A must-read for Fitzgerald fans – John Starley Allen

Some Sort of Epic Grandeur: The Life of F. Scott Fitzgerald by Matthew J. Bruccoli
I have been a Fitzgerald fan for several years.I would recommend Professor Bruccoli’s book to anyone who wants an in depth understanding of Fitzgerald. Some might dismiss the book on the basis that Bruccoli is an unabashed fan. But I would say so what if he’s a fan–he’s got some great insight in Fitzgerald’s psyche. And even though he’s a fan, he doesn’t (in my opinion) observe Fitzgerald with rose colored glasses.Fitzgerald was so complex. He could be brutal in his personal relationships, he struggled with demons (mainly alcohol) for most of his life, and yet his writing displays such a high degree of sensitivity. Some passages of his prose have a quality of delicacy and fragility.Here’s one of my favorite descriptive passages from Gatsby: And so it happened that on a warm windy evening I drove over to East Egg to see two old friends whom I scarcely knew at all. Their house was even more elaborate than I expected, a cheerful red and white Georgian Colonial mansion overlooking the bay. The lawn started at the beach and ran toward the front door for a quarter of a mile, jumping over sun-dials and brick walks and burning gardens—finally when it reached the house drifting up the side in bright vines as though from the momentum of its run. What a dynamic description of mere lawn!

I have been a Fitzgerald fan for several years.I would recommend Professor Bruccoli’s book to anyone who wants an in depth understanding of Fitzgerald. Some might dismiss the book on the basis that Bruccoli is an unabashed fan. But I would say so what if he’s a fan–he’s got some great insight in Fitzgerald’s psyche. And even though he’s a fan, he doesn’t (in my opinion) observe Fitzgerald with rose colored glasses.Fitzgerald was so complex. He could be brutal in his personal relationships, he struggled with demons (mainly alcohol) for most of his life, and yet his writing displays such a high degree of sensitivity. Some passages of his prose have a quality of delicacy and fragility.Here’s one of my favorite descriptive passages from Gatsby:

And so it happened that on a warm windy evening I
drove over to East Egg to see two old friends whom I scarcely
knew at all. Their house was even more elaborate than I
expected, a cheerful red and white Georgian Colonial mansion
overlooking the bay. The lawn started at the beach and
ran toward the front door for a quarter of a mile, jumping
over sun-dials and brick walks and burning gardens—finally
when it reached the house drifting up the side in bright
vines as though from the momentum of its run.

What a dynamic description of mere lawn!

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