| Title | : | Tales of the Jazz Age |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | 1434100014 |
| ISBN-10 | : | 9781434100016 |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 319 |
| Publication | : | First published September 22, 1922 |
"The Camel's Back"
"May Day"
"Porcelain and Pink"
"The Diamond as Big as the Ritz
"The Curious Case of Benjamin Button"
"Tarquin of Cheapside"
"Oh Russet Witch!"
"The Lees of Happiness"
"Mr. Icky"
"Jemina"
Tales of the Jazz Age Reviews
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Some lives just ring empty like empty crocks… And F. Scott Fitzgerald was a great scholar of human emptiness… And his stories, despite their wickedness, boast an atmosphere of merry fairytales.
In The Jelly-Bean life is a precarious gamble of chance:With the awakening of his emotions, his first perception was a sense of futility, a dull ache at the utter grayness of his life. A wall had sprung up suddenly around him hedging him in, a wall as definite and tangible as the white wall of his bare room.
In The Camel’s Back life is a funny masquerade:“Perry,” said the bad man softly when the roadster drew up beside him at the curb, “I’ve got six quarts of the doggonedest still champagne you ever tasted. A third of it’s yours, Perry, if you’ll come upstairs and help Martin Macy and me drink it.”
“Baily,” said Perry tensely, “I’ll drink your champagne. I’ll drink every drop of it, I don’t care if it kills me.”
“Shut up, you nut!” said the bad man gently. “They don’t put wood alcohol in champagne. This is the stuff that proves the world is more than six thousand years old. It’s so ancient that the cork is petrified.”
In May Day life is a senseless riot:Peter suddenly reached over to a plate on the table beside him and picking up a handful of hash tossed it into the air. It descended as a languid parabola in snowflake effect on the heads of those nearby.
In Porcelain and Pink life is a series of taking a bath. The Diamond as Big as the Ritz and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button are a lot of fantastic happenings.
In Tarquin of Cheapside life is nothing but a pleasure of reading:“He read at wine, he read in bed,
He read aloud, had he the breath,
His every thought was with the dead,
And so he read himself to death.”
In Oh Russet Witch! life is a waste of potentials:And she had been drinking. The threefold flush in her cheeks was compounded of youth and wine and fine cosmetic – that he could tell. She was making great amusement for the young man on her left and the portly person on her right, and even for the old fellow opposite her, for the latter from time to time uttered the shocked and mildly reproachful cackles of another generation.
In The Lees of Happiness, Mr. Icky and Jemina life is throes of vanity and all that jazz:Here was the gayety of the period – the soft wine of eyes, the songs that flurried hearts, the toasts and tie bouquets, the dances and the dinners.
In life emptiness tends to assume many guises. -
Tales of the Jazz Age is a collection of 11 short stories published in 1922, although most had been published earlier in national magazines. Fitzgerald published 4 novels, that was his preferred way of writing. But he wrote short stories to make money, and being in constant financial trouble, it was the fastest way for him to make cash. This collection was good, it contains probably his most famous short story,
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, as well as a few other very good ones. A couple I thought were nonsensical and not up to Fitzgerald's best. It's certainly worth the time and it is aptly named because if you ask almost anyone to name one writer associated with the Jazz Age or the Roaring 20's, 9 out of 10 will say F. Scott Fitzgerald. He defined that generation for writers, or more accurately, it defined him. -
Despite reading so much about him and his wife Zelda, I cannot help but reveal my mad crush on Fitzgerald. This short story collection of 15 different stories offered a little bit of everything that I adore about the author. Men who crave women they can't have, WWI veterans readjusting to life after the battlefield, rich versus poor, big city thrills, rural intrigue, and a little bit of comedy and mystery to boot!
Some of my fave sentences
All life was weather, a waiting through the hot where events had no significance for the cool that was soft and caressing like a woman's hand on a tired forehead.
It's an air of worry and poverty and sleepless nights
Love is fragile- she was thinking- but perhaps the pieces are saved, the things that hovered on lips, that might have been said. The new love, the new tenderness learned, are treasured up for the next lover.
Everybody's youth is a dream, a form of chemical madness.
Goodreads review published 03/08/19 -
Tales of the Jazz Age was an anthology of short stories and novellas by F. Scott Fitzgerald first published in 1922 that pretty much established Fitzgerald as the definitive writer about the Jazz Age. This series was divided into three sections entitled "My Last Flappers." "Fantasies," and "Unclassified Masterpieces." Some of my favorites were "The Jelly-Bean," "May Day," "O Russet Witch," and "The Lees of Happiness." These stories were submitted over a period of three years to several different publications. Although some of the stories were a little lacking it is apparent that F. Scott Fitzgerald was a brilliant writer.
