I introduce scholarly books for studying the works of Fitzgerald. I also explain the reason why I chose them.
- Christian K. Messenger. Tender Is the Night and F. Scott Fitzgerald’s Sentimental Identities, 2014.
- Alice Hall Petry, Fitzgerald’s Craft of Short Fiction, 1989.
Christian K. Messenger. Tender Is the Night and F. Scott Fitzgerald’s Sentimental Identities, 2014.
Messenger observes that Tender is the Night depicts the key elements of Fitzgerald’s delicate sensitivity, in which Fitzgerald’s emotional force develops into a powerful aesthetic force.
He observes what makes Dick cultivate a spirit of empathy both professionally and personally is related to Fitzgerald’s loss of his siblings. He states that the relationship between Fitzgerald and his wife Zelda can also be one of the reasons that inspired this work.
He emphasizes Fitzgerald’s autobiographical elements in Tender is the Night. I chose this book because it provides deep insight to explore the issue of identity. Not only the personal issues created the novel, but the process of his writing became the opportunity to cultivate his sympathy for his wife.
Alice Hall Petry, Fitzgerald’s Craft of Short Fiction, 1989.
This book focuses on the detailed background of Fitzgerald’s creation of short stories to offer rebuttals to criticism of which Fitzgerald’s short stories were created for his financial reasons.
Petry claims that Fitzgerald’s short stories are the driving force behind the creation of novels. I chose this book because I have found connections between short stories and novels. The ideas in "The Diamond as Big as the Ritz", "Absolution", and "Winter Dreams", are developed in The Great Gatsby.
