Tales of the Jazz Age (Pine Street Books) - Softcover

Fitzgerald, F. Scott

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0812218558 ISBN 13: 9780812218558

Publisher: Pine Street Books, 2003

Synopsis

Though most widely known for the novella The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald gained a major source of income as a professional writer from the sale of short stories. Over the course of his career, Fitzgerald published more than 160 stories in the period's most popular magazines. His second short fiction collection, Tales of the Jazz Age (1922), includes two masterpieces as well as several other stories from his earlier career. One, "May Day," depicts a party at a popular club in New York that becomes a night of revelry during which former soldiers and an affluent group of young people start an anti-Bolshevik demonstration that results in an attack on a leftist newspaper office. "The Diamond as Big as the Ritz" is a fantastic satire of the selfishness endemic to the wealthy and their undying pursuit to preserve that way of life.

All of these stories, like his best novels, meld Fitzgerald's fascination with wealth with an awareness of a larger world, creating a subtle social critique. With his discerning eye, Fitzgerald elucidates the interactions of the young people of post-World War I America who, cut off from traditions, sought their place in the modern world amid the general hysteria of the period that inaugurated the age of jazz.

This new edition reproduces in full the original collection, stories that represent a clear movement in theme and character development toward what would become The Great Gatsby. In introducing each story, Fitzgerald offers accounts of its textual history, revealing decisions about which stories to include.

About this title

Book Description:

Fitzgerald's second collection of short stories, Tales of the Jazz Age (1922), includes at least two masterpieces --'May Day' and 'The Diamond as Big as the Ritz'. Tales of the Jazz Age and Other Stories reproduces Tales of the Jazz Age in full, along with several uncollected stories from the early 1920s, including 'Dice, Brassknuckles and Guitar', which closely anticipates the themes and characters of The Great Gatsby. James L. W. West III traces the textual history of the stories, and provides detailed historical notes, references and glosses.

About the Author:

F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896-1940) is author of numerous acclaimed stories and novels, including The Great Gatsby, Tender Is the Night, and The Last Tycoon.

About this edition

• Publisher: Pine Street Books
• Publication date: 2003
• ISBN 10: 0812218558
• ISBN 13: 9780812218558
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 328