ダウンロード The Great Gatsby (Annotated) 本

This new American History Edition of The Great Gatsby features a fresh analysis of the novel and an Introduction by the Editors as well as curated links to resources for the reader, which include biographies, bibliographies, a chronology of Fitzgerald's life and works, archives and special collections dedicated to Fitzgerald, audio files of the author reading, and recently discovered works. The cover of this edition features the original Francis Cugat painting that appeared on the first edition in 1925. This new edition is also available in a large-print paperback and for Kindle. Living on Long Island in 1922, F. Scott Fitzgerald began planning what would become his magnum opus, The Great Gatsby. At the time Fitzgerald hoped it would solidify his reputation as a serious novelist. First published in April 1925, Fitzgerald’s novel garnered decidedly mixed reviews, and it did not sell well—not even as well as his previous two novels. At the time of its original publication, the harshest critics felt it was merely a literary confection—well written, but unconvincing. In the 1920’s American readers were not ready for Fitzgerald’s criticisms of contemporary society of the period, or his portrayal of narratives central to American beliefs and culture. Among other things, the novel portrays the illusory nature of self-invention, the drive for unattainable material wealth, and the anti-immigrant sentiment inherent in American society across the decades. Fitzgerald died in 1940; he never knew The Great Gatsby would become one of the most important books in the English language. At the time many critics thought of The Great Gatsby as a minor period piece; however, with the distance of time, readers have come to see the strong thematic undercurrents in the novel that reveal tensions at the heart of American society. In the hedonism of the Jazz Age Fitzgerald saw the inevitable disillusionment at the core of the American dream as well as the loss of optimism. What once seemed like a failed novel, The Great Gatsby is now a cultural category. It’s been adapted for ballet, film, games, opera, radio, television, and theater and by other works of literature. What early critics saw as a period piece has always been about the central narratives of America itself—narratives about belonging, upward mobility, self-invention, what it means to be “American” vis-à-vis ethnicity and race, anxieties about immigration, and the many limitations imposed on women. Fitzgerald also shows us the destruction that accompanies these narratives—something for which audiences were not yet ready during Fitzgerald’s lifetime. F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896-1940) was born in St. Paul, Minnesota and attended Princeton University before leaving in 1917 to join the army. He is said to have epitomized the Jazz Age, which he characterized as “a generation grown up to find all Gods dead, all wars fought, all faiths in man shaken.” Among his works were five novels, six volumes of short stories as well as a selection of autobiographical pieces.