And just a few of my favorite quotes from a couple of the stories:
"'Jelly-bean' is the name throughout the undissolved Confederacy for one who spends his life conjugating the verb to idle in the first person singular--I am idling, I have idled, I will idle."
"Everybody's youth is a dream, a form of chemical madness."
"The years between thirty-five and sixty-five revolve before the passive mind as one unexplained, confusing merry-go-round of ill-gaited and wind-broken horses, painted first in pastel colors, then in dull grays and browns, but perplexing and intolerably dizzy the thing is, as never were the merry-go-rounds of childhood or adolescence, as never, surely, were the certain-coursed, dynamic roller coasters of youth."
"But it was too late. He had angered Providence by resisting too many temptations. There was nothing left but heaven, where he would meet only those, who, like him, had wasted earth."
"To these two life had come quickly and gone, leaving not bitterness, but pity; not disillusion, only pain. There was already enough moonlight when they shook hands for each to see the gathered kindness in the other's eyes." -
Considering I didn't like The Great Gatsby, I'm amazed at how I'm loving the other works of F. Scott Fitzgerald so far! I read This Side Of Paradise and was enthralled, and this book of short stories was equal parts enchanting and intelligent. I read it on my Kindle, and I ended up highlighting a lot of sentences and passages because they were so beautifully written.
The book includes "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button," which is nowhere near as complex a story as the movie version. I did enjoy it a lot, but had to separate it from the movie, as the two are so different.
My favorite story was "The Diamond As Big As The Ritz." I was captivated from the very beginning. At first, it's like a fairy tale. I kept thinking, "Where's the catch? Is this all a dream?" Then when the catch happened, it was like an adventure movie. PLEASE, at least read this story!
The only story I didn't enjoy was "Tarquin of Cheapside." I just plain didn't get it. It was a little bizarre. Maybe I'll go back and read it again, but that was the only story that I didn't enjoy at all.
I definitely recommend this one! If you're tired of reading long novels and want a wonderful collection of short stories, go for this book! -
I've been intending to read Fitzgerald for some time and I'm very glad to have begun with this collection of stories. There is such a show of versatility and skill here. Not all stories are equally successful but all are interesting and some are truly wonderful, Among those I particularly enjoyed were "The Camel's Back", "May Day"", "O Russett Witch" and "The Lees of Happiness".
Themes central to Fitzgerald's life and other works are scattered through these tales: the disparity of wealth and poverty, good and evil, bad things happening to good people, zany characters and activities, true love and love gone very bad.
I highly recommend this story collection and am sure I will read these again.
Thank you Tajma for leading me here. -
”Non possiamo permettere che un fatto inevitabile come la morte c’impedisca di godere della vita finché possiamo”
- "Il diamante grosso come l’hotel Ritz" 1921-
Raccolta che comprende undici componimenti -introdotti dall’autore stesso con una piccola nota esplicativa- suddivisi in tre sezioni:
1) Le mie ultime maschiette con quattro produzioni giovanili.
Uno narrazione scorrevole, a mio avviso anche troppo.
Quello che mi sembra abbia maggiore valore in questi racconti è il contesto storico.
Siamo nel primo dopoguerra: gli Stati Uniti escono vittoriosi da un conflitto che seppure geograficamente lontano ha coinvolto e sconvolto le vite degli americani.
Ora, però, si vuole solo voltare pagina:
questa nuova generazione intende chiudere il sipario sui campi di battaglie e le lugubri scenografie.
Si tuffano a capofitto nella bella vita (anche se questo termine felliniano sarà inerente al secondo dopoguerra è utile per far capire l’atmosfera).
Un’attenzione alla cura dell’abbigliamento e all’aspetto estetico.
Una profusione di feste, di balli a cui si deve partecipare: ballare è una prerogativa per essere popolare.
Il Jazz impazza. IL popolo bianco balla e si diverte sulle note di una musica che nasce dai neri ancora relegati ad un sistema di segregazione.
Un’America bianca, giovane e spensierata che emette la sua condanna nei confronti di chi non tiene il passo, chi socialmente non brilla.
Di questo quattro racconti quello che ho trovato degno di nota è in assoluto “Primo Maggio” un racconto dove l’euforia festaiola non fa altro che mettere in risalto il dramma di uno dei protagonisti.
