Widely regarded as one of America’s great authors, F. Scott Fitzgerald led a life of drama and extravagance that often overshadowed his writing career. This book refocuses attention on how Fitzgerald viewed and approached the business of writing. Fitzgerald scholar James L. W. West III explores the writer’s professional life through personal letters, manuscripts, his business ledger, editions of his novels, and even a “seven-year plan.” In assessing these diverse materials, West reveals fascinating details about what led Fitzgerald to follow authorship as a calling, why he took on certain projects, how he managed his finances, and what influenced his writing style. Connecting Fitzgerald’s career to his literary texts, West also provides new information on the development and publication history of some of Fitzgerald’s most important works, such as The Great Gatsby and Jacob’s Ladder. Throughout, West pays close attention to the delicate balance in Fitzgerald’s career between money and literary respectability, commerce and art. A keen, engaging, and intimate look at Fitzgerald’s day-to-day work of writing for a living, Business Is Good is a must-have for anyone who wants a better understanding of this American literary giant.
A collection of essays by editor, biographer, bibliographer, and book historian James L. W. West III, covering editorial theory, archival use, textual emendation, and scholarly annotation. Discusses the treatment of both public documents (novels, stories, nonfiction) and private texts (letters, diaries, journals, working papers)"--Provided by publisher.
A “mesmerizing” biography of the #1 New York Times–bestselling author of Sophie’s Choice, The Confessions of Nat Turner, and Darkness Visible (Entertainment Weekly). William Styron was one of the most highly regarded and controversial authors of his generation. In this illuminating biography, James L. W. West III draws upon letters, papers, and manuscripts as well as interviews with Styron’s friends and family to recount in rich detail the experiences that shaped each of his groundbreaking books. From Styron’s Southern upbringing, which deeply influenced the Pulitzer Prize–winning The Confessions of Nat Turner and National Book Award–winning Sophie’s Choice, to his feud with Norman Mailer and the clinical depression that led to his acclaimed memoir Darkness Visible, West’s remarkable biography provides invaluable insight into the life and works of a giant of American literature.
Library of America presents the definitive novel of the Jazz Age in an authoritative new text—along with a quartet of brilliant stories that explore variations on the theme of desperate longing for an unattainable someone or something Boats against the current, we are borne back ceaselessly to The Great Gatsby. Its unforgettable characters—the conflicted narrator Nick Carraway, the golden girl Daisy Buchanan, and the mysterious Jay Gatsby—its indelible symbols and soaring prose, and its large themes of money, class, and American optimism have an enduring fascination and make The Great Gatsby a frequent candidate for “the Great American novel.” Now readers can experience F. Scott Fitzgerald’s masterpiece in an edition that brings us closest to his original vision for the work. Drawn from the authoritative Library of America edition of Fitzgerald’s collected writings, this deluxe paperback presents a new, corrected text of The Great Gatsby by preeminent Fitzgerald scholar James L. W. West III, incorporating emendations the author made on galley proofs and in his personal copy of the book. Fitzgerald’s masterpiece is joined here by four contemporary stories—the “Gatsby cluster”—in which he explores variations on the theme of desperate longing for an unattainable someone or something: “Winter Dreams,” “The Rich Boy,” “Absolution,” and “Rags Martin-Jones and the Pr-nce of W-les.” Essential reading for fans of the novel, these, too, are presented in newly corrected texts. Rounding out this special edition is a selection of thirteen letters between Fitzgerald and Maxwell Perkins, his editor at Scribner’s, about the composition, editing, and publication of The Great Gatsby, offering a fascinating glimpse into the genesis of an American classic. Other features include a preface by the editor, a detailed chronology of Fitzgerald’s life and career, and helpful explanatory and textual notes.
