Although Fitzgerald often derogated his short fiction, claiming these works were accomplished only in order to give him money so that he could work on his long fiction, many readers find the tales, at least the better ones, of great worth. Fitzgerald did state that he put a great deal of his "essence" into these pieces. They frequently do offer an immediacy and focus not found in the longer works.
Also, the sense of place can sometimes be found in a short story more sharply than in the novels. Surely, most of the stories express the main themes of Fitzgerald's other fiction in a compact form; these include the importance and glamour of youth, the significance of social standing, a sense of the "historical moment," the necessity of moral standards, an emphasis on both the.....
