The Great Gatsby
Research Log
Brainstormed Ideas:
Novel, cover, title
Author’s life
Birth certificate
Wedding announcement
Party invitations
Mint Julep recipe
Prohibition
Flappers
1920s music/Jazz Age
Jazz Age poetry
Cartoons- The Great Gatsby, The American Dream
The American Dream
Long Island map (map form text)
Interviews with Fitzgerald
Newspaper articles about fitzgerald
Book reviews
Newspaper articles about Zelda (psych ward)
Obituaries
Film trailer
Film poster
Critical analysis of the novel
http://topics.nytimes.com/topics/reference/timestopics/people/f/f_scott_fitzgerald/index.h
tml
F. Scott Fitzgerald
Princeton University Library
F. Scott Fitzgerald 1896 - 1940
F. Scott Fitzgerald, novelist, short story writer and scenarist, died at his Hollywood home
Dec. 21, 1940. His age was 44.
Mr. Fitzgerald in his life and writings epitomized "all the sad young men" of the post-war
generation. With the skill of a reporter and ability of an artist he captured the essence of
a period when flappers and gin and "the beautiful and the damned" were the symbols of
the carefree madness of an age.
Roughly, his own career began and ended with the Nineteen Twenties. "This Side of
Paradise," his first book, was published in the first year of that decade of skyscrapers and
short skirts. Only six others came between it and his last, which, not without irony, he
called "Taps at Reveille." That was published in 1935. Since then a few short stories, the
script of a moving picture or two, were all that came from his typewriter. The promise of
his brilliant career was never fulfilled.
http://www.nytimes.com/books/00/12/24/specials/fitzgerald-gatsby.html?_r=1
(book review)
April 19, 1925
Scott Fitzgerald Looks Into Middle Age
By EDWIN CLARK
Of the many new writers that sprang into notice with the advent
of the post-war period, Scott Fitzgerald has remained the
THE GREAT
steadiest performer and the most entertaining. Short stories,
GATSBY
By F. Scott Fitzgerald.
novels and a play have followed with consistent regularity since
he became the philosopher of the flapper with "This Side of
Paradise." With shrewd observation and humor he reflected the
Jazz Age. Now he has said farewell to his flappers-perhaps because they have grown upand is writing of the older sisters that have married. But marriage has not changed their
world, only the locale of their parties. To use a phrase of Burton Rascoe's-his hurt
romantics are still seeking that other side of paradise. And it might almost be said that
"The Great Gatsby" is the last stage of illusion in this absurd chase. For middle age is
certainly creeping up on Mr. Fitzgerald's flappers.
In all great arid spots nature provides an oasis. So when the Atlantic seaboard was
hermetically sealed by law, nature provided an outlet, or inlet rather, in Long Island. A
place of innate natural charm, it became lush and luxurious under the stress of this
excessive attention, a seat of festive activities. It expresses one phase of the great
grotesque spectacle of our American scene. It is humor, irony, ribaldry, pathos and
loveliness. Out of this grotesque fusion of incongruities has slowly become conscious a
new humor-a strictly American product. It is not sensibility, as witness the writings of
Don Marquis, Robert Benchley and Ring Lardner. It is the spirit of "Processional" and
Donald Douglas's "The Grand Inquisitor": a conflict of spirituality set against the web of
our commercial life. Both boisterous and tragic, it animates this new novel by Mr.
Fitzgerald with whimsical magic and simple pathos that is realized with economy and
restraint.
The story of Jay Gatsby of West Egg is told by Nick Caraway, who is one of the legion
from the Middle West who have moved on to New York to win from its restless
indifference-well, the aspiration that arises in the Middle West-and finds in Long Island a
fascinating but dangerous playground. In the method of telling, "The Great Gatsby" is
reminiscent of Henry James's "Turn of the Screw." You will recall that the evil of that
mysterious tale which so endangered the two children was never exactly stated beyond
suggested generalization. Gatsby's fortune, business, even his connection with
underworld figures, remain vague generalizations. He is wealthy, powerful, a man who
knows how to get things done. He has no friends, only business associates, and the
throngs who come to his Saturday night parties. Of his uncompromising love-his love for
Daisy Buchanan-his effort to recapture the past romance-we are explicitly informed. This
patient romantic hopefulness against existing conditions symbolizes Gatsby. And like the
"Turn of the Screw," "The Great Gatsby" is more a long short story than a novel.
Nick Carraway had known Tom Buchanan at New Haven. Daisy, his wife, was a distant
cousin. When he came East Nick was asked to call at their place at East Egg. The postwar reactions were at their height-every one was restless-every one was looking for a
substitute for the excitement of the war years. Buchanan had acquired another woman.
Daisy was bored, broken in spirit and neglected. Gatsby, his parties and his mysterious
wealth were the gossip of the hour. At the Buchanans Nick met Jordan Baker; through
them both Daisy again meets Gatsby, to whom she had been engaged before she married
Buchanan. The inevitable consequence that follows, in which violence takes its toll, is
almost incidental, for in the overtones-and this is a book of potent overtones-the decay of
souls is more tragic. With sensitive insight and keen psychological observation,
Fitzgerald discloses in these people a meanness of spirit, carelessness and absence of
loyalties. He cannot hate them, for they are dumb in their insensate selfishness, and only
to be pitied. The philosopher of the flapper has escaped the mordant, but he has turned
grave. A curious book, a mystical, glamourous story of today. It takes a deeper cut at life
than hitherto has been enjoyed by Mr. Fitzgerald. He writes well-he always has-for he
writes naturally, and his sense of form is becoming perfected.
http://www.flapperjane.com/July%20August/zelda.htm
A website dedicated to the life of Fitzgerald’s wife. Had a lot of useful information, but I
couldn’t validate the source.
http://www.sc.edu/fitzgerald/biography.html
A critical essay written about the life of Fitzgerald and the symbolism behind the cover
art of The Great Gatsby. Included great dialogue between Fitzgerald and his editor, and
the original drafts of the original cover.
