The Great Gatsby | Literary Criticism & Book Review

The Great Gatsby Critical Overview

Just before The Great Gatsby was to appear with a publication date of April 10, 1925, the Fitzgeralds were in the south of France. Fitzgerald was waiting for news from Max Perkins, his publisher, and cabled him to request "Any News," The 29-year-old author had won critical acclaim for his first novel, This Side of Paradise but had faltered with the less-than-perfect The Beautiful and the Damned. He was earnest about being considered one of the top American writers of his time, and needed the boost that his third novel might give him to achieve that status,

During his lifetime, Fitzgerald was generally praised for The Great Gatsby; it is usually considered to be his finest accomplishment and the one most analyzed by literary critics. The established opinion, according to biographer Arthur Mizener in The Far Side of Paradise, is best represented by renowned critic Lionel...
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