English was my favourite subject at school, but I didn't get Fitzgerald at all. I remember arguing with my teacher around the introduction - the teacher was trying to talk about the prejudices that the narrator brings to the book, but I thought the opening was Fitzgerald's attempt to convey that the narrator was largely free of prejudice.
Something put me back onto all this all about six months ago. I've just reread _Tender is the Night_ (fifteen years on after a couple of retries. I don't think I finished it at school although was somehow familiar with some of the end). I'm pleased I did, and now feel I'm doing better with that than Gatsby, which I'll tackle after I've finished _The Beautiful and the Damned_.
I will be content only when I feel that I know what Fitzgerald was trying to say.
If you're in London at a time and would be happy to let me buy you coffee to discuss Gatsby further, that would be much appreciated. There's lots of things I don't really get - valley of ashes, owl-eyed man, significance of who turns up at the funeral. As well as the arc itself. My email is in my profile. I do occasional trips to NY, Chicago and Sydney/Melbourne/Adelaide too if you're around any spots there.
English was my favourite subject at school, but I didn't get Fitzgerald at all. I remember arguing with my teacher around the introduction - the teacher was trying to talk about the prejudices that the narrator brings to the book, but I thought the opening was Fitzgerald's attempt to convey that the narrator was largely free of prejudice.
Something put me back onto all this all about six months ago. I've just reread _Tender is the Night_ (fifteen years on after a couple of retries. I don't think I finished it at school although was somehow familiar with some of the end). I'm pleased I did, and now feel I'm doing better with that than Gatsby, which I'll tackle after I've finished _The Beautiful and the Damned_.
I will be content only when I feel that I know what Fitzgerald was trying to say.
If you're in London at a time and would be happy to let me buy you coffee to discuss Gatsby further, that would be much appreciated. There's lots of things I don't really get - valley of ashes, owl-eyed man, significance of who turns up at the funeral. As well as the arc itself. My email is in my profile. I do occasional trips to NY, Chicago and Sydney/Melbourne/Adelaide too if you're around any spots there.