Letter
Spring 1919
Sweetheart,
Please, please don't be so depressed--We'll be married soon, and then these lonesome
nights will be over forever--and until we are, I am loving, loving every tiny minute of the day
and night--Maybe you won't understand this, but sometimes when I miss you most, it's
hardest to write--and you always know when I make myself--Just the ache of it all--and I
can't tell you. If we were together, you'd feel how strong it is--you're so sweet when you're
melancholy. I love your sad tenderness--when I've hurt you--That's one of the reasons I could
never be sorry for our quarrels--and they bothered you so--Those dear, dear little fusses,
when I always tried so hard to make you kiss and forget--
Scott--there's nothing in all the world I want but you--and your precious love--All the
materials things are nothing. I'd just hate to live a sordid, colorless existence-because you'd
soon love me less--and less--and I'd do anything--anything--to keep your heart for my own--I
don't want to live--I want to love first, and live incidentally...Don't--don't ever think of the
things you can't give me--You've trusted me with the dearest heart of all--and it's so damn
much more than anybody else in all the world has ever had-How can you think deliberately of life without me--If you should die--O Darling--darling
Scott--It'd be like going blind...I'd have no purpose in life--just a pretty--decoration. Don't you
think I was made for you? I feel like you had me ordered--and I was delivered to you--to be
worn--I want you to wear me, like a watch--charm or a button hole bouquet--to the world.
And then, when we're alone, I want to help--to know that you can't do anything without me...
All my heart-I love you
http://www.latestngreatest.net/loveletters/famous-love-letters/zelda-sayre-to-f.-scottfitzgerald.html
A cite that posts famous love letters, including this one from Zelda to Scott Fitzgerald.
http://classic-americanfiction.suite101.com/article.cfm/the_american_dream_in_the_great_gatsby
Article explores the American dream within the novel and its major characters.
http://www.americanartarchives.com/amsel_great_gatsby74.jpg
A GQ art deco cover released around the time of Robert Redford’s film version of the novel.
A publication of one of Fitzgerald’s stories.
http://biblioklept.files.wordpress.com/2010/04/untitled.png?w=698&h=400
Great Gatsby cartoon.
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_6q-fzD4xPY/SwT6DlDZupI/AAAAAAAATXk/c7TIpe5C948/s1600/Prohibition.gif
Photo of a newspaper publicizing the vote for prohibition
http://prohibition.osu.edu/
information about prohibition from the 19th century through 1920s.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IL3Dp6Oh3Fw&feature=PlayList&p=42346710C19E
995C&index=9
F Scott Fitzgerald/Andy Kauffman reads the novel on stage to kill time. Kauffman often
read the book to gauge the audience reaction.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2007/sep/18/classics.fscottfitzgerald
Interview with F. Scott Fitzgerald
http://faculty.pittstate.edu/~knichols/jazzage3.html
A long resource of Jazz Age poetry and writings that surround early 20th century writers,
including Fitzgerald and Hemingway. Included critical essays, e-texts, student thesis
papers, poems, pictures, and databases.
http://www.fultonschools.org/teacher/cooney/Gatsby/great_gatsby.htm
I website created by a teacher that included a unit on The Great Gatsby. I was able to use
this for the map of East Egg/West Egg.
www.impawards.com/1974/great_gatsby.html
Movie poster for the 1974 motion picture.
http://www.answers.com/topic/the-great-gatsby-novel-2 Discusses the central characters
and their significance.
Works Cited
Bruccoli, Matthew J. "A Brief Life of Fitzgerald." University of South Carolina. 4 Dec.
2003. Web. 01 Aug. 2010. <http://www.sc.edu/fitzgerald/biography.html>.
Galley, Jenna. "The American Dream in "The Great Gatsby": A Quest for Power, Fame
and Fortune in Fitzgerald’s Classic Novel." Classic American Fiction. 12
Nov. 2008. Web. 01 Aug. 2010. <http://classic-americanfiction.suite101.com/article.cfm/the_american_dream_in_the_great_gatsby>.
Mok, Michel. "Great Interviews of the 20th Century: F Scott Fitzgerald Interviewed by
Michel Mok | Books | The Guardian." Latest News, Comment and Reviews from
the Guardian | Guardian.co.uk. 18 Sept. 2007. Web. 01 Aug. 2010.
<http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2007/sep/18/classics.fscottfitzgerald>.
"Prohibition." The Jazz Age: The American 1920s. 1 Aug. 2010. Web. 01 Aug. 2010.
<http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/database/article_display.cfm?HHID=441>.
Scribner III, Charles. "Celestial Eyes/ Scribner III." University of South Carolina. 6 Dec.
2003. Web. 01 Aug. 2010. <http://www.sc.edu/fitzgerald/essays/eyes/eyes.html>.
"Zelda Sayre to F. Scott Fitzgerald - Love Letters at Latestngreatest." Exclusive Love
Quotes and Friendship Quotations at Latestngreatest. Web. 01 Aug. 2010.
<http://www.latestngreatest.net/loveletters/famous-love-letters/zelda-sayre-to-f.scott-fitzgerald.html>.