Saturday, April 10, 2010

Pop History Moment: "The Great Gatsby" Is Published

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F. Scott Fitzgerald's masterpiece of the Jazz Age - The Great Gatsby - was first published on this day in 1925 by Scribner's; its iconic cover was designed by Francis Cugat prior to publication, and was said to have influenced the finished novel. The novel takes place during the summer of 1922, and concerns the dissipation of a group of new money swells at the outset of Prohibition.

A flop upon its initial release, it has morphed into a classic with the passage of the years.

The most famous adaptation of The Great Gatsby for film was made by Jack Clayton in 1974, and starred Robert Redford as Jay Gatsby, Mia Farrow as the object of his affection Daisy Buchanan, and Sam Waterston as Nick Carraway; previously made in 1949 and subsequently remade for television in 2000 (starring Mira Sorvino as Daisy), a silent version made in 1926 has long been considered lost.
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2 comments:

Anonymous said...

This was one of the books I had to read for my Advanced Placement english glass in high school (saved me a year of english in college). I think I read it all in one night while eating no-doz pills. I think I hated it.

michael sean morris said...

People either hate it or they love it. Me, I love it. I read it twice a year, usually in one sitting as well.

So many of my favourite books - this, Cannery Row, To Kill A Mockingbird, 1984 - were required reading, and I could see that fact turning people off of them.

Gatsby, though, is obtuse. I just love the way he uses language.