review

March 2013

The Great Gatsby

G
atsby wasn’t always considered great. In 1937, Romance
twelve years after its publication, F. Scott For many, The Great Gatsby is a romantic tale. In a
Fitzgerald trudged fruitlessly from bookshop to recent Radio 3 broadcast, the writer Michael Bracewell
bookshop as he tried to buy copies of his books for his spoke of his inability to read passages of the book
new lover, Sheila Graham. How strange it would be for without being overwhelmed by a desire to weep (see
him to see the esteem in which his once low-selling ‘Weblinks to follow up’). He evoked the tantalising and
novel is now held: Gatsby musicals, Gatsby whole text melancholy beauty of the novel’s unattainable dream
readings and gorgeously styled actors looking down by means of a comparison with Keats: Gatsby will
from billboards advertising Gatsby, the film. forever ‘remain in his ecstatic dream of hoping’ like the
So what is the enduring appeal of this novel of the frozen couple in the ‘Ode on a Grecian Urn’, where the
Roaring Twenties, which tells of a newly rich man’s man is ever ardent and the woman ever fair.
dream to recapture the high-born love of his youth? For Bracewell, as for many, the novel does not just
embody romantic yearning, it engenders such feelings
Interpretations in the reader. Thus, for him, Gatsby’s pink suit comes to
The greatness of Gatsby isn’t so much to do with what stand for the longing for another world and the longing
Fitzgerald puts in — the glamour, the excess, the love for love — and, ultimately, a longing for what love
story — but what he leaves out. In a way, Gatsby is one might be if the real world didn’t get in the way.
of the most absent — or most shadowy — eponymous
characters in literature. What keeps us reading and The American Dream
rereading is not Fitzgerald’s title character, but his Many read The Great Gatsby, named by the Modern
narrator. Library as the greatest American novel of the twentieth
Nick’s perspective saves the story from century, as a treatise on the decadence of the 1920s.
sentimentalism. His narration withholds sufficient Depending on the reader, Fitzgerald is either in love
information (and communicates with sufficient with or criticising the excesses of that era.
unreliability) to open up interpretive gaps and offer Bonnie Greer argues that this novel about illusion
alternative readings. and loss shows how Gatsby ‘tried and failed tragically’.
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Fitzgerald exposes the limitations of the American
Dream — the idea that, in America, anyone can succeed
Narrative activity
through hard work. For Greer, the novel remains Consider the ways in which Fitzgerald uses Nick
relevant because the dream endures: ‘The American in the story and how that affects the reader’s
Dream is just that — a dream from which the nation response. Consider his unreliability, his status as
will never awake.’ both a commentator and as a participant, and
the ways in which he reveals aspects of character,
Economics including the ways in which he both criticises and
In many ways the above readings are predicated on romanticises Gatsby.
romantic notions of the title character, but Gatsby can You might like to look at the articles by Anne
be viewed in other ways. Rather than being motivated Crow and Bernard O’Keefe that comment on
by love, some see him as driven by social climbing. Fitzgerald’s use of Nick as narrator (The English
Attaining his dream of marrying Daisy could enable his Review, Vol. 20, No. 1, pp. 8–10 and 24–27).
acceptance into the highest social class — comprised
of those leisure-rich individuals whose wealth is
inherited. Contexts activity
There is plenty of evidence for a more unseemly
Gatsby: not only through his alleged criminality, but Listen to this podcast on the Cornell University
perhaps also in how his love for Daisy is presented: site: www.tinyurl.com/adld3t2
• Her voice — arguably her most seductive quality — In what ways does the novel reflect and explore
is described by Gatsby as being ‘full of money’. ideas about wealth, happiness and social mobility?
• In Jordan Baker’s account, her worth is presented as
being that of a commodity: ‘it excited him too that
many men had already loved Daisy — it increased Weblinks to follow up
her value in his eyes.’ Find trailers, photos and a synopsis of the film at
http://thegreatgatsby.warnerbros.com
The polysemic text
While you may not agree with any of the above See clips of the 8-hour stage reading of the novel at
www.gatzlondon.com
readings, it is undeniable that The Great Gatsby has
spoken to a great many readers in a great many ways. American author Jay McInerney writes about Gatsby’s
A new reading, in the form of Baz Luhrmann’s film greatness and why he won’t watch film versions:
adaptation, is just around the corner. While some www.tinyurl.com/d6zkmal
may question the suitability of screening a novel that’s The BBC’s Tom Geoghegan on what Gatsby says to
effects depend so much on literary style and narrative modern America: www.tinyurl.com/3wsntj7
strategies, this version will be difficult to avoid. With a
‘Gatsby’s Suit’, a personal, romantic response by
trailer pumped full of 3D effects and featuring music
Michael Bracewell: www.tinyurl.com/ar4cy32
by Jay-Z, it promises to enact some of the excesses of
the era that it portrays. It also has a higher aim: to hold
a mirror to its modern audience, which has just lived Find out more about our full Did you like
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archives of back issues at Tell us what
Crash. This time, you don’t so much read The Great you think
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Gatsby, as The Great Gatsby reads you.