As a fan of classic literature, I cannot continue on with my blog without mentioning a man who is considered one of the greatest American authors of the 20th Century: F. Scott Fitzgerald. For those of you who may not know him, he is the author of such notable works as: This Side of Paradise, The Beautiful and Damned, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and his most famous book, The Great Gatsby.
His stories have been turned into films many times through the years so most people have probably watched the movie adaptations without reading his books. This is a great tragedy for Fitzgerald’s writing is intense, deep and emotional. His books must be read to fully grasp the meanings that go far beyond the surface.
The thing I find most interesting about Fitzgerald’s writing is that many times, mainly in The Beautiful and Damned and This Side of Paradise, his stories seem to be going nowhere. He starts out the story with the main characters who seem to be nothing special. They go on throughout their lives living the day-to-day without much of anything interesting happening. But then the stories take a turn and we learn that there is something very deep underneath the surface of the story. Fitzgerald submerges each of his stories with this depth and this knowledge of something learned at the end of each that makes the journey well worth it.
He makes many profound statements throughout his works that will leave you pondering. I love authors that have the ability to do this. When they can get you to go beyond your life and look at things differently, maybe even change your perspective on something, you know they are pretty great writers worthy of being read. Fitzgerald is definitely this kind of author who writes in a way that allows the reader to transcend beyond this world into the character’s lives and learn something that at first seemed unimportant.
His writings will live long as examples of real literature and will continue to be reviewed over and over by people such as myself who are seeking to learn more about people and the world around us. I feel this quote by Fitzgerald sums up his writing style perfectly: “You don’t write because you want to say something, you write because you have something to say.” The brilliance of his writing lies within this quote. He wrote because he had something to share with the world. Passion and emotion are infused within each word. This is the genius of the great Fitzgerald, a master at writing intensely deep stories that still linger on and will continue to linger on throughout the years to come.
Cozy Corner 