2) Fantasie comprende altri quattro racconti.
Sono le creazioni preferite dall’autore stesso e tra le quali spicca “Lo strano caso di Benjamin Button”.
3) L’ultima parte comprende i capolavori non classificati dove mi ha colpito “I sedimenti della felicità”.
Una raccolta disomogenea per generi ed umori che spaziano dal reale al fantastico ma, a mio avviso, anche per qualità in un’epoca in cui i racconti si vendevano bene e, insomma si lavorava un po’ a cottimo:
”Credo che tra tutti i racconti che ho scritto questo sia quello che mi è costato meno fatica e mi abbia divertito di più. L’ho scritto in un giorno a New Orleans, con il preciso scopo di comprarmi un orologio da polso in platino e diamanti che costava seicento dollari. L’ho cominciato alle sette di mattina e l’ho finito alle due di notte.!
- La parte posteriore del cammello 1920- -
Πρόκειται για μια συλλογή εποχής με τις πρώτες ιστορίες του, χωρισμένες σε θεματικά κεφάλαια. Πάντα συνδεδεμένος με τον πλούτο και την υπαρξιακή ανησυχία, με καυστικό χιούμορ και χρυσά κορίτσια.
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The Jelly Bean - 2/5 stars
The Camel's Back - 2/5 stars
May Day - 4/5 stars
Porcelain and Pink - 2/5 stars
The Diamond as Big as the Ritz - 4/5 stars
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button - 5/5 stars FAVOURITE
Tarquin of Cheapside - 3/5 stars
O Russet Witch - 5/5 stars FAVOURITE
The Lees of Happiness - 4/5 stars
Mr Icky - 2/5 stars
Jemina, the Mountain Girl - 3/5 stars -
This collection of short stories, short plays, and novelettes is so varied in style and execution forming an opinion of the whole is damn near impossible. So I shall break it down tale-by-tale.
The Jelly Bean ☆☆
I felt this story caricatured American Southerners rather disgracefully.
The Camel's Back ☆☆☆☆
Wild, clever humor from a talented humorist.
May Day ☆☆☆☆
I love the characters featured in this story's vignettes. Their interactions truly captured the age from a broad spectrum of classes and backgrounds. It was funny at times, and rather depressing at other moments.
Porcelain and Pink ☆☆☆
Very humorous, but nothing truly amazing about this one-act play.
The Diamond as Big as the Ritz ☆☆☆☆☆
This is a brilliant act of terrestrial fantasy set in Montana. While adapted to several radio and teleplays during the 1940s and 1950s, it has yet to adapt to the silver screen. Instead of constant Gatsby remakes, perhaps Hollywood should give this "gem" another look. Exciting!
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button ☆☆☆☆☆(+☆!!!)
For fans of the movie, it might seem fairly foreign. Though names and several plot points remain, this story is by far a more humorous version of the tale of the man who is born elderly and ages in reverse, inspired by and in the vein of Mark Twain. It was sacrilege the film removed these elements and approached the story more dramatically.
Tarquin of Cheapside ☆
I have no idea what was happening in this short, cryptic passage. Had LSD been in existence in the 1920s???
Oh Russet Witch! ☆☆☆
Another example of a Fitzgerald staple--the regrets of youth realized in old age/middle age. It could be quite evident the character Caroline/Alicia Dare was based on Fitzgerald's wife, Zelda. I haven't read into the subject, but many of his young female characters seem to adapt this young and carefree flapper/dancer/socialite archetype who often spoil the dreams of ambitious young men.
The Lees of Happiness ☆☆☆
Don't let the title fool you, this too is a bit of a downer filled with regret and remorse.
Mr Icky ☆☆
Another strange one-act play combining the folly of old age and Fitzgerald's bizarre sense of humor.
Jemina, the Mountain Girl ☆
Strange, absurd, in the vein of Tarquin of Cheapside and Mr Icky.
Overall ☆☆☆☆
While most of the stories were either too strange, so-so, or downright depressing, the few truly great stories (and majority of the volume's volume) made this book a worthwhile read. Fitzgerald could be hilarious, whimsical, and captivating when he wasn't trying to be too weird. It was a different era, altogether, and a strange one to boot. I guess you should've simply "been there."
As a side note, Fitzgerald makes so many references to women's feet one can't but wonder if he harbored an infatuation. Again, something I haven't read into, but of which am suspicious. -
My favourite short story collection of Fitzgerald’s so far, I feel this is where he was really starting to experiment/branch out and come into his own.
