1、F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896-1940)弗司各特菲茨杰拉德,The Great Gatsby了不起的蓋茨比,Picture of the author,Book cover of the 1st edition,Life,Birthplace: St. Paul, Minnesota Family Background: unsuccessful upper-class father, socially prominent and genteelly poor family; maternal grandfathers fortune supporting him thr

2、ough good education. Education: Princeton without graduation. Working Experiences: joined the army, wrote for magazines. Tragic, entangled married life with Zelda,Literary Achievements,1920: This Side of Paradise人間天堂 1921: Flappers and Philosophers 輕佻女和哲學家(short story collection) 1922: Tales of the

3、Jazz Age爵士時代的故事(short story collection) 1922: The Beautiful and the Damned 漂亮冤家 1925: The Great Gatsby了不起的蓋茨比,1926: All the Sad Young Men一代悲哀的年輕人 1934: Tender is the Night夜色溫柔 1941: The Last Tycoon 最后的大亨 Crack-up 崩潰,Position and contribution,Chronicler of the 1920s America, the spokesman of the Jazz

4、 age. Insider who lived out that style of life with ardor. A detached observer who recognized the frightening side of that life and gave it an artistic expression. Both the lyricist and demystifier of the modern American dream.,Historical and cultural contexts,The Roaring 20s 喧囂的20年代 (The Jazz Age爵士

5、樂時代） Thriving economy: easy money, ample opportunity, prevailing materialism Pleasure seeking: extravagant parties, Jazz music, heavy drinking, fast racing cars Spiritual sterility,“the Jazz age,” denoted an era of ragtime, jazz, stylish automobiles, and uninhibited young women with bobbed hair and

6、short skirts. It was an age of miracles, it was an age of art, it was an age of excess, and it was an age of satire.“ (Fitzgerald,Echoes of the Jazz Age),The Lost Generation is a term applied to a group of disillusioned American writers of the post WWI era who rebelled against former ideals and ethi

7、c values by taking despair and cynical hedonism and wrote about the nihilistic spirit of modern time with courage and purpose. The term is coined by Gertrude Stein. Ernest Hemingway, Fitzgerald are representatives. 迷惘的一代,Character analysis,What kind of person is Nick Carraway? How might his narratio

8、n color the way readers view other characters and events? Is he a reliable narrator? What are the key attributes of Jim and Daisy? What do we learn of Gatsby? Why is he great? What does Daisy mean to Gatsby? How is Daisys voice described to be full of money?,Tom and Daisy: emblematic of the rich who

9、 are extremely selfish, heartless, careless, arrogant, hypocritical, immoral, who “smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness, or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess they had made.”,Daisy: an ideal o

10、f perfection to Gatsby, an embodiment of the rotten American Dream Her charm, beauty and attraction represent the luring, deluding promise of the American dream, the promise of wealth, happiness and fulfillment. Her shallow, empty inside suggests the ugly, destructive nature of the materialistic Ame

11、rican dream.,Gatzby: a self-made man with immense wealth by illicit means. a symbol of idealism who takes money and earning money as a means to achieve his dream and happiness, and who is willing to stake all he has, even his life on safeguarding his ideal. a tragic figure who believes in the power

12、of money and takes a wrong dream.,Themes,Critical commentary upon the rampant materialism and moral barrenness of the 1920s. Idealism vs Materialism corruption and destruction of idealism by materialism in a materialistic milieu. Class structure: old money, new money, moneyless (all corrupted by mon

13、ey),Disillusionment of the American dream Total identification of American dream with money, demise of its spiritual implication. Money signifies success, secures happiness, satisfies every aspiration. What Gatsby pursues is unworthy of his talent and dedication. Its shallow, empty, and meaningless.

14、,Narrative technique,Reliable narrator A reliable narrator is one who has a credible, authoritative voice in a narrative. main characteristics of a reliable narrator: a. proximity in values to the implied author. b. a breadth of knowledge of situations and characters. c. ability to distance him or h

15、erself from personal involvement to provide an impartial account. d. morally honest, impeccable.,Nick Carraway: a sober, quiet young man from the midwest, a reliable narrator, an eye witness of the events. His midwestern ethical background distances himself from the immoral Easterners and comes up w

16、ith his own view and gives critical commentary the author implies. He is Daisys distant cousin, Toms college classmate, Gatsbys west egg neighbor. He knows about their past, and witnesses everything that goes on among the three.,c. He is impartial as an eye witness. d. His moral sense renders him account reliable. Advantages: objectivity; double vision of the author Nick and Gatsby serve as the split Fitzgerald in his relation to his time. The passionate Gatsby articulates his enchantment with that giddy, flashy life, while Nick re