The Great Gatsby

It has been said before, but there is so much pleasure to be had from re-reading works. As time passes, and contingent on state of moment, new interpretations arise. Even knowing the tragic way in which the novel ends does not spoil the joy of the text and its analysis. The introduction to this edition (by a Cambridge academic) also provides some useful perspectives and context. Equally, having recently read Lodge's Art of Fiction, it is enlightening regarding technique. From the novel, three elements particularly stand out on this occasion: one, Fitzgerald's disillusionment about America and the American Dream - described by the author not as an index of aspiration but as a function of deprivation; two, Gatsby's obsession with time - its passing and his inability to recapture or recreate the past. (Clocks also feature heavily as a motif); and three, the unreliability of Nick Carraway's narrative - is he recording Gatsby accurately, or overlaying his own judgmental impressions?

By F. Scott Fitzgerald