Contains 11 short stories, grouped into three parts. The stories were as follows:
My Last Flappers:
The Jelly-Bean - 4 Stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Camel’s Back - 4 Stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
May Day - 4 Stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Porcelain and Pink - 3 Stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Fantasies:
The Diamond as Big as the Ritz - 5 Stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button - 5 Stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Tarquin of Cheapside - 4 Stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
O Russet Witch! - 4 Stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Unclassified Masterpieces:
The Lees of Happiness - 5 Stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Mr Icky - 3 Stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Jemima, the Mountain Girl - 4 Stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ -
Francamente mi aspettavo molto di più da questi racconti ma, a parte qualcuno dei racconti più lunghi - La parte posteriore del cammello e Il caso singolare di Benjamin Button, soprattutto, non sono riuscita ad apprezzarli più di tanto, soprattutto quelli brevi, come le due commedie, che ho trovato quasi assurde: La vasca azzurra e Il signor Icky. E anche il racconto breve Tarquinio a Cheapside. Jemina, ragazza di montagna è anch'essa una storia drammatica ma troppo breve, violenta e assurda come l'incendio che scoppia nella distilleria abusiva di whisky di montagna. Mi hanno fatto sorridere i cognomi delle due famiglie rivali: Tantrum (capricci) e Doldrums (tristezza, depressione).
Il diamante grosso come l'Hotel Ritz è una sorta di fiaba utopica che si trasforma in un'orribile distopia con finale "a sorpresa" piuttosto prevedibile. Di questo racconto mi ha colpita la particolare apatia, insensibilità, di quasi tutti i personaggi, anche del protagonista, John, che sembra comunque molto distaccato da quello che succede, e prende la vita forse con troppa leggerezza.
Ne Il fannullone, Jim Powell, il jelly-bean - io lo definirei uno smidollato - per un attimo sembra trovare uno sprazzo di lucida follia e sarebbe disposto a mettere la testa a posto per amore, in una serata che potrebbe essere la svolta della sua vita. Poi, non si capisce se per sua fortuna o sfortuna, la donna di cui è innamorato sposa un altro e lui rimane a fare il fannullone.
La parte posteriore del cammello: Nella breve introduzione di Fitzgerald ai racconti, dice che questo è quello che ha impiegato meno tempo a scrivere, ma quello che gli piace meno. Probabilmente perché è l'unico ad avere un lieto fine. Io invece l'ho trovato molto riuscito, anche se sì, forse il lieto fine è un po' troppo melenso (secondo me è una storia perfetta per il cinema muto). Però deve essere stato divertentissimo aver immaginato questi due uomini che camminavano all'unisono (anche se non sempre) nel bel mezzo della festa in maschera ispirata al circo, con il tassista che fa in tutti i sensi da spalla a Perry Parkhurst.
Primo maggio: In questo racconto si intrecciano quattro diversi quadri narrativi da cui alcuni personaggi entrano ed escono. Il tutto il primo maggio del 1919, quando i soldati americani stanno rientrando dopo la vittoria nella Prima Guerra Mondiale. Anche questo è molto cinematografico, apre infatti la strada a molte commedie corali. Nel caos dei festeggiamenti del primo maggio succede di tutto e di più, soprattutto eventi molto drammatici.
Il caso singolare di Benjamin Button: Molto bello questo racconto fantascientifico, ispirato da un’osservazione di Mark Twain. Come dice Fitzgerald nell'introduzione: era un peccato che la parte migliore della nostra vita venisse all’inizio e la peggiore alla fine. Io ho tentato di dimostrare la sua tesi, facendo un esperimento con un uomo inserito in un ambiente perfettamente normale. Impossibile non immaginare un Benjamin Button diverso da Brad Pitt.
La strega coi capelli rossicci e La feccia della felicità sono due storie molto malinconiche, di vite non vissute, vissute male. Di una gioventù piena di aspettative che deve cedere il posto a un'età adulta delusa e piena di disincanto. -
Abandoned.
The first 3 stories were very entertaining and I'm so sorry this collection didn't continue in the same vein. However, the next section was called "Fantasy". I guess I didn't understand what that meant. The first story was "A Diamond as Big as the Ritz". Some of my friends liked it. Not my thing in any way shape or form and whatever humor was supposed to be there fell flat flat flat. There were more stories to come and I just didn't want to face them. -
This edition of Tales of the Jazz Age features only four short stories from the original volume, the other four short stories are taken from Flappers and Philosophers, thus dating the publication from 1920 to 1922.
