Great Gatsby Critics

Hey, I'm retaking the As module on Great Batsby next week and I'm looking to take a B to an A. I'm not sure exactly about how to do this but things I didn't do last time:

1) I didn't talk about fore shadowing, merely cause I'm stupid in exam situations, easily solved.

2) mentioned no good critics.

I'm looking for some really general critical quotes on Gatsby or the 1930's era to be able to pull it out on any question. I'm off to google it now but if any one has some that they know or if they're famous and have written a book; they can just quote something right here themselves and I'll use that....

e.g.
"Gatsby is a great book but really gets on your boobs when you've had to study it twice in one year, cause lets face it the 1930's was a dull decade, so dull the only way to get some excitement was to be strapped on top of a bi-plane."
Tegid, 6th January 2007

Thanks in advance
Jx

Reply 1

unlock_yourheart

Hey, this will all seem very organized, and possibly useless, but I'll just copy out some critic notes I found in my file. Everything's very vague but some names you might want to google could pop up. I'm retaking too...

Chapter 1The road from West Egg: Early reviews to posthumous revival 1925-1949
Hunter Stag: Fitzgerald was a man really progressing towards artistic maturity.

Edward Shenton: Gatsby was a mature conception.

Ruth Snyder: Found the style forced.

Paterson: Book of the season only.

Kazin: Characters are lightweight.

Seldes: 'The Great Gatsby' shows that Fitzgerald has transcended his weakness.

Chapter 2Dream, time and craft: Interpreting Gatsby in the 1950's.
Lionel Trilling: He has critical authority. He presents Fitzgerald as an heroic figure, a sort of tragic hero. His criticism meant 'The Great Gatsby's popularity increased, causing more Americans to read it.

Edwin. S. Fussell: Argued that Fitzgerald's literary status depended above all on his critique of the American Dream.

Mouris Bewley: American Dream.

F.R.Leavis: Great work of fiction was both morally significant and artistically accomplished. (Mouris agreed with this.)

Stallman: Nick Carraway is to be respected for his moral concern. -East vs. West, they are opposites but cannot stay rigid, blurred or confused in identity patterns.

Henry James and H.G.Wells: dispute Stallman over form and function.
Miller: Analyses that the altered straight forward chronological events of the story - this way the reader gets to know Gatsby like in real life.

Precision lenses and New Optics: Deeper views in the 1960's.
R.W.Stallman: His essay on 'Gatsby' in 1955 brought out a special issue devoted to Fitzgerald - a further sign of his critical acceptance.

A.E.Dyson: Wrote explicitly as an English critic rather than an American critic, affirmed that Gatsby belonged not only to American but to world literature. and that the end of the novel achieves a tragic vision. His essay on Gatsby was also a sign for the increasing acceptance in England of The Great Gatsby.

J.B.Priestly: Had a high, qualified, judgement of Gatsby. He said Gatsby was Fitzgerald's most perfectly planned piece of fiction and one of they key novels of the twenties.

Dan Jacobson: He criticised Gatsby and said of it he agreed with Fitzgerald's own criticism; that it lacked an account of Gatsby and Daisy's relationship between their reunion and his [Gatsby] death; but he felt such points were of no significance, finding the novel both pleasurably readable, and it's tragic nature, he argued, was due mainly to the way in which Gatsby was turned into a national and 'mythic' character.

Summary of Gatsby and the 60's
For:
R.W.Stallamn - showed critical acceptance.
A.E.Dyson - proved acceptance in England.
J.B.Priestly - Gatsby was 'perfectly planned' by Fitzgerald.
Westbrook - Rellious 60's began accepting the novel.
Robert Sklar - imperishable works of American fiction.

Opposing
Dan Jacobson - Gatsby and Daisy's relationship had signs of insignificance in the novel (Fitzgerald agreed with this.)

1980s and 1990s criticisms
Susan Redneck Parr: more sympathetic of Daisy than previous decades.
plays certain roles as a way of creating for herself a sense of meaning and purpose.

Kieth Fraser: sensitive towards Daisy - she is torn between a desire for personal freedom (represented by love for Gatsby and her fear of emotions and need for stability.)

Critics who took on a Marxist perspective noticed the inequality between characters due to wealth being an important part of their lives (Richard Godden).
eg. voice full of money, the kings daughter, a golden girl

Kieth Fraser: argues the possibility of Nick being homosexuel. eg. at the end of Myrtle's party where Nick finds himself in McKee's department with McKee clad in his underwear.

Richard Lehan: Argues against this.
comic counterpart to a later tragic blurriness
...no other connection in the novel
Does not agree with all 'modern' approaches to novel.

Patti White (post-modernist): Returned to novel from a 1990s perspective.
-consumerism
-desire for materialistic possessions.
-language of marketplace.
-industrial production.

I also have a few photocopied essays by Katherine Parkinson. One is titled 'A Novel of the 1920s' about society, and the other 'A Novel of Intricate Patterns' about the effect of the structure on the reader. Sorry I'm vague - I have yet to re-revise her...but I remember her coming in a lot of use.

John O' Hara (a documentary writer, apparently) is also very good for talking about how Fitzgerald's writing style reflects his portrayal of 1920's society.

OK, and they're the only name's I'm gonna have a look at before the exam. Good luck!! :smartass:

Reply 2

Tegid

Thankyou v much, these are perfect.

Good luck.

Reply 3

Sianey

Hmm perhaps my TOTAL lack of the use of critics was the reason that I am also having to retake this module on Wednesday. It's entirely possible that I should take another look at the AO I need to fulfill!!