D. Reeves. "The Beautiful and Damned." Masterplots II: American Fiction Series, Revised Edition. Salem Press, 2000. eNotes.com. 2006. 31 Jan, 2011

Steven G. Kellman. "The American Dream." Magill’s Literary Annual 2004. Salem Press, 2004. eNotes.com. 2006. 31 Jan, 2011

"Modernism: Introduction." Literary Movements for Students. Ed. Marie Rose Napierkowski. Vol. 1. Detroit: Gale, 1998. eNotes.com. January 2006. 31 January 2011. .

"Modernism: Style." Literary Movements for Students. Ed. Marie Rose Napierkowski. Vol. 1. Detroit: Gale, 1998. eNotes.com. January 2006. 31 January 2011. .

"The Love of the Last Tycoon." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. 2004. 31 January 2011. .

"Tender is the Night: Introduction." Novels for Students. Ed. Marie Rose Napierkowski. Vol. 19. Detroit: Gale, 1998. eNotes.com. January 2006. 31 January 2011. .

"Tender is the Night: Style." Novels for Students. Ed. Marie Rose Napierkowski. Vol. 19. Detroit: Gale, 1998. eNotes.com. January 2006. 31 January 2011. .

"Tender is the Night: Themes." Novels for Students. Ed. Marie Rose Napierkowski. Vol. 19. Detroit: Gale, 1998. eNotes.com. January 2006. 31 January 2011. .

"Tender is the Night: Summary." Novels for Students. Ed. Marie Rose Napierkowski. Vol. 19. Detroit: Gale, 1998. eNotes.com. January 2006. 31 January 2011. .

"This Side of Paradise: Style." Novels for Students. Ed. Marie Rose Napierkowski. Vol. 20. Detroit: Gale, 1998. eNotes.com. January 2006. 31 January 2011. .

"This Side of Paradise: Themes." Novels for Students. Ed. Marie Rose Napierkowski. Vol. 20. Detroit: Gale, 1998. eNotes.com. January 2006. 31 January 2011. .

"This Side of Paradise: Plot Summary." Novels for Students. Ed. Marie Rose Napierkowski. Vol. 20. Detroit: Gale, 1998. eNotes.com. January 2006. 31 January 2011. .

"The Great Gatsby: Style." Novels for Students. Ed. Marie Rose Napierkowski. Vol. 2. Detroit: Gale, 1998. eNotes.com. January 2006. 31 January 2011. .

Mary Dillard. "The Great Gatsby: Summary." Novels for Students. Ed. Marie Rose Napierkowski. Vol. 2. Detroit: Gale, 1998. eNotes.com. January 2006. 31 January 2011. .

"The Great Gatsby: Themes." Novels for Students. Ed. Marie Rose Napierkowski. Vol. 2. Detroit: Gale, 1998. eNotes.com. January 2006. 31 January 2011. .

Bryant Mangum. "F. Scott Fitzgerald." Critical Survey of Long Fiction, Second Revised Edition. Salem Press, 2000. eNotes.com. 2006. 31 Jan, 2011

Callahan, John F. "F. Scott Fitzgerald's evolving American Dream: the "pursuit of happiness" in Gatsby, Tender is the Night, and The Last Tycoon." BNET. Fall 1996 http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0403/is_n3_v42/ai_19416370/pg_15/?tag=content;col1 Web. 31 January, 2011.

Brucolli, Matthew J. "A Brief Life of Fitzgerald". The F. Scott Fitzgerald Society. 1994. http://www.fscottfitzgeraldsociety.org/biography/biography_p5.html Web. 7 January, 2011.

