A contextualised analysis of F. Scott Fitzgerald's 'The Great Gatsby', 'The Beautiful and Damned' and 'This Side of Paradise'

Essay from the year 2011 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Literature, grade: Distinction, City of Bath College, language: English, abstract: Francis Scott Fitzgerald is now considered to be one of the seminal figureheads for contemporary American literature. He inspired contemporaries around him such as Ernest Hemingway, T.S Eliot and later would be revered by 20th and 21st century writers, such as Hunter S. Thompson: who once claimed that to learn to use a typewriter, he would retype the Great Gatsby over and over. He brought life to the self coined "Jazz Age" of writers; and with this, he brought a voice to a nation writing their own, comparably short, artistic histories. Fitzgerald would never know of his posthumous wealth of success, and, during his transient life, he had a tortuous relationship with his public persona, those around him and the influence that alcohol had on his life. These things indelibly marked most of his writings, and can be clearly seen in many aspects of his novels. This paper will identify and analyse the transcriptions, of the man behind the exquisite writing style, and bring light to the greater meanings that can be found within his first three novels: This Side of Paradise (1920), Beautiful and Damned (1922) and Great Gatsby (1925).