University of South Carolina Libraries
Fitzge By Lehman Stiles Tha phf. Hi*. uuk. ti.. ?. ? . ... . .... .... iryu. in LHI UIIVOIIWIKI 310(11 Fitzgerald, edited by Matthew J. Bruccoli; Har< and Jovanovich; $19.95 In the introduction toThe Price Was High, professor Matthew Bruccoli writes, "The volume are not Fitzgerald's best." The mediately arises: then why are they wc again? The answer to that question tells us s Fitzgerald and something about the art of fic F. Scott Fitzgerald followed a time-honoi a..4L 1 a- r - auiuurs who wrote ior magazines to tinanc longer novels. Some writers never get pa writing for money alone; thousands of freel article after article and suffer from a te novel-in-progress. Fitzgerald, however, wr< preparation for his novels, both in a mon literary sense. A sad humor that toucht very foundation of ey/5?fpnrp This volume of Fitzgerald's uncollected n is interesting in two respects: the eviden nature of the creative process conveyed own notes and the stories themselves. As a rule the stories contain, as Fitzger mitted, "some special fault ? sentim< construction, confusing change of pace.' teresting and entertaining to read, but th teenage girrs DooKsnelt rather than on a li efforts of one of American literature's cent pages are peopled with pitiable, enduring who gain all of their desires only to give it a back home, glittering young socialites whc dashing young men absolutely wild for th aristocratic parents who lend an atmosph anyting with which they are associated. In short, Fitzgerald's characterizations are stereotypical, but with Fitzgerald even 1 Have you How the h hijacking i 19 How the n Just how c raid storie ot F.Scott :ourt, Brace stories in this s question im- JF; >rth publishing omething about :tion in general. *3^81688 rpH IraHifinn r\f Bw "tf ' VV* UUII.IU1I VI ?Eff a' e their work on i st the stage of ancers turn out / J rminal case of / ^ ote stories as a Ito etary and in a ? lagazine stories ces of the true by Fitzgerald's /' aid himself adentality, faulty I P SCOtt Fit ' They are in- ' " ' 11 ey belong on a seem to he human and rpal I ist of the better spinsters: "After dinner Fifi an ral figures. The the porch, while her aunts sat si * Harvard men ning over the pages of magazir 11 up for the girl glancing at each other with stri > have troops of had a few minutes since been si em, and stodgy that he was now alone with their ere of gloom to ? no such terrible adventure ha( prim, quiet lives before." in these stories Even in the face of public dem; the stereotypes characters, Fitzgerald could nol Ideas and Issue prese '.TOl A hit man for the A secret world of o *ues*, March 6, Carolina ( ever wondered: onest citizen contributes t nrli ic + ri/9 i iuuo 11 y ; umbers racket is set up t< i Mafia hit is arranged an oey answers ti and n sacuric of brillianc Women," h ?! rescue her i | But it is F when they tities, fante but these v page of the is time to anything wl It is in thi stories. Aft characters unbelieveal on a penny failure for t w nis lown s i 9 him to leav My Oldest presence, a suicide. The sad probably t zaera Id original ** Evening P ie describes two worried Fitzgerald d Mr Honkins wpnt out tn stamnnnit de by side on the sofa tur- image borr les and from time to time humor tha cken eyes. That a savage existence, tting at their dinner table, The price niece on the dark veranda sacrifice th i ever been allotted to their great god P wanted, bui and for easily recognizable an intense^ : resist an occasional flash confusing, \ wmmmmmammmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmammmmm s Committee nfs ?Y' Aafin rpvpn k ii rganized crime 1979 8:O0 p. Coliseum o a billion dollar sm d transform pennies d executed? tese questio tore. )us mix e. In "Diamond Dick and the First Law of e describes a girl who reverts to her childhood jeing a gun-toting, foul-mouthed gangster ? to nan from a vapid blonde. "itzgerald's plots that are most fascinating, even fail. Many of them are based on hidden idenistic coincidences or sheer divine intervention, weaknesses almost always crop up in the last story. The plots move along quite nicely until it end them; Fitzgerald seems to have leapt at lich would tie the elements of a story together, e plots that Fitzgerald fails his readers in these er suspending disbelief on the basis of realistic and exquisite writing, the reader is force-fed an 3le ending. In "Two For a Cent," the plot hinges that spells the difference between success and women, one of whom loses it thereby destroying rust in him, and one of whom finds it enabling e his home town for fame and fortune. "One of erald could not resist an sional flash of brilliance ... Friends" relies on an almost metaphysical i "voice from Beyond," that saves a man from thing about all this is that the plotting was he most admired feature of the stories as published in magazines like the Saturdav ost and Woman's Home Companion. When wrote a story it unfailingly had the Fitzgerald ? a warm empathy for humanity, a freshness of le on 20th-century winds of change and a sad t touches on the very foundation of human i WAS high for these stories; Fitzgerald had to e subtle relationship of plot and meaning to the 'opularity. Fitzgerald gave his public what they t in the writing itself he gave the world a gift of / personal yet completely universal view of that vonderful world of human emotion. le ?ltl* niggling and I into millions? 'filS f8 | I k.?- L . IS russeH house ?