I am far from unearthing a hidden gem, nor am I expressing a veneration not held by countless literary critics.?And it's cultural and artistic implications I need hardly describe.?Still, The Great Gatsby is my favorite novel and the finest.?
It's sustained power beyond its meager success in Scott's own lifetime (I believe only 25,000 or so copies were sold before his death); it's written in an ingenious, simple format that both child and adult can comprehend and appreciate.?There are no inflated, grandiloquent sentences.?No hulking, virile ego on display.?The proof of his intellect and the richness of ideas is phrased guilelessly.?
I love Fitzgerald because these words, his words, are what I most want to read.?Anytime.?Again and again.?”So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.”?Sigh.
But what do you think?