Enchanted Places: The Use of Setting in F. Scott Fitzgerald's Fiction (Contributions to the Study of American Literature) - Hardcover

Zhang, Aiping

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0313302383 ISBN 13: 9780313302381

Publisher: Praeger, 1997

Synopsis

Most of Fitzgerald's novels and stories start as a romance of love or a fantasy of extravagant glamour, but as the settings and the interplay between characters and the places they live are carefully examined, an emblem-like quality is discovered in their deceptively simple configuration. The first full-length study of Fitzgerald's unparalleled representation of Jazz Age America, this book analyzes an essential, but relatively uncultivated part of the artistry in Fitzgerald's fiction: his use of domestic and urban settings. Fitzgerald's use of these settings as a rich source of imagery objectifies social trends and individual desires. Each setting is no longer just a locale, or a site for a story's action, but a sophisticated device, an integral part of the story designed to convey a unique vision of life in a profound way. Such parabolic quality, the author argues, gives Fitzgerald's fiction enormous possibilities of temporal span and multiple situations, as well as a microcosmic capacity for containing the complexities of reality.

About this title

About the Author

AIPING ZHANG is Assistant Professor of English at California State University at Chico. He has published articles on Mark Twain and Fitzgerald, and contributed to anthologies and reference books. Zhang currently teaches courses in American literature and multiculturalism.

Edition details

• Publisher: Praeger
• Publication date: 1997
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0313302383
• ISBN 13: 9780313302381
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 208