F. Scott Fitzgerald, David Alworth: Great Gatsby, Norton Critical Editions, 1st Edition (2021, Norton & Company Limited, W. W.)
English language
Published July 27, 2021 by Norton & Company Limited, W. W..
Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.
It is certainly the simplest modernist novel I've read, both in plot and execution. What it lacks in the modernism bells and whistles it somewhat makes up for in its insightfulness and near-supreme subtlety. It is these two qualities, mixed with its accessibility, that make it a classic that American readers return to time again. Hemingway portrays debauchery and wasteful materialism better in The Sun Also Rises. Ford Maddox Ford portrays a sense of being dislocated by the times and the frustrations of unrequited love better in Parade's End. And yet, you do not hear these works quoted as often in these themes as you hear The Great Gatsby mentioned in relation to them. This is the case because the greater majority of the reading public (particularly American) can relate to the characters in Fizgerald's work than in Hemingway's overly manly (if impotent) protagonist and certainly more than …
It is certainly the simplest modernist novel I've read, both in plot and execution. What it lacks in the modernism bells and whistles it somewhat makes up for in its insightfulness and near-supreme subtlety. It is these two qualities, mixed with its accessibility, that make it a classic that American readers return to time again. Hemingway portrays debauchery and wasteful materialism better in The Sun Also Rises. Ford Maddox Ford portrays a sense of being dislocated by the times and the frustrations of unrequited love better in Parade's End. And yet, you do not hear these works quoted as often in these themes as you hear The Great Gatsby mentioned in relation to them. This is the case because the greater majority of the reading public (particularly American) can relate to the characters in Fizgerald's work than in Hemingway's overly manly (if impotent) protagonist and certainly more than Ford's Christopher Tietjens.