To write it took three months; to conceive it—three minutes; to collect the data in it—all my life." So said F. Scott Fitzgerald regarding This Side of Paradise, the novel he began writing in November 1917 and published on March 26, 1920. This Side of Paradise launched Fitzgerald as the "Prophet of the Jazz Age" and the spokesman for his generation. It is still one of the major reasons for his fame today. The story of how Fitzgerald wrote and published the book is fascinating. In The Making of "This Side of Paradise", James West studies the inception, composition, publication, and textual history of the novel. He traces its growth from its earliest version, entitled "The Romantic Egotist," to its final published form. Based on preserved documentary evidence—fragments of "The Romantic Egotist," the manuscript of This Side of Paradise, surviving correspondence, and other papers—this volume blends the techniques of biographical, critical, and textual scholarship to tell the story of the making of the quintessential novel of the twenties.
A self-portrait of a great writer. A Short Autobiography charts Fitzgerald's progression from exuberant and cocky with "What I think and Feel at 25", to mature and reflective with "One Hundred False Starts" and "The Death of My Father." Compiled and edited by Professor James West, this revealing collection of personal essays and articles reveals the beloved author in his own words.
This book examines literary authorship in the twentieth century and covers such topics as publishing, book distribution, the trade editor, the literary agent, the magazine market, subsidiary rights, and the blockbuster mentality.
This volume of the Cambridge Fitzgerald Edition includes the original nine stories selected by Fitzgerald for All the Sad Young Men, together with eleven additional stories, published between 1925 and 1928, which were not collected by Fitzgerald during his lifetime." "This edition of All the Sad Young Men is the first of the short-fiction collections in the Cambridge edition to be based on extensive surviving manuscripts and typescripts. The volume contains a scholarly introduction, historical notes, a textual apparatus, illustrations, and appendixes."--BOOK JACKET.
F. Scott Fitzgerald began composing Tender Is the Night in the summer of 1925, but he struggled with the novel and reworked it intensively over the next nine years. A study of the disintegration of a talented young American psychiatrist, set among wealthy American expatriates living in Europe after the First World War, the novel, finally published in 1934, is now considered one of his major works. Fitzgerald saved a great many of his working materials - notes, diagrams, holographs, typescripts, proofs and correspondence - making it possible to reconstruct in detail the passage of Tender Is the Night from manuscript to print. The Cambridge edition follows the order of the first edition; it includes a history of composition, an analysis of Fitzgerald's plan for republication and an explanation of the chronology of the narrative. The edition also contains full historical annotations, facsimiles of surviving drafts and a record of emendations.
This volume brings together three series of short stories by F. Scott Fitzgerald - the Basil Duke Lee stories of 1928-29, the Josephine Perry stories of 1930-31, and the Gwen Bowers stories of 1936. The texts published here are based on surviving typescripts that preserve Fitzgerald's final revisions for their first publication in the Saturday Evening Post. Collations have revealed cuts and revisions by the Post editors aimed at removing profanity and blasphemy, sexual innuendo, real names of people and places, and references to racial prejudice. These passages have been restored to the Cambridge texts. This volume includes a scholarly introduction, a record of variants, facsimiles and other illustrations, and an appendix that presents early endings for the stories 'The Captured Shadow' and 'Basil and Cleopatra'. Full historical notes identify popular songs, sports heroes, literary works, Broadway shows, and sources for the stories.
A collection of essays by editor, biographer, bibliographer, and book historian James L. W. West III, covering editorial theory, archival use, textual emendation, and scholarly annotation. Discusses the treatment of both public documents (novels, stories, nonfiction) and private texts (letters, diaries, journals, working papers)"--Provided by publisher.
A “mesmerizing” biography of the #1 New York Times–bestselling author of Sophie’s Choice, The Confessions of Nat Turner, and Darkness Visible (Entertainment Weekly). William Styron was one of the most highly regarded and controversial authors of his generation. In this illuminating biography, James L. W. West III draws upon letters, papers, and manuscripts as well as interviews with Styron’s friends and family to recount in rich detail the experiences that shaped each of his groundbreaking books. From Styron’s Southern upbringing, which deeply influenced the Pulitzer Prize–winning The Confessions of Nat Turner and National Book Award–winning Sophie’s Choice, to his feud with Norman Mailer and the clinical depression that led to his acclaimed memoir Darkness Visible, West’s remarkable biography provides invaluable insight into the life and works of a giant of American literature.
