The Great Gatsby

The Great Gatsby is generally acknowledged to be F. Scott Fitzgerald's masterpiece. As such it is a very rare and wonderful book indeed. For its perfection of form, and for its compelling human story of a man who found wealth but not happiness, it stands with the best productions of American creative genius.

The 1920s are a period in our history which many Americans would gladly forget. A society dislocated by war sacrificed spiritual values to succss in terms of money. Fitgerald published The Great Gatsby some five years before the big crash but the book foreshadows what was to come. It recreates for us the whole feel and color of an era that was both foolish and tragic.

Jay Gatsby turned bootlegging into big business. He was rich and powerful and could give lavish parties on his Long Island estate. But it all meant nothing because the woman he loved was still beyond his reach. Gatsby's suffering is Fitzgerald's symbol for the illusions of the dollar world, and he is able to make us feel it ourselves. poignant and real.

In a brief but profound introduction Lionel Trilling analyzes the qualities which make The Great Gatsby so significant a novel and places the book in relation to Fitzgerald's work as a whole. (front flap)