281 The Great Gatsby

The History of Literature

Jacke Wilson

History, Books, Arts

4.6 • 1.2K Ratings

🗓️ 9 November 2020

⏱️ 62 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Jacke takes a look at F. Scott Fitzgerald's masterpiece, The Great Gatsby (1925), which has been called by one newspaper "the American masterwork, the finest work of fiction by any of this country's writers." But what makes it so compelling? Is it enough to say that it's about the American dream and disillusionment? (Spoiler alert: Jacke doesn't think so!) Help support the show at patreon.com/literature or historyofliterature.com/shop. (We appreciate it!) Find out more at historyofliterature.com, jackewilson.com, or by following Jacke and Mike on Twitter at @thejackewilson and @literatureSC. Or send an email to [email protected]. New!!! Looking for an easy to way to buy Jacke a coffee? Now you can at paypal.me/jackewilson. Your generosity is much appreciated! The History of Literature Podcast is a member of Lit Hub Radio and the Podglomerate Network. Learn more at www.thepodglomerate.com/historyofliterature. *** This show is a part of the Podglomerate network, a company that produces, distributes, and monetizes podcasts. We encourage you to visit the website and sign up for our newsletter for more information about our shows, launches, and events. For more information on how The Podglomerate treats data, please see our Privacy Policy. Since you're listening to The History of Literature, we'd like to suggest you also try other Podglomerate shows surrounding literature, history, and storytelling like Storybound, Micheaux Mission, and The History of Standup. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	The History of Literature Podcast is a member of the Podglamorate Network and LIT Hub Radio.
0:07.0	Hello. In reviewing the life and works of F Scott Fitzgerald, the esteemed critic Lionel Trilling once
0:16.1	lamented that Fitzgerald did not fully realize his powers except once. Trilling wrote, quote, but his quality was a great one and on one
0:26.9	occasion in the great Gatsby it was as finely crystallized in art as it deserved to be."
0:34.1	Some will object to that.
0:36.2	Our own Mike Pallandrome, president of the Literature Supporters Club, might argue that
0:41.2	tender is the night, is at least as as good and there are a half a dozen
0:45.1	short stories or maybe more that are tough to beat as well but it's true there's
0:50.4	something about the great Gatsby, conceived when Fitzgerald was barely 26 and published before he turned 30.
0:58.0	That is magical.
1:00.0	The book was well reviewed but did not sell well only about 20,000 copies and it was out of print by the time Fitzgerald died at age 44.
1:09.0	He believed he had been a failure, that he had had a bit of talent, but that he had wasted it.
1:15.9	He was in Hollywood by then writing painfully honest essays that his friends discouraged
1:21.0	him from publishing and short stories about a struggling writer as he was that were both revealing and lightweight.
1:30.0	His short life was like the life of a literary rock star with early success, clear milestones, striking events, celebrity relationships, dramatic ups and downs, and along the way enduring works of pop art and art.
1:47.0	And the greatest of these, perhaps, and probably, is the Great Gatsby.
1:52.4	We'll have that story today on the history of literature. Okay, here we go. Hello everyone, welcome to the podcast, The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald, as a rock star.
2:18.0	Well, I've got a certain phrase in my mind, I suppose, play the hits.
2:24.1	Did you ever watch the show, W.K.R.P. in Cincinnati.
2:27.4	It didn't have the same post-life as other shows.
2:29.8	It wasn't on as often in reruns, and it wasn't as big a hit on DVD and so forth because the producers
2:36.2	had a hard time getting the rights to all the songs that they had used.
	...

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