Flappers and Philosophers: The Collected Short Stories of F. Scott Fitzgerald. [Hardcover]

F. Scott (Francis Scott) Fitzgerald (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 1, 2010 | ISBN-10: 0141194103 | ISBN-13: 978-0141194103

These sumptuous new hardback editions mark the 70th anniversary of Fitzgerald's death. Encompassing the very best of F. Scott Fitzgerald's short fiction, this collection spans his career, from the early stories of the glittering Jazz Age, through the lost hopes of the thirties, to the last, twilight decade of his life. It brings together his most famous stories, including "The Diamond as Big as the Ritz", a fairy tale of unlimited wealth; the sad and hilarious stories of Hollywood hack Pat Hobby; and, "The Lost Decade", written in Fitzgerald's last years.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Scott followed up his smash debut novel, This Side of Paradise, with this 1920 collection of short stories, which contains several of his signature pieces such as "Bernice Bobs Her Hair," "The Ice Palace," and "Benediction." This Cambridge scholarly edition includes six additional stories not appearing in the original incarnation. Along with the stories, it also includes illustrations, explanatory notes, and other scholarly appendixes. A tad pricey for most public libraries, but academics supporting American literature curricula should strongly consider purchase.
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

"The latest volume in this fine uniform edition of Fitzgerald's works maintains the high standards of the "The Cambridge Edition of the Works of F. Scott Fitzgerald" series. Of significant interest to Fitzgerald scholars and students, this fine edition, and the developing series of which it is a part, merits a place in every library serving upper-division undergraduates through faculty." Choice --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 672 pages
• Publisher: Penguin Books (November 1, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0141194103
• ISBN-13: 978-0141194103
• Product Dimensions: 5.7 x 8.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #64,226 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

23 of 23 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Contents: (More than I expected) May 10, 2011

By Stephen L. Powell

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

From the title you might expect this book to have the 8 short storied from the 1920 book titled Flappers and Philosophers. Well you'd be wrong. This has selections from that book and many more short stories. I've listed the contents below.

I. From Flappers and Philosophers (1920) and Tales of the Jazz Age (1922)
Bernice Bobs Her Hair
The Icy Palace
The Jelly-Bean
The Cut-Glass Bowl
May Day
The Lees of Happiness
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Diamond as Big as the Ritz

II. From All the Sad Young Men (1926) and Taps at Reveille (1935)
Winter Dreams
Absolution
Gretchen's Forty Winks
'The Sensible Thing'
The Baby Party
The Rich Boy
A Short Trip Home
Magnetism
Basil: The Freshest Boy
Josephine: A Woman with a Past
The Last of the Belles
The Rough Crossing
Two Wrongs
The Bridal Party
Babylon Revisited
Crazy Sunday

III. Uncollected Stories (1937-40)
Pat Hobby's Cristmas Wish
A Man on the Way
'Boil some Water - Lots of It'
Teamed with Genius
Pat Hobby and Orson Welles
Pat Hobby's Secret
Pat Hobby, Putative Father
The Homes of the Stars
Pat Hobby Does His Bit
Pat Hobby's Preview
No Harm Trying
On the Trail of Pat Hobby
Pat Hobby's College Days
A Patriotic Short
Fun in an Artist's Studio
Two Old-Timers
Mightier than the Sword
An Alcoholic Case
Three Hours between Planes
Financing Finnegan
The Lost Decade

14 of 16 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Numerous typos that detract from meaning August 2, 2011

By mosesboox

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

I understand that this Kindle book is free and that it was transcribed from physical books by a community of volunteers, but it really should be revised, for there are a great deal of data entry errors that detract from the meaning of the writing.

13 of 16 people found the following review helpful

1.0 out of 5 stars Shameful amount of typos, even for a free book! January 9, 2012

By Christina R.

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

I happen to love this book, and I love F. Scott Fitzgerald even more. So I was appalled at the number of typos in this Kindle book's copy. I understand that this Kindle book is free, but does that mean its final version doesn't deserve to be properly proofread?

I was already feeing funny about reading a book like this via Kindle. (My Kindle was a gift, by the way.) I vowed to only buy books that I already owned in hard or soft copy, just out of principle. I bought this book to read on the plane and couldn't even get through its first story without becoming a little bit angry and sad. I finally just gave up and will now delete this from my Kindle "library".

This convinces me that in being converted to a Kindle book, every "real" book is in danger of losing some of its dignity.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars short stories, worth your time June 23, 2012

By Mei

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

This book was first published in 1920 and contains 8 short stories. The printed edition of this book is 177 pages long. All the stories are not only a pleasure to read, they also allow you a glimpse into the 1910's-1920's. There are a few errors and typos in this e-book version, but it doesn't get much worse than 'tall' where it should be 'tell', or 'had had' in stead of 'had'; so a bit distracting at times, but no major problem. I do recommend this book to anyone who likes to read (early-twentieth century) literature.
(In case you're wondering what a 'flapper' is, it is an informal word -used in the period around 1900-1930- to describe a fashionable young woman who was very modern (short dress, bobbed hair, drinking, smoking, treating sex in a casual way) and who flouted social and sexual norms.)

The short stories in this book are:

-The Offshore Pirate
-The Ice Palace
-Head and Shoulders
-The Cut-Glass Bowl
-Bernice Bobs Her Hair
-Benediction
-Dalyrimple Goes Wrong
-The Four Fists

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Form and Finesse December 21, 2002

By L. Dann

Format:Hardcover

Fitzgerald's stories manage to unite his otherworldly grasp of the fluctuations in the human soul. He is a master at presenting its contrivances and vanities as things that happen to people. The tension in these tales rises with almost unconscious force. Red herrings of possible conclusions are whispered but almost in the style of a trickster. Someone always gets conned and someone unmasked- all within that now long-gone era that held a fullhouse of interesting details and premonitions of an ominous future. "Beatrice Bobs her Hair" always has something more to say about savage young ladies. It deserves its place, I think, in every highschool English curriculum. The spoiled rich girls inevitably fall madly in love- with the cads or the tricksters. It was interesting to read "Benediction" in this era of the priest scandals. How priests were seen by Fitzgerald, or perhaps how he conceived his alter ego- is apparent in his return to his natural self through the heroine's choice at the end. This writer always has a trick up his sleeve for the unpredictable conclusion.
I am surprised that there are not more raves over this collection, but perhaps that is the nature of the post modern era. I on the other hand -rave. Story, resolution, all those little formulas that separate the artist from the amateur in the impossible short story form. Fitzgerald, except for perhaps in Gatsby, never achieved such form and plotting in his novels. His youth too, can be sensed in the humorous and rather light-hearted manner by which he casts his characters and those obstacles that they encounter.