Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald that is. It's true, that's his real name. His Dad was some distant relative of the writer of the national anthem. But if you really want to learn more about Fitzgerald, you should read This Side of Paradise, which I just finished today.
It is a semi-autobiographical novel, and Fitzgerald's first novel, where the main character Amory Blaine is the fictional version of Fitzgerald. It's kind of a riches to rags tale where Amory goes from wealth and comfort to eventual poverty despite the fact that he's really intelligent and capable. He's just lazy. Fitzgerald wrote the book when he was 23, so his life hadn't gone to "rags" yet, but it ironically did as well as he struggled with alcoholism and eventually died at the early age of 44.
I found the story sufficiently enjoyable, again on the strength of the writing quality. He just writes so lyrically, yet effortlessly. It's worth a read. I have now read two of his novels, the other being his superior masterpiece The Great Gatsby. Don't expect it to be as good as Gatsby, but do expect to be impressed with the quality of the writing, especially when considering it was his first novel at such a young age.
Quotes:
Amory speaking to his friend: "I hate to get anywhere by working for it. I'll show the marks, don't you know." His friend's reply: "Honorable scars."
"I know I'm not a regular fellow, yet I loathe anybody else that isn't."
"So engrossed in his thoughts was he that he was scarcely surprised at that strange phenomenon - cordiality manifested within fifty miles of Manhattan"
No comments:
Post a Comment