Books: "The Annotated Great Gatsby: 100th Anniversary Deluxe Edition"

 

The Annotated Great Gatsby: 100th Anniversary Deluxe Edition

By F. Scott Fitzgerald; Edited by James L.W. West III; Introduction by Amor Towles

Library of America; hardcover, 272 pages; $35.00

The Library of America, now in its fourth decade, is a nonprofit organization that champions the nation's heritage by publishing America's greatest writing in authoritative new editions, and providing resources for readers to explore this deep legacy.

James L.W. West III is Edwin Erle Sparks Professor of English, Emeritus, at Pennsylvania State University. He edited the Library of America's The Great Gatsby and Related Stories, which we reviewed in September 2023. He is also the author of, among many works, William Styron: A Life (1998) and The Perfect Hour: The Romance of F. Scott Fitzgerald and Ginerva King (2005). From 1994 to 2019, West served as the General Editor of The Cambridge Edition of the Works of F. Scott Fitzgerald, and his vaiorum edition of The Great Gatsby was the final volume in the series.

As the 100th anniversary of Fitzgerald's most famous work is upon us, West is the Editor of this lavishly produced and annotated edition of The Great Gatsby. This masterpiece full of remarkable characters, indelible scenes, and grand themes of money, class, and American optimism is given a fresh look through West's lively running commentary of the novel

The endless illustrations and photographs vividly recreate the Jazz Age world inherent within this landmark text, and chart its rich cultural afterlife. Along with that, West gives light to its many biographical contexts, literary illusions, and cultural references to encourage readers to linger in the margins. 

There also are the views of other writers and critics, as West quotes the very best of what has been thought and said about Fitzgerald's novel. That is followed by thirteen letters between Fitzgerald and his editor at Scribner's, Maxwell Perkins which are also annotated, and they trace the composition, editing, and publication of The Great Gatsby. A detailed chronology of Fitzgerald's life and career is also included.

"The first edition of F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby was published on April 10, 1925, by Charles Scribner's Sons," West writes in the Preface. "Fitzgerald's novel was very much of its moment: it was filled with references to prohibition, World War I, and jazz; to popular movies and songs of the period; to amateur sports, fast automobiles, and Broadway stars; to ocean liners, wealthy industrialists, and scandal magazines. Readers of the first edition would have recognized most of these references; today's readers do not. Much has changed in American society in the one hundred years since the novel first appeared. The value of a dollar, for example, has diminished. The rent for Nick Carraway's shabby bungalow in West Egg was 'eighty a month' in 1922, the year in which the novel is set. Robert Keable's semi-scandalous novel Simon Called Peter, which Nick finds on a table in Tom and Myrtle's love nest, has been forgotten; and no contemporary reafer has seen a copy of Town Topics, the gossip magazine that Myrtle enjoys paging through (Fitzgerald alludes to it as Town Tattle). The New York Tribune, a thoroughly conservative newspaper, ceased publication many years ago, as did the New York Evening Journal, a racy sheet with sensationalist reporting and celebrity news. Gilda Gray and Joe Frisco, Broadway headliners in the 1920s, are now known only to students of theater history. The Plaza Hotel still stands, but the original Murray Hill Hotel on Park Avenue was town down in 1947, and Penn Station was demolished in 1963. Sports-car owners no longer wear 'dusters' to protect their clothes from automobile exhaust, and only a retro entertainer would style his hair in a pompadour. Aficionados of African American music might recognize the 'Beale Street Blues,' but almost no one will remember 'The Sheik of Araby,' a popular tune of 1921, or 'The Rosary,' the sentimental ditty that Wolfshein whistles off-key in his office."

About The Library of America: An independent nonprofit organization, the Library of America was founded in 1979 with seed funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Ford Foundation. It helps to preserve our nation's literary heritage by publishing, and keeping in print, authoritative editions of America's best and most significant writing. 

Library for America editions will last for generations and withstand the wear of frequent use. They are printed on lightweight, acid-free paper that will not turn yellow or brittle with age. Sewn bindings allow the books to open easily and lie flat. Flexible, yet strong binding boards are covered with a closely woven rayon cloth. The page layout has been designed for readability, as well as elegance.