"I hope she'll be a fool -- that's the best thing a girl can be in this world, a beautiful little fool." - F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby
The Great Gatsby is a 1925 novel by American writer F. Scott Fitzgerald. Set in the Jazz Age on Long Island, the novel depicts narrator Nick Carraway's interactions with mysterious millionaire Jay Gatsby, and Gatsby's obsession to reunite with his former lover, Daisy Buchanan.
The novel was inspired by a youthful romance Fitzgerald had with a socialite, and by parties he attended on Long Island's North Shore in 1922. Following a move to the French Riviera, he completed a rough draft in 1924. After its publication in April 1925, The Great Gatsby received mixed reviews from literary critics and sold poorly. Fitzgerald died in 1940, believing himself to be a failure and his work forgotten. During World War II, the novel faced a critical re-examination and soon became a core part of most American high school curricula. Numerous stage and film adaptations followed in the subsequent decades.
Modern scholars emphasise the novel's treatment of social class, inherited wealth compared to those who are self-made, race, environmentalism, and its cynical attitude towards the American dream. As with other works by Fitzgerald, criticisms include allegations of antisemitism. The Great Gatsby is widely considered to be a literary masterwork and a contender for the title of the Great American Novel.
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