81 years ago today, The Great Gatsby was published...

[joeybee12]

...it did not do well, and basically F. Scott didn't make anything more than his small advance.

Just in case you're frustrated about getting your work published, and getting others to see its merit, this tidbit should tell you you're not alone, so keep at it!!!

:hi:

[WritingIsMyReligion]

1. I fucking LOVE that book.

Just read it for the first time this week.

:yourock:, Fitzgerald!!

[joeybee12]

2. He said everything there is to be said...

...and did it in the most lyrical and compact way. I love his stuff!

[petgoat]

3. Well I Wouldn't Call "Tender is the Night" compact.

But yes, Gatsby is a gem. And Fitzgerald was only 28 when he wrote it.

[joeybee12]

4. You're right...I was referring to Gatsby only...

...in many yways, Tender is my favorite--very beautifully written, but Gatsby is just, as I said, says it all.

[petgoat]

5. I was looking at a facsimile of the manuscript a few weeks ago.

It turns out he wrote that whole "Dutch sailors' eyes....green breast of the new world....
commensurate to his capacity for wonder..." epiphany very early in the book, practically in the
words as ultimately published. (Conceived as Nick's reaction to meeting a movie star at a party
is not real far off the mark if I remember right.) And Fitz took it out because it didn't fit and
was not justified and was comical in that context. His genius was that he put it back in at the
end and moved its context from Nick's vicarious awe to a sum up of Gatsby's meaning.

One of my weaknesses as a writer is that when it didn't fit I would have just cut it out as a piece
of overblown bs, and wouldn't have the guts or the vision to make it work as a closer.