Six Tales of the Jazz Age [Paperback]

F. Scott Fitzgerald (Author)

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

  F. Scott Fitzgerald was born in St. Paul, Minnesota, in 1896, attended Princeton University, and published his first novel, This Side of Paradise, in 1920. That same year he married Zelda Sayre and the couple divided their time among New York, Paris, and the Riviera, becoming a part of the American expatriate circle that included Gertrude Stein, Ernest Hemingway, and John Dos Passos. Fitzgerald was a major new literary voice, and his masterpieces include The Beautiful and Damned, The Great Gatsby, and Tender Is the Night. He died of a heart attack in 1940 at the age of forty-four, while working on The Love of the Last Tycoon. For his sharp social insight and breathtaking lyricism, Fitzgerald stands out as one of the most important American writers of the twentieth century.

Product Details

• Paperback: 192 pages
• Publisher: Scribner (January 1, 1966)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 068471762X
• ISBN-13: 978-0684717623
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.3 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,255,760 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the best American books of short stories, July 29, 2006

By 

B. Allen (Portland, OR USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Six Tales of the Jazz Age (Paperback)

I've read many books of short stories in my life, by authors such as Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Ernest Hemingway, Jorge Luis Borges, Saul Bellow, Haruki Murakami, Julio Cortazar, Ian McEwan etc. (all great writers in their own right), but none of these authors has been able to write stories as exciting, complete, and satisfying as Fitzgerald's in "Six Tales of the Jazz Age and other stories." In this book, Fitzgerald combines wit, Jazz Age glamour, emotions and moral messages to perfect effect. "The Jelly-Bean" is a tale of love and longing between a Southerner and a wild woman. "The Adjuster" tells of a wife who learns to be less selfish in her demands of her husband, and in "'O, Russet Witch!'" a woman symbolizes a man's desire to be irresponsible and spontaneous as he tries to live up to the responsibility that society and his family demand of him. "Gretchen's Forty Winks" is about the balance between work and responsibility to one's partner. "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" narrates the (somewhat) absurd story of a man born old who lives his life getting steadily younger (I was reminded of Alejo Carpentier's "Viaje a la semilla" (Journey to the Seed), but Fitzgerald's story is better and slightly more daring). "The Camel's Back" is a lighter tale of confused identities, while "Hot and Cold Blood" ponders the conflicting responibilities to family and society.

Any writer could match Fitzgerald's moral demands, but few would be able to make such stories as entertaining and fast-paced as he does. I used to hate Fitzgerald as a writer--due in large part to being too young to appreciate what "The Great Gatsby" was really about (I read it in high school)--but these stories have inspired me to try to read (and in the case of the "Gatsby," re-read) the rest of his works. I highly recommend this book to all those who love great, profound, and thoroughly entertaining literature.