The Great Gatsby is widely regarded as one of the masterpieces of American fiction. It tells of the mysterious Jay Gatsby's grand effort to win the love of Daisy Buchanan, the rich girl who embodies for him the promise of the American dream. Deeply romantic in its concern with self-making, ideal love, and the power of illusion, it draws on modernist techniques to capture the spirit of the materialistic, morally adrift, post-war era Fitzgerald dubbed the jazz age. Gatsby's aspirations remain inseparable from the rhythms and possibilities suggested by modern consumer culture, popular song, the movies; his obstacles inseparable from contemporary American anxieties about social mobility, racial mongrelization, and the fate of Western civilization.
This Broadview edition sets the novel in context by providing readers with a critical introduction and crucial background material about the consumer culture in which Fitzgerald was immersed; about the spirit of the jazz age; and about racial discourse in the 1920s.
Title: The Great Gatsby
Author: F. Scott Fitzgerald (author) & Michael Nowlin (editor)
ISBN: 9781554814992
Binding:
Publisher: Broadview Press Ltd
Publication Date: 2021-12-30
Number of Pages: 280
Weight: 0.3811 kg
If The Great Gatsby is, at first glance, an alluring but relatively simple tale, it eventually settles on our consciousness as an almost miraculous dramatization of the essence of the American experience. No major American theme-be it the role of money, art, the quest for social justice, race, or our sense of our national destiny-escapes Fitzgerald's prophetic gaze. This edition, strategically organized and invaluable from start to finish, is the virtually perfect guide to the depth and significance of his masterpiece. - Arnold Rampersad, Stanford University
Michael Nowlin's edition of The Great Gatsby is educational and elegant. The generous footnotes are detailed yet unobtrusive, and the supplementary materials provide excellent context for what many consider The Great American Novel. The novel, and the world of the novel, are both available to you here, as inseparable as they were while Fitzgerald found inspiration and wrote. - Anne Margaret Daniel, The New School
Readers are indeed fortunate to have Michael Nowlin's extremely useful edition of The Great Gatsby. Nowlin provides a wealth of ancillary materials that enhance our understanding and appreciation of Fitzgerald's masterpiece. Throughout, Nowlin's emphasis is on the quality, not quantity, of these materials; the result is a book that will be indispensable to students, teachers, and the casual reader alike. - Jackson R. Bryer, University of Maryland
