Certain authors, including F. Scott Fitzgerald, wanted to reflect the horrors that the world had experienced not a decade ago. In 1914, one of the most destructive and pointless wars in history plagued the world: World War I. This war destroyed a whole generation of young men, something one would refer to as the “Lost Generation”. Modernism was a time that allowed the barbarity of the war to simmer down and eventually, disappear altogether. One such author that thrived in this period was F. Scott Fitzgerald, a young poet and author who considered himself the best of his time. One could say that this self-absorption was what fueled his drive to be the most famous modernist the world had seen. As The New Yorker staff writer Susan Orlean mentions in her literary summary of Fitzgerald’s works, “I didn’t know till fifteen that there was anyone in the world except me, and it cost me plenty” (Orlean xi). One of the key factors that influenced and shaped Fitzgerald’s writing was World War I, with one of his most famous novels, This Side Of Paradise, being published directly after the war in 1920. Yet his most famous writing was the book, The Great Gatsby, a novel about striving to achieve the American dream, except finding out when succeeding that this dream was not a desire at all. Fitzgerald himself lived a life full of partying and traveling the world. According to the Norton Anthology of American Literature, “In the 1920’s and 1930’s F. Scott Fitzgerald was equally equally famous as a writer and as a celebrity author whose lifestyle seemed to symbolize the two decades; in the 1920’s he stood for all-night partying, drinking, and the pursuit of pleasure while in the 1930’s he stood for the gloomy aftermath of excess” (Baym 2124). A fur…
… industriously at that time yet the doom of the Stock Market Crash of 1929 loomed over the heads of American citizens. One could say that throughout the course of history, the significance of Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby has gained more fame and momentum in the minds of Americans today. Fitzgerald was indeed the best modernist of his time, due to the fact that he predicted, based on the actions of the wealthy, that the direction of nations would be controlled by few people. In the United States today, one could say that most of this nation is controlled by the corporations and that in a few years, the massive companies will be able to buy a presidency. Although this is just a speculation, so was the idea of Fitzgerald. Modernists in the future should still read and praise this book, The Great Gatsby, because it is a look into the gears of the economy of a nation.
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