Novel · A way to begin
The Great Gatsby
Francis Scott Fitzgerald · 1925
Synopsis
In the spring of 1922, Nick Carraway, come from the Middle West to sell bonds in New York, rents a small house in West Egg, on Long Island, next to Gatsby's mansion. All summer, Gatsby gives enormous parties there, at which he keeps to the sidelines, and no one knows where he comes from. Opposite, on the far shore of the bay, live Tom Buchanan and Daisy, Nick's cousin, at the end of whose dock a green light shines. Through Jordan Baker, Nick learns that Gatsby loved Daisy five years earlier and would like him to invite her to his house so that he can see her again.
Context
The novel was written in 1924 at Valescure, near Saint-Raphaël, then revised on proofs in Rome; it was published by Scribner's on 10 April 1925. It sold badly, and its author died convinced that his life was a failure and his work forgotten. In 1945, a hundred and fifty-five thousand copies were distributed to American soldiers in the armed services editions, which contributed to its rediscovery. Fitzgerald had proposed several other titles to his publisher, among them Trimalchio in West Egg, and thought the one that was chosen merely acceptable.
Who it is for
A short novel, of about two hundred pages in paperback. Many French translations exist, from Victor Llona's in 1926 to Philippe Jaworski's.
Prizes and reception
Fewer than twenty-five thousand copies in its author's lifetime, nearly thirty million since; four films and a place in American school curricula.
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