Introduction
- written by author Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald, published 1925
- The Great Gatsby is a novel of the genres tragedy, realism, modernism and social satire
- the story follows Jay Gatsby, a man who reinvents himself for his one and only desire which is to be reunited with Daisy Buchanan, a married woman he had a romantic relationship with five years ago
- set in the 1920s in West Egg, Long Island and New York City
- narrated by Nick Carraway, in both first and third person, presenting only what he himself observes
- thematic topics include the decline of the 1920s, the difference between social classes, the role of symbols in the human conception of meaning and Prohibition
- conflict: although Gatsby has worked hard towards becoming incredibly rich in order to get back Daisy, she rejects him due to his past and the way that he has attained his wealth
- even though the novel was not popular at the time it was published, it has turned into a piece of classic American fiction
- today, the novel offers a window through which readers are able to observe life in the 1920s and to catch the mood of a generation during a politically and socially unstable period of American history
- The Great Gatsby was turned into several film and television adaptations, the most famous one starring Leonardo DiCaprio as Gatsby (2013)
Aus: F. Scott Fitzgerald: The Great Gatsby, Wordsworth Classics, 1993, London