The Great Gatsby, 1925 - Information about the Book

Three years before the novel was published by Scribner's, Fitzgerald said that he planned to write "something new - something extraordinary and beautiful and simple and intricately patterned." His old friend, Edmund Wilson, read the book immediately. He told Fitzgerald it was the best work he had done, although he thought the characters were unpleasant. T.S. Eliot told him it was the best new novel he had read in years.
from The Writer's Almanac, MPR.
Fitzgerald hoped to sell 20'000 copies.

Interpreting Symbolism

Explanations Chapters 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9
Gossary of terms and phrases: A-C, D-L, M-Z
Analyses
Timeline
Theme Analysis
Brief character analyses: Nick, Gatsby, Daisy, Tom, Jordan
Character List
Characterization in The Great Gatsby by Adrian Jones, 1996
What is a First Cousin, Twice Removed? - Nick's family connections to Daisy
Symbolism: the eyes of T.J. Eckleburg, East and West Egg, colors.
Celestial Eyes - from Metamorphosis to Masterpiece by Charles Scribner III
Metaphor Analysis
Themes of the Novel plus character descriptions etc.
A not so great Gatsby. A late draft of F Scott Fitzgerald's masterpiece brings nothing new to the party by Adam Mars-Jones. March 26, 2000
Awakening from the American Dream by Marilyn R. Chandler; from "Dwelling in the Text," 1991
Was Gatsby black?. Carlyle V. Thompson, an assistant professor, Medgar Evers College in Brooklyn, N.Y., claims that only an African-American scholar could spot Fitzgerald's secret meaning. Aug. 9, 2000
Fitzgerald's 'Radiant World' by Thomas Flanagan, NY Review of Books, December 21, 2000
Getting It Right: The Publishing Process and the Correction of Factual Errors – with Reference to The Great Gatsby, Matthew J. Bruccoli, University of South Carolina
The Great Gatsby: an introduction by Bryant Mangum, Virginia Commenwealth University
F. Scott Fitzgerald's major contributions to the development of the novel by Bryant Mangum, Virginia Commenwealth University
Significance and Use of Setting
Jacket design for the 1925 edition by Francis Cugat.
- Celestial Eyes by Charles Scribner III, University of South Carolina. This article is about the jacket design by Francis Cugat.
Fitzgerald's 'Radiant World' by Thomas Flanagan; The New York Review of Books, December 21, 2000
Gatsby's Epitaph: F. Scott Fitzgerald by jody Bottum; Catholic Educator's Resource Center, 1999
Ordering of events. The story's events have apparently been scrambled, but it is in fact the sign of artistic order. Besides we get to know Gatsby much in the same way as in real life we become acquainted with a friend, namely progressively by fitting together fragments that are picked up as we read the novel.
Sound, Music and Musicality in The Great Gatsby (doc)
The concluding image of "The Dutch Sailors"
Information about the first edition

F. Scott Fitzgerald's "The Great Gatsby" Was a Major Event in American Literature by Richard Thorman. VoA; January 26, 2006 - this program is in special, slow English (Real 15:38) (transcript) - download as realaudio, mp3
Origin of the character Gatsby by Andre Bernard, author of "Madame Bovary, C'est Moi And Other Excursions into the Origins of Famous Literary Characters"; from WBUR, Boston, January 02, 2004 (RealPlayer 2:02) - Order "Madame Bovary" from Amazon (Canada, France, Germany, UK, USA)
Some thoughts about the novel from the Discovery Channel (Real 1:52)

Jay Gatsby and the Myth of American Origins: a lecture by Leo Marx. MIT School of Engineering; April 25, 2005 (Real 1:25:45, the lecture begins at 3:56, Q&A begins at 53:56)

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