John FitzGerald's Books

F. Scott Fitzgerald’s Fiction

“An Almost Theatrical Innocence”

By: John T. Irwin

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F. Scott Fitzgerald’s Fiction

“An Almost Theatrical Innocence”

By: John T. Irwin

A personal interpretation of one of America’s most important writers. “Fitzgerald’s work has always deeply moved me,” writes John T. Irwin. “And this is as true now as it was fifty years ago when I first picked up The Great Gatsby. I can still remember the occasions when I first read each of his novels; remember the time, place, and mood of those early readings, as well as the way each work seemed to speak to something going on in my life at that moment. Because the things that interested Fitzgerald were the things that interested me and because there seemed to be so many similarities in our backgrounds, his work always possessed for me a special, personal authority; it became a form of wisdom, a way of knowing the world, its types, its classes, its individuals.” In his personal tribute to Fitzgerald's novels and short stories, Irwin offers an intricate vision of one of the most important writers in the American canon. The third in Irwin's trilogy of works on American writers, F. Scott Fitzgerald’s Fiction resonates back through all of his previous writings, both scholarly and poetic, returning to Fitzgerald's ongoing theme of the twentieth-century American protagonist's conflict between his work and his personal life. This conflict is played out against the typically American imaginative activity of self-creation, an activity that involves a degree of theatrical ability on the protagonist's part as he must first enact the role imagined for himself, which is to say, the self he means to invent. The work is suffused with elements of both Fitzgerald's and Irwin's biographies, and Irwin's immense erudition is on display throughout. Irwin seamlessly ties together details from Fitzgerald's life with elements from his entire body of work and considers central themes connected to wealth, class, work, love, jazz, acceptance, family, disillusionment, and life as theatrical performance.

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Page Count

248

Publisher

JHU Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

1421412314

ISBN 13

9781421412313

A Guide to F. Scott Fitzgerald's St. Paul

By: John J. Koblas

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A Guide to F. Scott Fitzgerald's St. Paul

By: John J. Koblas

Boyhood pranks in the backyards of Cathedral Hill mansions. Young love at the Minnesota State Fair. Jazz Age parties at the University Club, golfing and dancing at the White Bear Yacht Club. F. Scott Fitzgerald's St. Paul boyhood shaped him--and provided scenery and plots for many of his most successful short stories. Fitzgerald's parents moved many times, but they stayed in the same well-to-do city neighborhood. The young writer continued this pattern after his marriage and early popular success. In this book, informative biographical detail blends with lustrous vignettes from the fiction of one of the greatest writers in twentieth-century America, offering easy access to over 100 places of interest in Minnesota's capital city. The first part of this guidebook tells the story of Fitzgerald in St. Paul by describing his connections to 35 significant places in the city, from his birthplace to the schools, homes, and businesses he knew. Part two identifies 106 places associated with the city's most famous literary son.

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