Originally, I wanted to unhaul this book because A) I am not the biggest fan of short stories and B) quite frankly, I am not the biggest fan of Fitzgerald himself. There. I said it. It's not just the fact that I have massive problems with his "casual" racism and sexism (whatever casual is supposed to mean in this context... ugh!), no, after reading two of his novels it felt like Scottie was focusing so much on first world problems and characters whining about being rich that I simply couldn't take it anymore. I was pleasantly surprised to discover that these short stories were all quite nuanced, historically insightful and brilliantly written.
There are many allusions to Oscar Wilde (my bae) in Scottie's work, but never have I felt the connection stronger than in this collection. These short stories could've have been written by Oscar himself – the "l'art pour l'art"-vibe was strong in every single one of them, and we even saw some imitations of the dandy.
Overall, I have to admit that I am very impressed with this collection and its exploration of gender roles and unhappy marriages (I didn't agree with a lot of what Scottie was trying to sell me, especially in regards to female beauty, and how it wanes with age, but I appreciated the insight nonetheless). I think that Tales of the Jazz Age is a fantastic collection to get familiar with Scottie and the common themes in his later works.
My absolute favorite story in this collection is
May Day btw, you should totally read it! That ending still has me shook! -
I loved this collection of eleven short stories by local lad F. Scott Fitzgerald (well, he spent part of his childhood in St. Paul and attended high school at St. Paul Academy (where I played Sunday basketball for close to 30 years -so we roamed the same hallways and gymnasiums!)). My only complaint is that the 2006 Walking Lion Press edition I own contained many spelling errors. I was really surprised by this. How did these errors get past proofreading?! I've forgiven Walking Lion Press, though, as I admire the book cover which features a mesmerizing painting of Edith Bradin from May Day.
Not only are the stories excellent, so is the table of contents which includes a paragraph or two about the origins of each story. Great stuff. Fitzgerald divides the collection in to three parts: "My Last Flappers", "Fantasies", and "Unclassified Masterpieces". I'm not big on fantasy but the stories were all so well written and well told that there was no drop off in interest for me. I rarely give short story collections five stars but am going to for Tales of the Jazz Age as I really enjoyed all the stories and some were just fantastic.
My favorites of the bunch were:
May Day: an episodic tale set on May Day some time after WWI. Sad and unpleasant, this was hard to forget. Would make a great movie. One of the best short stories I've read in a long time.
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button: I think everyone knows of this odd fantasy story - it was made in to a film in 2008 directed by David Fincher and starring Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett. I really liked the film as well.
The Camel's Back: a hilarious lost love story centered around a costume party and a two-person camel costume.
Ratings for each story:
The Jelly-Bean *****
The Camel's Back *****
May Day *****
Porcelain and Pink ****
The Diamond as Big as the Ritz ***
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button *****
Tarquin of Cheapside ****
"O Russet Witch! ****
The Lees of Happiness *****
Icky ****
Jemina, the Mountain Girl **** -
I can conclude, having finished this collection of short stories, that with the exception of The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald is just not really for me. This collection was saved, in my opinion, by The Diamond as Big as the Ritz, Porcelain and Pink, and Jemina the Mountain Girl. Barring some moments of subtle but shocking endings, I found the rest of the stories dull, and the characters empty, and the prose ineffective.
-
This collection has eight stories: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Head and Shoulders, The Four Fists, The Cut-Glass Bowl, May Day, O Russet Witch, Bernice Bobs Her Hair, and The Lees of Happiness. A handful are incredible: Head and Shoulders, Bernice Bobs Her Hair, and The Lees of Happiness were far and away my favourites. Benjamin Button was great, The Four Fists was fun but forgettable, and The Cut-Glass Bowl was just alright. But May Day, and O Russet Witch, while being not only the longest, were also not terribly enjoyable reads. They were lyrical and well-written, with engaging prose, but some stories were significantly more poignant than others, while Bernice Bobs Her Hair was mostly hysterical.
-
One of the best short story collections I've ever read! Many of the stories felt like 5-starred reads, but some were just s0-so (hence the 4 stars).