Images:

Dancing Like There's No Tomorrow. 1949. Paramount Pictures. 24 September 2008. http://www.nysun.com/opinion/reaganism-undone/86484/ Web. 31 January. 2011

World War One Trenches. http://www.dipity.com/timeline/World_War_1/ Web. 31 January, 2011

Cugat, Francis. Jacket for The Great Gatsby. 1925. SC.edu. 6 December, 2003. http://www.sc.edu/fitzgerald/essays/eyes/eyes.html Web. 31 January, 2011

Scott and Zelda. January 21, 1921. Bald Punk. 13 January, 2010. http://baldpunk.com/2010/01/13/f-scott-fitzgerald/ Web. 31 January, 2011

A Well-Cultured Individual

Fitzgerald moved quite a lot. He spent a lot of time traveling and living in Europe with his family, as well as at home in the United States. Here, I have a map that shows where Fitzgerald lived and when:

Credit-Cameron McAllister: map-maker extraordinaire (I found all the information on eNotes, he just made it look really pretty)

Irony

F. Scott Fitzgerald employs irony in much of his writing. What should have been the making of a character often ends up causing their demise. This irony helps to show the meaninglessness behind much of what the Jazz Age idolized.

Winning Daisy is the reason Jay Gatsby makes gaining money his sole objective. It's not the money that will bring him happiness, but having Daisy. Yet it is Daisy who murders a woman and allows Gatsby to be murdered by the woman's husband for the crime. In Tender is the Night parties and alcohol are elements of the rich and elite. When Dick Diver's relationship with his wife begin spiraling downward, Dick begins drinking more and more, until the effects of alcoholism on his life force him to stop practicing psychiatry, and he drifts into oblivion. The things that Gatsby and Dick viewed as giving them success, brought them far from it. The irony of their situations reveals the purposelessness of their ideals.

The Works of Fitzgerald

I actually wanted to present all of you with a complete list of everything, but as Fitzgerald's works are so numerous, complete lists are hard to come by. So, I found a list of all books including Fitzgerald's essays, plays, short stories, etc., as well as his novels. These are presented chonologically in the order they were published.

Fie! Fie! Fi-Fi! 1914. Musical Comedy; plot and seventeen song lyrics by Fitzgerald
The Evil Eye. 1915. Musical Comedy; seventeen song lyrics by Fitzgerald
Safety First. 1916. Musical Comedy; twenty-one song lyrics by Fitzgerald
This Side of Paradise. 1920. Novel
Flappers and Philosophers. 1920. Stories.
The Beautiful and the Damned. 1922. Serialized in the Metropolitan Magazine, September 1921-March 1922. Novel
Tales of the Jazz Age. 1922. Stories.
The Vegetable. 1923. Stories.
The Great Gatsby. 1925. Novel.
All the Sad Young Men. 1926. Stories.
Tender is the Night. 1934. Tender is the Night-"With the Author's Final Revisions", edited, with an introduction, by Malcolm Cowley. 1951. Novel.
Taps at Reveille. 1935. Stories.
The Last Tycoon, edited, with an introduction, by Edmund Wilson. 1941. Novel.
The Crack-Up, edited, with an introduction, by Wilson. 1945. Essays, selections from the notebooks, and letters.
Afternoon of an Author, edited, with an introduction, by Arthur Mizener. 1957. Stories and essays.
The Pat Hobby Stories, edited, with an introduction, by Arnold Gingrich
The Apprentice Fiction of F. Scott Fitzgerald, 1909-1917, edited, with an introduction by John Kuehl. 1965.

Matthew J. Bruccoli was a professor of
English at the University of South
Carolina. He was the preeminent expert on
F. Scott Fitzgerald.

