This Side of Paradise (Oxford World's Classics) - Softcover

Fitzgerald, F. Scott

3.64

73,672 ratings by Goodreads

9780199546213: This Side of Paradise (Oxford World's Classics)

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0199546215 ISBN 13: 9780199546213

Publisher: Oxford University Press, 2009

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F. Scott Fitzgerald's first novel, This Side of Paradise, made him instantly famous, and prefigured the themes and characters in later works such as The Great Gatsby and Tender is the Night. A thinly disguised account of Fitzgerald's own Princeton years, the novel's frank description of the main character's love affairs shocked and delighted its first readers, and the book was an immediate success.
The book recounts the story of Amory Blaine as he grows from pampered childhood to young adulthood, and learns to know himself better. At Princeton he becomes a literary aesthete and makes friends with other aspiring writers. As he moves out into the world and tries to find his true direction he falls in love with a succession of beautiful young women. Youthful exuberance and immaturity give way to disillusion and disappointment as Amory confronts the realities of life.
Jackson R. Bryer's introduction establishes the novel as an important work in its own right, highlighting its enduring strengths for the modern reader, examining the book's interesting composition history, and exploring its initial reception in 1920. In addition, this edition features an up-to-date bibliography of primary and secondary sources and critical material, a chronology of the life of F. Scott Fitzgerald, and explanatory notes that provide context for references and allusions.
Brilliant and original in style and structure, This Side of Paradise was a spectacular launching pad for Fitzgerald's career, and stamped him as the bard of the Jazz Age.

About the Series: For over 100 years Oxford World's Classics has made available the broadest spectrum of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford's commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, voluminous notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.

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Review:

Fitzgerald's first novel, reprinted in the handsome Everyman's Library series of literary classic, uses numerous formal experiments to tell the story of Amory Blaine, as he grows up during the crazy years following the First World War. It also contains a new introduction by Craig Raine that describes critical and popular reception of the book when it came out in 1920.

Book Description:

F. Scott Fitzgerald's This Side of Paradise is the opening statement of his literary career. Published originally in 1920, the novel captures the rhythm and feel of the gaudy decade that was to follow in America. This Side of Paradise made Fitzgerald simultaneously famous and infamous: famous for the stylish exuberance of his writing and infamous for the errors--in spelling, fact, grammar, and chronology--that peppered his text. This new edition brings into being an accurate, fully annotated text based on Fitzgerald's original manuscript.

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