A must read for any one who enjoys excellent writing and touching stories. Somehow these stories felt more powerful than some of his novels. I was reminded what a brilliant writer Fitzgerald was. -
Many years ago, I was talking to a gentleman who, like myself, took great pleasure in reading amazing authors. I mentioned that, in my opinion, F. Scott Fitzgerald never fully reached the total potential he was capable of achieving. To me, despite the brilliance of "Gatsby," I always found something lacking in his works, a tragic flaw, a missing something that would have made so many more of his works comparable to Gatsby. Maybe, he should have practiced more self control, a little less partying and a greater dedication to his work.
The gentleman looked up at me and replied, "Most writers are lucky if they are able to write one great paragraph during their lifetimes. Fitzgerald wrote two great books, 'Gatsby and Tender is the Night.'
Maybe more writers, should do a little more partying and not take themselves so serious."
"The Jazz Age" was given to me as a gift quite a few years ago. I remember looking through it, but never reading the entire book. In a sense, I now wish I never picked it up again and read the entire book. It is a collection of autobiographical pieces that is poorly put together, like a disorganized diary, and it left me feeling empty and sorry for Mr Fitzgerald. It taught me nothing about "The Jazz Age" that I didn't already know and it sadly re-enforced my notion of Fitzgerald as a tragic figure.
Yet, like always there was a touch of genius in the collection, that reminded me of "The Great Gatsby and Tender is the Night." In closing, this amazingly gifted artist writes, "It was not Monte Carlo I was looking at. It was back into the mind of the young man with cardboard soles who had walked the streets of New York. I was him again-for an instant I had the good fortune to share his dreams, I who had no more dreams of my own." -
If you like Fitzgerald at all, or even the idea of him, you should read his short stories as they are really the backbone of his career. This particular electronic volume is available at no cost from Project Gutenberg. I imagine there are many other choices also.
That being said, most of these works will not stun you. Some don't even make sense, many are decent and a few are fine. I did think many of them were mostly told on the surface, without a lot of introspection or development of the character. I don't think that is necessarily because of the short story format in and of itself, but it could be related to how they were published in magazines. And perhaps even a function of the Jazz Age itself.
The stories were largely unhappy. Alcohol and ill-fated loves are common. I was surprised at a Diamond as Big as Ritz as it could not have been further from what the title suggests. I had not realized he wrote fantasies, of which three appear here, including The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. I had not seen the movie, judging it depressing and not caring for the lead actor. The story was just plain mean. O Russet Witch was interesting and I liked The Lees of Happiness, for which I imagined a much happier ending, but alas, despair is a much stronger tool in Fitzgerald's kit. Regardless, I think this a valuable read. -
The remarkable story "THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON" is even better then the movie which was made based on this story.
This story was inspired by a remark of Mark Twain's to the effect that it was a pity that the best part of life came at the beginning and the worst part at the end. By trying the experiment upon only one man in a perfectly normal world I have scarcely given his idea a fair trial. Several weeks after completing it, I discovered an almost identical plot in Samuel Butler's "Note-books."
The story was published in "Collier's" last summer and provoked this startling letter from an anonymous admirer in Cincinnati:
"Sir—
I have read the story Benjamin Button in Colliers and I wish to say that as a short story writer you would make a good lunatic I have seen many peices of cheese in my life but of all the peices of cheese I have ever seen you are the biggest peice. I hate to waste a piece of stationary on you but I will."
Free download available at
Project Gutenberg. -
Questa raccolta, pubblicata nel 1922, segna una tappa fondamentale nella vita e nella scrittura di Fitzgerald. Gli anni dell'età del jazz sono gli anni caratterizzati da feste, balli e vita mondana fino alla crisi economica e al crollo della Borsa del 1929.
Gli 11 racconti della raccolta che sono accompagnati dal commento dell'autore, mostrano una vita fatta di lustrini e di paillettes, una vita effimera, a tratti frivola. Sono racconti che trattano di varie tematiche, quali la ricchezza eccessiva o ancora fantasie narrative come "Il curioso caso di Benjamin Button", da cui è stato tratto il film omonimo.
Di fronte a questo benessere, soprattutto materiale, si nota un certo pessimismo ben rappresentato dal racconto "Primo maggio", il migliore della raccolta. Un pessimismo dal quale ci si può risollevare rifugiandosi nella campagna, luogo dove sono ambientati gli ultimi tre racconti e che sembrano restituire una sorta di malinconia e di nostalgia per la vita genuina, vera che quell'ambiente è in grado di dare. -
Over the last 10 minutes I must have switched between 3 and 4 stars about 20 times - but I did really like most of the short stories.