F. Scott Fiztgerald in His Own Time: A Miscellany, edited with an introduction, by Matthew J. Bruccoli and Jackson R. Bryer. 1971.
The Basil and Josephine Stories, edited, with introduction, by Bryer and Kuehl. 1973.
Bits of Paradise, selected by Scottie Fitzgerald Smith and Bruccoli, foward by Smith, preface by Bruccoli. 1974.
The Cruise of the Rolling Junk, introduction by Bruccoli. 1976. Three travel articles.
F. Scott Fitzgerald's Screenplay for Three Comrades by Erich Maria Remarque, edited, with an introduction, by Bruccoli. 1978.
F. Scott Fitzgerald's St. Paul Plays, 1911-1914, edited, with an introduction, by Alan Margolies. 1978.
The Price Was High: The Last Uncollected Stories of F. Scott Fitzgerald, edited, with an introduction, by Bruccoli. 1979.
Poems 1911-1940, edited by Bruccoli, introduction by James Dickey. 1981.
Babylon Revisited: The Screenplay, introduction by Budd Schulberg, afterword by Bruccoli. 1993.

Works cited:

"Fitzgerald, F. Scott - Fitzgerald’s Works." Contemporary Literary Criticism. Ed. Matthew J. Bruccoli and Richard Layman. Vol. lm1. Gale Cengage, 2000. eNotes.com. 2006. 31 Jan, 2011 <http://www.enotes.com/contemporary-literary-criticism/
f-scott-fitzgerald/fitzgeralds-works>

Higgins, Lee, and Associated Press. "Matthew J. Bruccoli." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. 5 June 2008. Web. 31 Jan. 2011. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matthew_J._Bruccoli>.

In Perspective

One of the things I loved about F. Scott Fitzgerald was the point of view he uses. As I researched it, I found that his point of view and narrative techniques were some of the most defining parts of his style. The Great Gatsby is viewed as his best literary work in part because the point of view was so effective. Fitzgerald used different points of view to help show his themes. The points of view convey the emotion of the times, but also show the reality of the times.

His first novel, This Side of Paradise, is told by a third-person narrator, who is very much aware of what he is doing, and as much of an egotist as the main character Amory Blaine. "She had been born and brought up in France.... I see I am starting wrong. Let me begin again." The narrator appears very self-conscious of what he is doing. Throughout the novel, the choice to include all of Amory's poems is as much the narrator showing off as it is Amory.

F. Scott Fitzgerald once said, "the test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in the mind at the same time, and still retain the ability to function." And that is exactly the way he wrote the point of view in The Great Gatsby - with this kind of double vision. The story is told from the first-person point of view of Nick Carraway, who both participates in the Jazz Age lifestyle, and observes and judges it. "Do you want to hear about the butler's nose?" Daisy asks him, to which he responds; "That's why I came over to-night." Nick is involved in the lavish, meaningless lifestyles of so many, but he can also evaluate it critically. "I wanted no more riotous excursions with privileged glimpses into the human heart." The double vision he possesses allows us, the readers, to feel the emotion and excitement of living at that time, but to also see the truth.

In his writing, and especially in This Side of Paradise and The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald uses point of view techniques to their fullest potential. Through the different points of view - even in the same novel- Fitzgerald portrays his characters and the world he lived in.

Illusion & Disillusion

One of the themes often present in Fitzgerald's work is a sense of living in illusion or becoming disillusioned. Pleasure was the goal of the Jazz Age, pursuing fame, wealth, and love through selfish means. F. Scott Fitzgerald writes of characters who are often under an illusion about the reality of what they are pursuing and the effects of their subsequent disillusionment.

Anthony Patch in The Beautiful and Damned desires to live "the good life". Anthony and his wife live lavishly, with the expectation of an inheritance from his grandfather. In the course of the novel, Anthony is disinherited, and they realize their potential to make something of themselves is dwindling. In Tender is the Night, Dick Diver seeks happiness in spite of his troubled marriage. He pursues an affair, but even the love of another women cannot bring him happiness, and Dick descends into alcoholism. F. Scott Fitzgerald's Jay Gatsby in The Great Gatsby wants to turn back time, to be the only man Daisy loves. "'Can't repeat the past?' he cried incredulously. 'Why of course you can!'" But Gatsby finds what he never saw before; that there was no reality behind his vision. When confronted with reality, what Fitzgerald's characters believe about themselves becomes an illusion.