F. Scott Fitzgerald's "The Great Gatsby" at 100
Dotting the water's edge of Long Island's Manhasset Bay, the opulence of the homes speaks for itself. But not nearly as well as F. Scott Fitzgerald once spoke of that opulence:
"A breeze blew through the room, blew curtains in at one end and out the other, like pale flags, twisting them up toward the frosted wedding cake of the ceiling."
That "wedding cake" of a ceiling, in a home now owned by Elena and George Schietinger, likely did look down on Gatsbyesque parties back in the day. "I can almost hear the music playing and feel the spirits of the parties that went on here," said Elena.
"The bar is in full swing, and floating rounds of cocktails permeate the garden outside, until the air is alive with chatter and laughter and casual innuendo."
Fitzgerald lived in a much more modest house just a few miles away when he was writing "The Great Gatsby." The Schietingers, though, believe the author must have visited here. They imagine him, while tilting his head back to down a bootleg cocktail, and taking note, and then writing their ceiling into his novel. "I absolutely believe that to be true," said George.
Fitzgerald's novel came out a hundred years ago this month. Scholars consider it a literary masterpiece. Hollywood finds it irresistible, and so does Broadway. There's even a recent graphic novel of "Gatsby" that brings Fitzgerald's characters to life, starting with James Gatz, who believed he was too poor to marry the rich girl of his dreams – and so he reinvents himself. It's less about love, and more about longing – his especially, for Daisy Buchanan just across the bay.
They were so near, and yet worlds apart.
"I hadn't realized that either side of the bay, that they were so close to one another," said Blake Hazard, the great-granddaughter of Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald. "I mean, you almost could look into the windows on the other side."
She says her celebrated relatives are looming lovingly large on this centennial. "I've gotten used to witnessing these kinds of things about my family, about my great-grandfather with other people, sharing it, and I think that feels right," Hazard said.
Gatsby Tours have become popular, including one run by Kevin C. Fitzpatrick, an author and New York historian.
"There's a point we're in the middle of Manhasset Bay, and you can look to the left to West Egg and to the right to East Egg, and – it clicks," he said, "because they can picture that green light on that dock."
Few of those mansions remain – most never survived the Great Depression, torn down to make room for the new.
From the archives: Death of the "Great Gatsby House" (YouTube Video)
But back in Manhattan, some of the Gatsby lore remains, especially at the Plaza Hotel and its revolving doors. "There are stories that Zelda would come in here and just go around and around and around," Hazard said.
It was a temple to the times, where important people did important things, including Hazard's great-grandparents. "They both really wanted to be in the world, of the world, writing about what they saw, chronicling it all … and having a great time doing it," she said.
The Fitzgeralds were not wealthy themselves. While they did enjoy money, they were amused with its perils, too.
"They were careless people, Tom and Daisy. They smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money, or their vast carelessness, or whatever it was that kept them together."
Hazard said, "He was drawn to these things, but also very much an observer of them; he felt very outside of, certainly, the wealthy set."
Fitzgerald did rub elbows with the wealthy set at Princeton University. Although he later dropped out, his papers found their way back, including the only surviving handwritten manuscript of "Gatsby," which Emma Sarconi, a rare book librarian at Princeton's Special Collections at the Firestone Library, showed us.
"Here we have half a page scribbled out. The whole book is like this," she said.
At the time, Fitzgerald was coming off two big hits: "This Side of Paradise" and "The Beautiful and Damned." He believed that "Gatsby" would surpass both of them. But "Gatsby" landed with a thud, selling less than 20,000 copies. And according to Sarconi, the mixed reviews left him devastated: "He wrote a letter to his daughter, Scottie, sort of in his final years, lamenting the fact that none of her friends would know who he was," she said.
So, what changed? The times, perhaps. During World War II, the newly-formed Council on Books in Wartime shipped millions of pocket-sized books to keep the troops entertained overseas, including 155,000 copies of "The Great Gatsby." "We wouldn't be talking about this book today if this edition hadn't come out," Sarconi said.
Fitzgerald had died long before that, at the age of 44. At that point he thought that he was a failure. "He had really fallen into obscurity," said Sarconi. "Famously, very few people attended his funeral."
And yet today, "Gatsby" rubs dust jackets with the likes of Jane Austen, John Steinbeck and Ernest Hemingway. For many, "The Great Gatsby" is indeed the Great American Novel.
"It sounds silly, but I wish Scott could be here, I just think he'd be so thrilled," said Hazard, "and surprised. Certainly surprised!"
Among the few keepsakes that Blake has are a necklace given to Zelda by Scott, as well as a ring. Is it a coincidence the stone is green? We'll never know.
Still, that haunting green light still blinks for all of us; dreams, perfection, whatever eludes us – we keep trying.
"So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly, into the past."
For more info:
- "The Great Gatsby: The Author's Edition" by F. Scott Fitzgerald (Scribner), in Hardcover, Trade and Mass Market Paperback, eBook and Audio formats, available via Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Bookshop.org
- "The Great Gatsby: The Graphic Novel," adapted by Fred Fordham; illustrated by Aya Morton (Scribner), in Hardcover, Trade Paperback and eBook formats, available via Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Bookshop.org
- F. Scott Fitzgerald Society
- Great Neck Historical Society
- "The Great Gatsby: A New Musical" at the Broadway Theatre, New York | Ticket info
- How to watch "The Great Gatsby" (2013)
- Kevin Fitzpatrick's "Great Gatsby Boat Tour"
- Princeton University Library: Special Collections at the Firestone Library
- "When Books Went to War: The Stories That Helped Us Win World War II" by Molly Guptill Manning (Mariner Books), in Trade Paperback, eBook and Audio formats, available via Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Bookshop.org
Story produced by Mark Hudspeth. Editor: Carol Ross.
See also:
- Public domain, where there is life after copyright ("Sunday Morning")
- David Edelstein on "The Great Gatsby" ("Sunday Morning")
- "The Great Gatsby" turns 100: Initially a sales flop, now regarded as the "great American novel"
- How F. Scott Fitzgerald's Saturday Evening Post success helped "Gatsby" vision come to life ("CBS Mornings")
