The Great Gatsby

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Summary

The Great Gatsby is a dazzling social satire, F. Scott Fitzgerald's masterpiece and a milestone in twentieth-century literature, now beautifully repackaged as part of the Penguin Essentials range.

'There was music from my neighbour's house through the summer nights. In his blue gardens men and girls came and went like moths among the whisperings and the champagne and the stars.'

Everybody who is anybody is seen at the glittering parties held in millionaire Jay Gatsby's mansion in West Egg, east of New York. The riotous throng congregates in his sumptuous garden, coolly debating Gatsby's origins and mysterious past. None of the frivolous socialites understands him and among various rumours is the conviction that 'he killed a man'. A detached onlooker, Gatsby is oblivious to the speculation he creates, but always seems to be watching and waiting, though no one knows what for.

As the tragic story unfolds, Gatsby's destructive dreams and passions are revealed, leading to disturbing consequences. A brilliant evocation of 1920s high society, The Great Gatsby peels away the layers of this glamorous world to display the coldness and cruelty at its heart.

'Not only a page-turner and a heartbreaker, it's one of the most quintessentially American novels
ever written' Time

'He (F Scott Fitzgerald) was better than he knew, for in fact and in the literary sense he invented a
"generation"' New York Times

'The most perfectly crafted work of fiction to have come out of America' Professor Tony Tanner

'The American masterwork, the finest work of fiction by any of this country's writers' Washington Post

Reviews

Not only a page-turner and a heartbreaker, it's one of the most quintessentially American novels ever written
Time

About the author

F. Scott Fitzgerald

Francis Scott Fitzgerald was born in 1896 in Saint Paul, Minnesota, and educated at Princeton. Stationed in Alabama, he met and later married Zelda Sayre. His first novel, This Side of Paradise, was published in 1920 and was a tremendous critical and commercial success. Fitzgerald followed with The Beautiful and the Damned in 1922, The Great Gatsby in 1925 and Tender is the Night in 1934. He was working on The Last Tycoon (1941) when he died, in Hollywood, in 1940.

Francis Scott Fitzgerald was born in 1896 in Saint Paul, Minnesota, and educated at Princeton. Stationed in Alabama, he met and later married Zelda Sayre. His first novel, This Side of Paradise, was published in 1920 and was a tremendous critical and commercial success. Fitzgerald followed with The Beautiful and the Damned in 1922, The Great Gatsby in 1925 and Tender is the Night in 1934. He was working on The Last Tycoon (1941) when he died, in Hollywood, in 1940.

Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald (September 24, 1896 – December 21, 1940) was an American novelist, essayist, and short story writer. He is best known for his novels depicting the flamboyance and excess of the Jazz Age—a term he popularized in his short story collection Tales of the Jazz Age. During his lifetime, he published four novels, four story collections, and 164 short stories. Although he achieved temporary popular success and fortune in the 1920s, Fitzgerald received critical acclaim only after his death and is now widely regarded as one of the greatest American writers of the 20th century.

F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896-1940). Best known for The Great Gatsby (1925) and The Beautiful and Damned (1922), the main themes of his work were love, society and class, aspiration, and loss. Born in St. Paul, Minnesota on September 24,1896, his father, Edward was from Maryland and his mother, Mary McQuillan was the daughter of an Irish immigrant. His first interaction with the art of storytelling was when a detective story he wrote was published in the school newspaper when he was thirteen. He moved to New York City to pursue his literary career. His work belongs with the best of his contemporaries.

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