Fitzgerald has a way of creating the not always endearing but nevertheless interesting characters in his short stories that are sadly missing in his novels (The Great Gatsby excepted). -
This collection is broken into three sections: My Last Flappers, Fantasies, and Unclassified Masterpieces. Fitzgerald introduces each story with a synopsis in the table of contents, providing valuable insight into his thoughts and motivations as a writer.
The Jelly-Bean- 3.5 stars
Written in conjuction with Zelda, this is the story of Jim Powells mediocre life and the woman who changes it. I didn't understand the Jelly-Bean nickname, perhaps it was a southern euphemism at the time?
The Camel's Back- 2 stars
Utterly ridiculous
May Day- 3 stars
There's a lot going on in this one, almost too much for its length. The ending is also rather depressing.
Porcelain and Pink- 1 star
What did I even just read? This is meant to be a short play, but it makes absolutely no sense. Granted, I have the flu at the time I'm reading this so maybe I just missed it but it felt pointless.
The Diamond as Big as the Ritz- 3 stars
This feels the most Fitzgerald of the entire collection, but it quickly devolves into ridiculousness
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button- 4 stars
Probably the best known of this collection thanks to the movie adaptation- I found the writing to be quite good albeit the concept farfetched.
Tarquin of Cheapside- 4 stars
This was rather cerebal and I enjoyed it. Definitely worth rereading
Oh Russet Witch!- 3 stars
A look at mediocrity and unrequired longing
The Lees of Happiness- 4 stars
This is the standout of the collection, so much emotion is packed into the tragedies in the lives of the characters
Mr. Icky- 2.5 stars
Another attempt at a one act play, making it all the more clear plays were not Fitzgerald's forte
Jemina, the Mountain Girl- 3 stars
Taking place in rural Kentucky, this has a Romeo and Juliet quality -
I'm still on the Fitzgerald kick, having purchased his complete works and finding a fair share of gems. TALES OF THE JAZZ AGE (1922) contains one story I adored - "The Diamond as Big as the Ritz," some surprisingly funny tales like "The Camel's Back," and "Pink and Porcelain," and some fumbling others, all of which I dissect below.
“The Jelly Bean” 1920
★★★☆☆
This mildly humorous and wistful little jaunt was cowritten by Zelda Fitzgerald, though in the opening, Francis merely notes that “his wife” helped with some parts. Unfortunately, it’s clear which parts were written by Zelda. The protagonist’s name is Jelly, a more playful and whimsical name than one I’ve ever seen from Francis’s characters. Here’s a description-of the Jelly Bean himself, sounding very unFitzgeraldian: “He grew lazily during jelly bean season, which is every season, down in the land of the jelly-beans—” Another: “He was a jelly-bean… I write that again because it has a pleasant sound—rather like the beginning of a fairy story—” Again, clearly not Francis. The use of dashes and intuitive prose is so very Zelda. Anyway, back to poor Jelly Bean, also known as Jim in more rationally narrated parts (written by Francis)… Jim is just a good ol’ boy who falls in love with a crap shooting, whiskey drinking, high-falutin’ southern belle. There are memorable moments—such as the scene in which the girl in question scrapes gum off her shoe by dancing in a pool of gasoline. It doesn’t end well for the girl or for Jelly Bean. And, I don’t think short stories should be cowritten.
“The Camel’s Back”
1920
★★★☆☆
Young Perry, rebuffed by his fiance, embarks on a drunken adventure to a costume party, dressed a camel. The camel bows reverently in greeting others, seriously admits his need to drink enough to sustain him in the desert, and eventually clumsily dances the cotillion with his ex fiance. At the end of the party, the camel wins an award, but is anatomically incapable of accepting the box of cigars as his prize.
This has the light humor of “Porcelain and Pink” (featured later in this volume). It’s a silly, and dare I say cute short story by Fitzgerald. Images of the camel dancing the cotillion will stay with me for a while.
“May Day”
1920
★★★☆☆
This story weaves separated “true” stories that happened around May Day, 1920 in New York City. In this tale we hear about the goings-on of radicalized anticommunist soldiers, idealistic, out-of-touch socialists, alcoholic bums and pompous socialites. It ends tragically, Fitzgerald attempting to weave their lives together through a series of gruesome, though not entirely memorable, deaths.
“Porcelain and Pink”
1920
★★★☆☆
Half narration, half play–this story is light, sweet, and silly. Two sisters, twins one can assume, argue over using the bath. A snobbish, intellectual boyfriend appears at the window, mistakes the identity of one for the other. The girl in the bathtub carries on, making light of the situation and making a fool of the boyfriend.
