FRIDAY’S FORGOTTEN BOOKS #588: F. SCOTT FITZGERALD: CLASSIC WORKS

I found this massive collection of F. Scott Fitzgerald at a Library Book Sale. I think I paid a quarter for it. Fitzgerald is a brilliant writer who sometimes goes off into mediocrity. Whether it was Fitzgerald’s drinking, or his need to write quickly to pay some bills, or maybe he was being tormented by Zelda, the results are sometimes sub-par.

Of course there are some terrific stories in this collection. My favorite is “The Diamond as Big as the Ritz.” Probably the most famous story is “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.”

As far as the novels go, I’ve always been a fan of This Side of Paradise although The Great Gatsby garners most of the critical praise. This volume contains two novels and 19 short stories. F. Scott Fitzgerald: Classic Works is available at most Libraries and affordable copies can be had on the Internet. If you’re a Fitzgerald fan, you’ll enjoy this collection. GRADE: B+

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

INTRODUCTION vii

This Side of Paradise 1

The Beautiful and the Damned 207

Flappers and Philosophers 497

The Offshore Pirate 500

The Ice Palace 526

Head and Shoulders 547

The Cut-Glass Bowl 568

Bernice Bobs Her Hair 584

Benediction 604

Dalyrimple Goes Wrong 618

The Four Fists 632

Tales of the Jazz Age 645

The Jelly-Bean 651

The Camel’s back 667

May Day 689

Porcelain and Pink 731

The Diamond as Big as the Ritz 740

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button 772

Tarquin of Cheapside 793

“O Russet Witch!” 799

The Lees of Happiness 824

Mr. Icky 842

Jemina, the Mountain Girl 848

31 thoughts on “FRIDAY’S FORGOTTEN BOOKS #588: F. SCOTT FITZGERALD: CLASSIC WORKS

  1. Steve Oerkfitz

    Can’t say I’ve read much of Fitzgerald since college other than The Last Tycoon. Out of the big four-Fitzgerald, Steinbeck, Faulkner, Hemingway- I always preferred Faulkner. Interestingly they were all heavy drinkers.

    Reply
    1. george Post author

      Steve, there was a mystique during the 1920s and 1930s that alcohol “enhanced” the writing experience. Actually, the opposite is true. But Fitzgerald, Steinbeck, Faulkner, and Hemingway all had “issues” with booze. So did Hunter S. Thompson, Dorothy Parker, John Cheever, Carson McCullers, and Truman Capote.

      Reply
    2. Deb

      An interesting book about alcohol and American writers is Tom Dardis’s THE THIRSTY MUSE. The book’s description is: “Examines the effects of alcohol on the life and work of Faulkner, Fitzgerald, Hemingway, and O’Neill, tracing how the initial positive benefits of the drug were lost as drink eventually took its toll on the writers.” One of Dardis’s premises is that alcohol took a harder toll creatively on Fitzgerald than on the others because he became famous at a much younger age and, unlike Faulkner or Hemingway, didn’t have a big pile of unpublished work to fall back on when alcohol silenced his creativity. Interestingly, Dardis believes that O’Neill (who stopped drinking in his thirties) was the only one of the four writers who continued to evolve and remain creative throughout his life. It’s been many years since I read it, but I do recall liking the book very much.

      https://www.amazon.com/THIRSTY-MUSE-PA-Thomas-Dardis/dp/0395574226/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=the+thirsty+muse&qid=1587128443&sprefix=the+thirsty+myse&sr=8-1

      Reply
      1. Jeff Meyerson

        Sounds good, Deb. There have been plenty of other writers, most of whom came to sad, early ends from excessive drinking. Malcolm Lowry, 47. John O’Brien, 33 (suicide). Hunter Thompson, 67 (suicide).

    1. george Post author

      Neeru, you’re right. This book is in mint condition. I don’t think it’s ever been read before I bought it for a pittance.