In this collection of 25 interviews "Mr. Styron proves to be a consistently thoughtful & cooperative subject, freely discussing his southern origins, literary influences, writing habits, political views & other topics related to his fiction"--New York Times Book Review.
To write it took three months; to conceive it—three minutes; to collect the data in it—all my life." So said F. Scott Fitzgerald regarding This Side of Paradise, the novel he began writing in November 1917 and published on March 26, 1920. This Side of Paradise launched Fitzgerald as the "Prophet of the Jazz Age" and the spokesman for his generation. It is still one of the major reasons for his fame today. The story of how Fitzgerald wrote and published the book is fascinating. In The Making of "This Side of Paradise", James West studies the inception, composition, publication, and textual history of the novel. He traces its growth from its earliest version, entitled "The Romantic Egotist," to its final published form. Based on preserved documentary evidence—fragments of "The Romantic Egotist," the manuscript of This Side of Paradise, surviving correspondence, and other papers—this volume blends the techniques of biographical, critical, and textual scholarship to tell the story of the making of the quintessential novel of the twenties.
Widely regarded as one of America’s great authors, F. Scott Fitzgerald led a life of drama and extravagance that often overshadowed his writing career. This book refocuses attention on how Fitzgerald viewed and approached the business of writing. Fitzgerald scholar James L. W. West III explores the writer’s professional life through personal letters, manuscripts, his business ledger, editions of his novels, and even a “seven-year plan.” In assessing these diverse materials, West reveals fascinating details about what led Fitzgerald to follow authorship as a calling, why he took on certain projects, how he managed his finances, and what influenced his writing style. Connecting Fitzgerald’s career to his literary texts, West also provides new information on the development and publication history of some of Fitzgerald’s most important works, such as The Great Gatsby and Jacob’s Ladder. Throughout, West pays close attention to the delicate balance in Fitzgerald’s career between money and literary respectability, commerce and art. A keen, engaging, and intimate look at Fitzgerald’s day-to-day work of writing for a living, Business Is Good is a must-have for anyone who wants a better understanding of this American literary giant.
This book examines literary authorship in the twentieth century and covers such topics as publishing, book distribution, the trade editor, the literary agent, the magazine market, subsidiary rights, and the blockbuster mentality.
A self-portrait of a great writer. A Short Autobiography charts Fitzgerald's progression from exuberant and cocky with "What I think and Feel at 25", to mature and reflective with "One Hundred False Starts" and "The Death of My Father." Compiled and edited by Professor James West, this revealing collection of personal essays and articles reveals the beloved author in his own words.
An engaging look at early twentieth-century American printmaking, which frequently focused on the crowded, chaotic, and gritty modern city. In the first half of the twentieth century, a group of American artists influenced by the painter and teacher Robert Henri aimed to reject the pretenses of academic fine art and polite society. Embracing the democratic inclusiveness of the Progressive movement, these artists turned to making prints, which were relatively inexpensive to produce and easy to distribute. For their subject matter, the artists mined the bustling activity and stark realities of the urban centers in which they lived and worked. Their prints feature sublime towering skyscrapers and stifling city streets, jazzy dance halls and bleak tenement interiors—intimate and anonymous everyday scenes that addressed modern life in America. True Grit examines a rich selection of prints by well-known figures like George Bellows, Edward Hopper, Joseph Pennell, and John Sloan as well as lesser-known artists such as Ida Abelman, Peggy Bacon, Miguel Covarrubias, and Mabel Dwight. Written by three scholars of printmaking and American art, the essays present nuanced discussions of gender, class, literature, and politics, contextualizing the prints in the rapidly changing milieu of the first decades of twentieth-century America.
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