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    The Observer - Gatsby Is Back

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    The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald is experiencing a resurgence in popularity in America as many of its themes about the pursuit of wealth during a time of economic boom and bust resonate with the current economic situation. On Broadway, there was a successful eight-hour reading of the entire book, and universities are teaching the book as students can relate to its examination of the American Dream. While the book has often been interpreted as depicting the illusory nature of the American Dream, the author argues it also deals with the opening up of society in the 1920s to non-Protestants striving to enter high society. The director of the upcoming film adaptation sees parallels between Gatsby's rise and

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    The Observer - Gatsby Is Back

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    The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald is experiencing a resurgence in popularity in America as many of its themes about the pursuit of wealth during a time of economic boom and bust resonate with the current economic situation. On Broadway, there was a successful eight-hour reading of the entire book, and universities are teaching the book as students can relate to its examination of the American Dream. While the book has often been interpreted as depicting the illusory nature of the American Dream, the author argues it also deals with the opening up of society in the 1920s to non-Protestants striving to enter high society. The director of the upcoming film adaptation sees parallels between Gatsby's rise and

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    The Observer- Gatsby is Back

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    The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald is experiencing a resurgence in popularity in America as many of its themes about the pursuit of wealth during a time of economic boom and bust resonate with the current economic situation. On Broadway, there was a successful eight-hour reading of the entire book, and universities are teaching the book as students can relate to its examination of the American Dream. While the book has often been interpreted as depicting the illusory nature of the American Dream, the author argues it also deals with the opening up of society in the 1920s to non-Protestants striving to enter high society. The director of the upcoming film adaptation sees parallels between Gatsby's rise and

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    36 views2 pages

    The Observer - Gatsby Is Back

    Uploaded by

    Adjean
    The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald is experiencing a resurgence in popularity in America as many of its themes about the pursuit of wealth during a time of economic boom and bust resonate with the current economic situation. On Broadway, there was a successful eight-hour reading of the entire book, and universities are teaching the book as students can relate to its examination of the American Dream. While the book has often been interpreted as depicting the illusory nature of the American Dream, the author argues it also deals with the opening up of society in the 1920s to non-Protestants striving to enter high society. The director of the upcoming film adaptation sees parallels between Gatsby's rise and

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    The Observer

    First published on Sun 21 Nov 2010 00.11 GMT

    Gatsby is back !
    F Scott Fitzgerald's landmark novel tells the story of the mysterious Jay Gatsby who sets the
    louche social scene of Long Island on fire with his style, parties and enigmatic persona. It was
    hailed as emblematic of the Jazz Age of the 1920s; a portrait of decadent fun and impossible
    dreams complete with a poignant message of exclusion and fraud that presaged the coming
    Great Depression of the 1930s.

    Given the spirit of the novel, it is perhaps no surprise that The Great Gatsby is rising again in
    America's cultural landscape of 2010. Across the continent, Gatsby is back. In New York the
    great Broadway hit of the summer was the epic Public Theater production Gatz, where the
    entire book is read out in an eight-hour marathon.

    Literary experts believe that many of the themes associated with the book will resonate in a
    country coming to terms with the end of a great economic boom and experiencing
    unemployment and hardship: they look back with longing to the Roaring Twenties and a time
    when the boom seemed to suggest that outrageous wealth was a possibility for everyone. It is
    something that many Americans facing mass unemployment and the economic wreckage left
    by a burst property bubble can relate to.

    "The 1920s were the first fetishised decade. That is part of the legacy of The Great Gatsby. In
    that sense it describes a moment of prosperity just before a crash," said Keith Gandal, a
    literature lecturer at City University of New York, who is teaching Gatsby to his students this
    year.

    Of course, what Gatsby is actually about has always been hotly debated since it was published
    in 1925. Gandal argues that the book is in many ways dealing with the subject of a greater
    opening up of American society in the wake of the first world war as non-Wasp Americans –
    as Gatsby turns out to be – are striving successfully to enter high society and take over the
    pillars of the American establishment.

    "In fact this is set in a society where everything is opening up and the Wasp elite is pushing
    back. It is not necessarily a story of exclusivity," Gandal said. But in most popular culture the
    book has been interpreted the other way around: as depicting the illusory nature of the
    American dream. It seems likely that Luhrmann's project will follow that route, sticking to the
    spirit of previous film adaptations, such as the 1974 version starring Robert Redford and Mia
    Farrow in the roles of Gatsby and Daisy.

    The Australian director has said he sees parallels between the rise and fall of Gatsby and the
    tragedy of our modern economic hard times. In an interview with the Hollywood Reporter he
    said: "If you wanted to show a mirror to people that says, 'You've been drunk on money',
    they're not going to want to see it. But if you reflected that mirror on another time, they'd be
    willing to. People will need an explanation of where we are and where we've been – and The
    Great Gatsby can provide that explanation. America seems to be very much agreeing with
    him. A poll taken by ABC News and Yahoo in September asked Americans if they thought
    the American dream was dead. A remarkable 43% of those surveyed replied that it was. Not
    surprisingly, those already rich were likely to be more receptive to the idea that it still existed
    than those with less money, implying the dream has become a preserve of the wealthier
    classes. Yet that goes against its core ideal, according to which wealth and status are open to
    anyone provided they work hard enough.

    Like Gatsby himself, a country known for its cheery optimism is coming to terms with a
    brutal reality check. The lessons taught by The Great Gatsby are living on.

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