Fitzgerald was always good for a clever or poetical turn of phrase, or a brilliant insight, but he had trouble, I think, making it all cohere. He couldn't sustain it. TENDER IS THE NIGHT, for example, I find unreadable. I don't know if he was soberer during this period, or if Zelda helped him more, or the editor Perkins or what, but this is about as good as American writing gets.
Thanks, Greg! Now I know what Iβll be doing today, pulling out my dog eared, highlighted copy of Gatsby and giving it a read. Itβs been quite a while.
I see why people say that, but Jared doesn't strike me as Tom Buchanan-y. I don't know which literary character he reminds me of. I have to think about it.
As others here have noted, Iβd forgotten much about Gatsby over the years. Youβve once again, piqued an interest in finding, and revisiting a piece Iβve read a few times, as required reading, being a Twin Cities native.
Iβve mentioned previously that your Sunday read, always arouses thoughts and memories...although somewhat effete, as I recall...sublimely written... great morning to you!!
Like you, I'm a serial Gatsby reader, just because I keep finding things (hints and allegations?). Interesting lenses have been applied: all sorts of racial and gender permutations. It was an experimental age - though I'm not quite sold on the gay Nick angle, the McKee scene notwithstanding (it was the 20s!).
Your graf on Tom is just about perfect, and boy has that asshole ever aged well! You nailed it: They (Trump, Gaetz, Musk...) get away with just about everything -- just because. Cash Bundren says "You can't get away from a shoddy job," but these jamokes, like Tom and Daisy, seem to get away with and from one shoddy job after another. And, although part of that is personal skill and consciencelessness, the other part is a system built to succor its filthy rich bullies.
I go just a bit easier on Daisy because she seems to have one foot on both sides of the villain-victim line. Though maybe by my next reading she will have morphed into the devil incarnate. She certainly fails the moment-of-truth moral test with flying colors.
And finally, congratulations: You now hold the record for the longest excerpt in a work of criticism -- every word of it delicious, though it's good thing it's out of copyright!
Daisy is a lot more sympathetic than Tom, for sure, but the complete shriveling of her will and loyalty at this first hint of adversity is a character trait I don't much admire. Reading it now, I see Cameron and Daphne from "White Lotus."
I am limited by what I can share here b/c of copyright...so much really great poetry I am not at liberty to reprint. But once something hits Gutenberg, it's fair game!
Gods, Greg, almost every Sunday, I have to revisit my life and try and remember if I've read the subject of the day. I must have, either in high school or college, but I'm damned if I can consciously remember. I do know I've seen the 70s film with Robert Redford (?) but have yet to watch the newest one with DiCaprio. But this is perfect timing as I've just finished "Nothing But the Night," about Leopold and Loeb, and am between books. Time to get "Gatsby" and remain in the same decade a while longer. That excerpt was hypnotic! I stopped for a moment at:
"Not even the effeminate swank of his riding clothes could hide the enormous power of that bodyβhe seemed to fill those glistening boots until he strained the top lacing, and you could see a great pack of muscle shifting when his shoulder moved under his thin coat."
I don't remember much gay stuff in Gatsby, but that's straight out of a gay bodice-ripper! It seems like the next sentence should be something about his "loins." lol Thanks for the recommendation, Greg, and have a great week!
One of the beautiful things about "Gatsby" is that, because of the long denouement, it resists film treatment. The Redford film is good eye candy, and the actors are good, but the pacing is weird.
And: yes! That was how I taught the class. We read first his description of all the characters, and good god, Buchanan is a HUNK. Meanwhile, we sort of know, without him telling us, that Jordan is very attractive, in the same way we know Charlotte Haze is in "Lolita." The narrator doesn't see it, but the readers do.
The irony is, Tom sizes up the situation perfectly at the end of the book. He's wrong about so many things, but right about that.
Also: just where, exactly, is the "pack of muscle" Nick talks about...
Thank you, Greg, for this thought-provoking post. To add to it, and to my surprise, I saw this article in the Atlantic just after reading your Sunday Pages: The Great Gatsby.
Last Friday's Five/8 was a good one! It did feel a bit "lopsided" without LB there. So sorry for her loss.
