Book SynopsisThe Great Gatsby is widely regarded as one of the masterpieces of American fiction. It tells of the mysterious Jay Gatsby's grand effort to win the love of Daisy Buchanan, the rich girl who embodies for him the promise of the American dream. Deeply romantic in its concern with self-making, ideal love, and the power of illusion, it draws on modernist techniques to capture the spirit of the materialistic, morally adrift, post-war era Fitzgerald dubbed "the jazz age." Gatsby's aspirations remain inseparable from the rhythms and possibilities suggested by modern consumer culture, popular song, the movies; his obstacles inseparable from contemporary American anxieties about social mobility, racial mongrelization, and the fate of Western civilization.This Broadview edition sets the novel in context by providing readers with a critical introduction and crucial background material about the consumer culture in which Fitzgerald was immersed; about the spirit of the jazz age; and about racial discourse in the 1920s.Trade Review"If The Great Gatsby is, at first glance, an alluring but relatively simple tale, it eventually settles on our consciousness as an almost miraculous dramatization of the essence of the American experience. No major American theme—be it the role of money, art, the quest for social justice, race, or our sense of our national destiny—escapes Fitzgerald's prophetic gaze. This edition, strategically organized and invaluable from start to finish, is the virtually perfect guide to the depth and significance of his masterpiece." - Arnold Rampersad, Stanford University “Michael Nowlin’s edition of The Great Gatsby is educational and elegant. The generous footnotes are detailed yet unobtrusive, and the supplementary materials provide excellent context for what many consider The Great American Novel. The novel, and the world of the novel, are both available to you here, as inseparable as they were while Fitzgerald found inspiration and wrote.” — Anne Margaret Daniel, The New School “Readers are indeed fortunate to have Michael Nowlin’s extremely useful edition of The Great Gatsby. Nowlin provides a wealth of ancillary materials that enhance our understanding and appreciation of Fitzgerald’s masterpiece. Throughout, Nowlin’s emphasis is on the quality, not quantity, of these materials; the result is a book that will be indispensable to students, teachers, and the casual reader alike.” — Jackson R. Bryer, University of MarylandTable of Contents
Appendix A: Fitzgerald's Correspondence about The Great Gatsby (1922-25)
Appendix B: Contemporary Reviews
1. Isabel Patterson, New York Herald Tribune Books (19 April 1925)
2. H.L. Mencken, Baltimore Evening Sun (2 May 1925)
3. William Rose Benét, Saturday Review of Literature (9 May 1925)
4. William Curtis, Town & Country (15 May 1925)
5. Carl Van Vechten, The Nation (20 May 1925)
6. Burton Rascoe, Arts & Decoration (June 1925)
5. Gilbert Seldes, The Dial (August 1925)
Appendix C: Consumption, Class, and Economy
1. From Emily Post, Etiquette in Society, in Business, in Politics and at Home (1922)
2. Eight Contemporary Advertisements
3. From F. Scott Fitzgerald, "How to Live on $36,000 a Year" (1924)
4. From Samuel Crowther & Jacob Raskob, "Everybody Ought to be Rich" (1929)
Appendix D: The Irreverent Spirit of the Jazz Age
1. From F. Scott Fitzgerald, "Echoes of the Jazz Age" (1931)
2. Duncan M. Poole, "The Great Jazz Trial" (1922)
3. F. A. Austin, "The Bootlegger Speaks" (1922)
3. From H.L. Mencken, ["Five Years of Prohibition"] (1924)
4. Zelda Fitzgerald, "What Became of the Flappers?" (1925)
5. From Walter Lippmann, A Preface to Morals (1929)
Appendix E: Race and the National Culture, 1920-25
1. From Lothrop Stoddard, The Rising Tide of Color Against White World-Supremacy (1920)
2. From Henry Ford, Jewish Influences in American Life (1921)
3. From Frederick C. Howe, "The Alien" (1922)
4. From Anzia Yezierska, Bread Givers (1925)
5. From Alain Locke, "The New Negro" (1925)
6. From J. A. Rogers, "Jazz at Home" (1925)
7. Miguel Covurrubias and Eric Walrond, "The Sheik of Dahomey" (illustration, 1924)
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