      Reply
  2. Jeff Meyerson

    I’ve read most (all?) of the stories in this collection, plus THE GREAT GATSBY. I have a massive collection of THE COMPLETE SHORT STORIES of Fitzgerald on the Kindle and I’m a third of the way through it, though I have already read many of the later stories. I always meant to read THIS SIDE OF PARADISE. One of these days.

    Reply
  3. Jeff Meyerson

    Jimmy Buffett did a song called “Diamond as Big as the Ritz” on his BAROMETER SOUP album in 1995.

    Reply
  4. Michael Padgett

    Even though he seems to be constantly on the verge of being dismissed from the pantheon, I’ve always preferred Hemingway to Fitzgerald and Faulkner to either of them. And despite having read “Gatsby” twice I remain mystified as to why it’s so frequently designated “The Great American Novel”.

    Reply
    1. george Post author

      Michael, I’m with you on THE GREAT GATSBY. It doesn’t strike me as “The Great American Novel.” But college English Departments love it so it sells a lot of copies every semester.

      Reply
  5. Patti Abbott

    I read all of him in my thirties, I think. I very much liked THIS SIDE OF PARADISE too, perhaps college life? The only novel I didn’t care much for was THE BEAUTIFUL AND THE DAMNED. He was a tortured soul.

    Reply
  6. Beth Fedyn

    I absolutely LOVE F. Scott Fitzgerald.
    His work is outstanding (The Great Gatsby is a reread favorite). Couple that with his life and it’s hard to look away.
    Many years ago I took a Fitzgerald tour in St. Paul and it was fascinating.

    Reply
  7. Patti Abbott

    Re: the drinking. It continued through the next generation with writers Carver and Yates, Cheever and others. Writing is a lonely profession and examining the inner you is pretty nasty.

    Reply
  8. maggie mason

    No comment on Fitzgerald, but I did have trouble getting your blog yesterday and today (I keep a window open and then just click on it)

    I started to get worried, so closed the window and input it again and it worked No idea what the problem was, but glad you’re ok and still blogging

    Reply
  9. George Kelley

    Maggie, the Internet was screwy here yesterday. I tried to access my bank account to see if my Economy Stimulus money had arrived, but the bank web site just froze. My blog didn’t post my story of our carbon monoxide detector until mid-morning. Weird.

    Reply
  10. Rick Robinson

    The web has been glacial for more than a week, especially on our secondary devices (laptop, iPad). Better on the main iMac. Internet on Barbara’s phone has been slow too. Could be Comcast, or clogged net with so many at home.

    Reply
    1. george Post author

      Rick, I’m guessing everyone stuck at home is going online. The traffic has to be immense! Plus all the students are online with distance learning.

      Reply
  11. Deb

    Another good book about Fitzgerald is Stewart O’Nan’s WEST OF SUNSET, which is a fictionalized account of Fitzgerald’s last few years when he was trying to make a go of besting a screenwriter in Hollywood. By this time, Zelda was institutionalized and Fitzgerald was involved with Sheilah Graham (who later wrote BELOVED INFIDEL about their affair). An excellent book about a man who knows he’s drunk away much of his talent, but keeps trying. The scenes with Zelda are heartbreaking.

    Another book I really enjoyed was Liza Klaussmann’s VILLA AMERICA—a novel mostly about Sara & Gerald Murphy. Fitzgerald & Zelda are supporting characters in the book, where they are portrayed as emotionally-immature alcoholics and complete drama queens. And yet there’s still some sympathy for them.

    Reply
    1. george Post author

      Deb, I have a copy of Stewart O’Nan’s WEST OF SUNSET somewhere around here. I’ll have to dig it out and read it. Thanks for the heads up!

      Reply
    2. Jeff Meyerson

      And speaking of the Murphys, I also read LIVING WELL IS THE BEST REVENGE by Calvin Tomkins. Their circle included not only the Fitzgeralds and Hemingway, but Cole Porter and Picasso among others. But they didn’t have a happy ending.

      Reply
  12. Cap'n Bob Napier

    Gatsby is a book I’ve tried to read two or three times but never got past 50 pages! I’m obviously a lout and unworthy of his genius! From what I’ve read, I think he was more interesting than his writing!

    Reply

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