Brynn's matter-of-fact prediction of where we're headed was almost a relief to hear, as in the die is cast...we might as well get used to it! But will be hanging out with the underground folks as we plot to undermine their efforts. So ironic to know that Berlin will be the go-to place for lovers of democracy!
Thanks for this, Lynell. I can't read past the firewall, but I'm highly dubious of that idea. Although I love novel novel interpretations!
I missed having LB on the show. It's hard to do an opening for that long without a live audience. I was very self conscious. But the guests were great!
Nothing makes me happier than reading your insights into my all-time favorite novel. Every time someone says, "the cruelty is the point" about current Republican thugs, Tom's picture comes to mind.
He really is the exemplar, that Tom. Are there any good guys named Buchanan? I can only think of James, Tom, Pat, and the other James the GOP mastermind guy. There's gotta be someone to balance it out, no?
Thank you for this. Oddly, or not so oddly, I have a paperback copy of this on the coffee table that has been staring at me for the past few weeks. Time to read it again...
Thanks! That was just what I needed to read this morning. My favourite part in one of my favourite books of all time. Some books are work. Like building a wall brick by brick and then sitting at the top of that wall to gaze into a tepid country that turns anticipation into incredulity and soon, boredom. This writing is like stepping off a wall on to the wings of a nightingale. The view, the music, everything buoyant, moving, ephemeral. The cleverness is so well hidden that the box opens without any pressure from fingers or mind to reveal - magic. The wings donβt move and we soar on, enchanted.
Fitzgerald was always good for a clever or poetical turn of phrase, or a brilliant insight, but he had trouble, I think, making it all cohere. He couldn't sustain it. TENDER IS THE NIGHT, for example, I find unreadable. I don't know if he was soberer during this period, or if Zelda helped him more, or the editor Perkins or what, but this is about as good as American writing gets.
Thanks, Greg! Now I know what Iβll be doing today, pulling out my dog eared, highlighted copy of Gatsby and giving it a read. Itβs been quite a while.
Happy Sunday! Cheers!
It's always worth it, I find, even if you don't read the whole thing. Everything about it is terrific.
Thanks for the insights.
Thank you!
Two books I have not read, the Great Gatsby and Moby Dick.
Today Literary Hub has an interesting piece written on Moby Dick into a movie script by Ray Bradbury for John Houston.
You noted:
"They were careless people"
Hmm.
First thing that came to my mind was Bill and Hillary?
Unlike Jimmy and Rosalie Carter whose goodness was criticized as weakness and taken advantage of by bad people.
Most recently, the quote has been bestowed on Jared and Ivanka.. π So fitting!
Tons of memes of this on the Twitter machine.
I see why people say that, but Jared doesn't strike me as Tom Buchanan-y. I don't know which literary character he reminds me of. I have to think about it.
Cal, please read the first few chapters of MOBY DICK. Please, I implore you.
Whichever he is, it isn't human.
As others here have noted, Iβd forgotten much about Gatsby over the years. Youβve once again, piqued an interest in finding, and revisiting a piece Iβve read a few times, as required reading, being a Twin Cities native.
Iβve mentioned previously that your Sunday read, always arouses thoughts and memories...although somewhat effete, as I recall...sublimely written... great morning to you!!
Thanks, Patrick. If you're bored one quiet afternoon, dust it off and read it. Even if you don't get through all of it, it's well worth the time!
Greg, you can be my adjunct professor any day!
Like you, I'm a serial Gatsby reader, just because I keep finding things (hints and allegations?). Interesting lenses have been applied: all sorts of racial and gender permutations. It was an experimental age - though I'm not quite sold on the gay Nick angle, the McKee scene notwithstanding (it was the 20s!).
Your graf on Tom is just about perfect, and boy has that asshole ever aged well! You nailed it: They (Trump, Gaetz, Musk...) get away with just about everything -- just because. Cash Bundren says "You can't get away from a shoddy job," but these jamokes, like Tom and Daisy, seem to get away with and from one shoddy job after another. And, although part of that is personal skill and consciencelessness, the other part is a system built to succor its filthy rich bullies.
I go just a bit easier on Daisy because she seems to have one foot on both sides of the villain-victim line. Though maybe by my next reading she will have morphed into the devil incarnate. She certainly fails the moment-of-truth moral test with flying colors.
