Gatsby Revisited...

Every Spring, I try to complete my American Literary canon by assigning my students to read F. Scoot Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby. I discuss Fitzgerald's role in the Lost Generation, the Jazz Age in America, and the difference between the aristocracy and the nouveau riche. The novel is 86 years old, but I still think that it holds up today. Today's Nouveau riche are still trying to keep up with the Aristocracy. Their antics are even more outlandish than they were in the 1920's, except now they can invite us along on the journey with their "reality" shows. So, last year I wrote a series of articles about Gatsby's relevance today. I called the series "The Gatsby Complex." Hope you enjoy!!

"The Gatsby Complex, Part One: The Lost Generation"
"The Gatsby Complex, Part 2: The Tom Buchanans"
"The Gatsby Complex, Part 3: The Ladies of Gatsby"
"The Gatsby Complex, Part 4: Gatsby"

"They were careless people,. . .--they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money of their vast carelessness, or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess they had made."~F. Scott Fitzgerald