It is narrated by Nick Carraway, a young bachelor who moves to East Egg and settles right opposite Jay Gatsby’s mansion. Gatsby, a self-made millionaire, is a flamboyant albeit reserved man with a mysterious past. Nick is intrigued by this secretive man who throws extravagant parties every weekend and the two strike up an unlikely friendship. Eventually details of how Gatsby amassed all that wealth from his murky business interests unfurl, along with his fatal obsession with a married woman, Daisy Buchanan, which ultimately leads to his demise.
The Great Gatsby explores themes of idealism, materialism, debauchery, social upheaval and more. This book is still strikingly relevant in the materialistic world we live in, a world that no longer frowns upon the distasteful show of wealth and fame.
With this special edition, we celebrate the 95th anniversary of this literary masterpiece.
F. Scott Fitzgerald was one of the major American writers of the twentieth century -- a figure whose life and works embodied powerful myths about our national dreams and aspirations. Fitzgerald was talented and perceptive, gifted with a lyrical style and a pitch-perfect ear for language. He lived his life as a romantic, equally capable of great dedication to his craft and reckless squandering of his artistic capital. He left us one sure masterpiece, The Great Gatsby; a near-masterpiece, Tender Is the Night; and a gathering of stories and essays that together capture the essence of the American experience. His writings are insightful and stylistically brilliant; today he is admired both as a social chronicler and a remarkably gifted artist.