And finally, congratulations: You now hold the record for the longest excerpt in a work of criticism -- every word of it delicious, though it's good thing it's out of copyright!
Thanks, Jonathan!
Daisy is a lot more sympathetic than Tom, for sure, but the complete shriveling of her will and loyalty at this first hint of adversity is a character trait I don't much admire. Reading it now, I see Cameron and Daphne from "White Lotus."
I am limited by what I can share here b/c of copyright...so much really great poetry I am not at liberty to reprint. But once something hits Gutenberg, it's fair game!
Gods, Greg, almost every Sunday, I have to revisit my life and try and remember if I've read the subject of the day. I must have, either in high school or college, but I'm damned if I can consciously remember. I do know I've seen the 70s film with Robert Redford (?) but have yet to watch the newest one with DiCaprio. But this is perfect timing as I've just finished "Nothing But the Night," about Leopold and Loeb, and am between books. Time to get "Gatsby" and remain in the same decade a while longer. That excerpt was hypnotic! I stopped for a moment at:
"Not even the effeminate swank of his riding clothes could hide the enormous power of that bodyβhe seemed to fill those glistening boots until he strained the top lacing, and you could see a great pack of muscle shifting when his shoulder moved under his thin coat."
I don't remember much gay stuff in Gatsby, but that's straight out of a gay bodice-ripper! It seems like the next sentence should be something about his "loins." lol Thanks for the recommendation, Greg, and have a great week!
Thanks, Steve.
One of the beautiful things about "Gatsby" is that, because of the long denouement, it resists film treatment. The Redford film is good eye candy, and the actors are good, but the pacing is weird.
And: yes! That was how I taught the class. We read first his description of all the characters, and good god, Buchanan is a HUNK. Meanwhile, we sort of know, without him telling us, that Jordan is very attractive, in the same way we know Charlotte Haze is in "Lolita." The narrator doesn't see it, but the readers do.
The irony is, Tom sizes up the situation perfectly at the end of the book. He's wrong about so many things, but right about that.
Also: just where, exactly, is the "pack of muscle" Nick talks about...
Thank you, Greg, for this thought-provoking post. To add to it, and to my surprise, I saw this article in the Atlantic just after reading your Sunday Pages: The Great Gatsby.
https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2023/03/great-gatsby-book-fitzgerald-race-interpretation/672778/?utm_source=copy-link&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=share
Last Friday's Five/8 was a good one! It did feel a bit "lopsided" without LB there. So sorry for her loss.
Brynn's matter-of-fact prediction of where we're headed was almost a relief to hear, as in the die is cast...we might as well get used to it! But will be hanging out with the underground folks as we plot to undermine their efforts. So ironic to know that Berlin will be the go-to place for lovers of democracy!
Thanks for this, Lynell. I can't read past the firewall, but I'm highly dubious of that idea. Although I love novel novel interpretations!
I missed having LB on the show. It's hard to do an opening for that long without a live audience. I was very self conscious. But the guests were great!
And yes: Berlin!
Nothing makes me happier than reading your insights into my all-time favorite novel. Every time someone says, "the cruelty is the point" about current Republican thugs, Tom's picture comes to mind.
Thank you!
He really is the exemplar, that Tom. Are there any good guys named Buchanan? I can only think of James, Tom, Pat, and the other James the GOP mastermind guy. There's gotta be someone to balance it out, no?
Can't think of ANY ~ fittingly, it's a curse.
Thank you for this. Oddly, or not so oddly, I have a paperback copy of this on the coffee table that has been staring at me for the past few weeks. Time to read it again...
Thanks! That was just what I needed to read this morning. My favourite part in one of my favourite books of all time. Some books are work. Like building a wall brick by brick and then sitting at the top of that wall to gaze into a tepid country that turns anticipation into incredulity and soon, boredom. This writing is like stepping off a wall on to the wings of a nightingale. The view, the music, everything buoyant, moving, ephemeral. The cleverness is so well hidden that the box opens without any pressure from fingers or mind to reveal - magic. The wings donβt move and we soar on, enchanted.
I first read Gatsby while in the 7th grade. I loved the writing, but hated the characters. Thanks for your take.
I haven't read Gatsby in years. I'll do it soon now. Much easier reading than 1984,
Lusting after what you canβt have is getting trite
Who could have said it better, time for a reread