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A-Z CLASSIC LITERATURE

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Fresh off the nightmare of World War I, Americans were enjoying the fruits of an economic boom and a renewed sense of possibility. But in The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald's stresses the darker side of the Roaring Twenties, its undercurrent of corruption and its desperate, empty decadence.

The Great Gatsby is arguably Fitzgerald's finest work. A portrait of the Jazz Age in all of its decadence and excess, Gatsby captured the spirit of the author's generation and earned itself a permanent place in American mythology. Self-made, self-invented millionaire Jay Gatsby embodies the American obsessions for money, ambition, greed, and the promise of new beginnings. Gatsby's rise to glory and eventual fall from grace becomes a kind of cautionary tale about the American Dream. The mysterious Jay Gatsby embodies the American notion that it is possible to redefine oneself and persuade the world to accept that definition. Gatsby's youthful neighbour, Nick Carraway, fascinated with the display of enormous wealth in which Gatsby revels, finds himself swept up in the lavish lifestyle of Long Island society during the Jazz Age. The Great Gatsby is a mystical, timeless story of integrity and cruelty, vision and despair. The story of Jay Gatsby and his love for Daisy Buchanan is widely acknowledged to be the closest thing to the Great American Novel ever written. (from Barnes & Noble and Amazon.com reviews)
Listen & Read Online Interactive eBook: About the text eAudiobook [YouTube]
Study Guide Summary, Themes & Symbols Moderrnists
Gatsby & the Lost Generation Biography: F. Scott Fitzgerald 10 Articles: Book Pairings

Videos

The Great Gatsby in Context

The period following World War I was an era of widespread prosperity in the United States. Long Island, New York, became the playground of the privileged, exemplifying the excesses of the Jazz Age. This video investigates how the concept of the American Dream inspired and influenced F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel ‘The Great Gatsby’.

SOURCE: ClickView (2020), posted on ClickView, Rated: E, [10:10 mins] URL: https://clickv.ie/w/C2Cp 

The Great Gatsby [Movie, Merrick - 1974]

A Midwesterner becomes fascinated with his nouveau riche neighbour, who obsesses over his lost love.

SOURCE: 9GEM (2017), from ClickView, Rated: PG, [2:20:13 mins] URL: https://clickv.ie/w/T2Cp

The Great Gatsby [Luhrmann, 2013]

A writer and wall street trader, Nick, finds himself drawn to the past and lifestyle of his millionaire neighbor, Jay Gatsby.

SOURCE: Masterpeice (2013), from ClickView, Rated: M, [2:16:20 mins], URL: https://clickv.ie/w/M6Cp

Biography: F. Scott Fitzgerald, the Great American Writer

Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald (known as F. Scott Fitzgerald) was a short story writer and novelist considered one of the pre-eminent authors in the history of American literature due almost entirely to the enormous posthumous success of his third book, The Great Gatsby. Perhaps the quintessential American novel, as well as a definitive social history of the Jazz Age, The Great Gatsby has become required reading for virtually every American high school student and has had a transportive effect on generation after generation of readers. At the age of 24, the success of his first novel, This Side of Paradise, made Fitzgerald famous. One week later, he married the woman he loved and his muse, Zelda Sayre. However by the end of the 1920s, Fitzgerald descended into drinking, and Zelda had a mental breakdown. Following the unsuccessful Tender Is the Night, Fitzgerald moved to Hollywood and became a scriptwriter. He died of a heart attack in 1940, at age 44, his final novel only half completed.

SOURCE: Biography.com (2019), posted on YouTube, [3;55 mins] URL: https://youtu.be/ZdMpgli3VAI

Like Pale Gold - The Great Gatsby - Part One

In which John Green explores F. Scott Fitzgerald's novel of the Jazz Age, The Great Gatsby. John introduces you to Nick Carraway, Jay Gatsby, Daisy and Tom Buchanan, and the other characters in the novel, and tries to look beyond the surface story to figure out what this thing is ABOUT. Set in the 1920's against a conflicted backdrop of prohibition and excess, The Great Gatsby takes a close look at the American Dream as it existed in Fitzgerald's time.

SOURCE: Crash Course (2012), posted on YouTube, [11:42 mins], URL: https://youtu.be/xw9Au9OoN88

Was Gatsby Great? Part Two

In which John Green continues to explore F. Scott Fitzgerald's novel, The Great Gatsby. In this installment, John looks into the titular Gatsby's purported Greatness. Gatsby's single-minded pursuit of Daisy, his checkered past, and his checkered present all play a role in determining whether he was, in fact, great. Here's a hint: you don't have to be good to be great. It turns out greatness doesn't have much to do with whether you're a good person. 

SOURCE: Crash Course (2012), posted on YouTube, [8:49 mins] URL: https://youtu.be/cn0WZ8-0Z1Y

Multiple Critical Perspectives: Gatsby