“The Diamond as Big as the Ritz”
1922
★★★★★
This starts as a fantasy regarding a man who lives on a mountain made of diamond, and it ends like a Bruce Springsteen song. If you’re not sure what I mean, read on.
The beginning is a Gatsbyesque dream of gaudiness and glamour. Beneath the spectacle of the man’s diamond mansion lies seedy moral corruption. The richest man on earth remains that way through a series of murders and kidnappings. Children brought up in this fairytale of spoilt to the point of zero empathy and common sense.
When well-to-do midwestern John shows up, things turn sour. By the end of the story, John is telling his beloved murderess fiance, heiress of the diamond mountain, to “turn up her coat collar” as they head out into the cold world, completely penniless.
“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”
1922
★★☆☆☆
Having already seen the movie inspired by this tale, my expectations were low going into this one. However the film, despite its shortcomings, exceeded the short story’s enjoyability. This story is merely a tale of aging in reverse, with tedious descriptions of gray hair, puberty, and the like.
In the table of contents, Fitzgerald provided an anonymous letter written in response to “Benjamin Button.” This letter may be worth more merit than the story itself:
“Sir–
I have read the story Benjamin Button in Colliers and I wish to say that as short story writer, you would make a good lunatic. I have seen many pieces of cheese in my life but of all the pieces of cheese I have seen you are the biggest. I hate to waste a piece of stationary on you, but I will.”
“Tarquin of Cheapside”
1917
★★★★☆
Set in the Elizabethan era, this is a uniquely written narrative about a man running from two assailants on Cheapside Street in London. The fleeing man, “Soft Shoes,” escapes the wrath of “Flowing Boots” by moving with the clouds when they cast over the moon. Pikeman stand at the ready in the streets, hoping to catch an unknown “Satan.”
In Part II, Wessel Caxter, an indolent man who spends all his time reading, shelters the fleeing man on the promise that Soft Shoes will write something entertaining for him to read. It is not until the end of this brief plot that we read the opening of the tale, which Soft Shoes titled “The Rape of Lucrece.” It can be assumed, then, that the man writing the poem (Soft Shoes) is Tarquin, the Roman soldier at the forefront of Shakespeare’s poem, and that Fitzgerald’s short story is meant to exist with the universe of that tale.
So, we have a story within a story; Fitzgerald’s creativity is on full display here. It��s clear that Fitzgerald is flexing his Wordsmithian muscles here, concentrating on how deliciously he could deliver unusual words for usual things, such as “Soft Shoes,” “Flowing Boots,” and later when he describes the clouds over the moon as “the hand’s… pale caress.” Fitzgerald claims to have written this at only 19, and I fully take his word for it. This is more puzzle than story, more clever than significant.
“O Russet Witch”
1921
★☆☆☆☆
Merlin Grainger spends his life in a bookshop while pining after an unruly, carefree, boisterous flapper-type woman: Caroline. One day, Caroline strolls into the bookshop in which he works, and starts throwing books, tearing down the place. He loves it–her chaos a symbol of her unrestrained nature and her ambivalence to the world’s expectations. Caroline is elusive, so he marries Olive instead – a calm and loyal woman of his own status. They enjoy a quiet life together, but as he grows through various stages in his life, he continues to wish he had access to the riotous party girl who radiated mayhem and drama. Merlin dies at 65, feeling he wasted his life.
This was written in 1921 and explains much about Fitzgerald’s view of aging, dating, and his philosophy on how one ought to live life. In one passage, he describes turning 35 as “a gradual withdrawal from life… ending up at last in a solitary, desolate point… we sit waiting for death.” It is no surprise, given this mindset, that Fitzgerald died in his 40s. He viewed life as meant to be lived by the young, and as chaos and fun preferable to routine and security. This short story also explains his marriage to Zelda. Zelda and Francis were known for the pandemonium they enjoyed together in the 1920s, but the drunken, frivolous, hilarious parties they enjoyed in their youth turned violent and sour as they aged. Need I remind the reader of Francis and Zelda’s untimely death?
Looking back on this text at the publication of the volume, TALES OF THE JAZZ AGE, published in 1922, Fitzgerald admits that the short story is problematic. Yet, he chose to leave it as is, saying, “However the years may have dealt with Merlin Grainger, I myself was thinking always in the present.” I interpret this to mean that Fitzgerald was only thinking of his life when he wrote this short little tale, and his fascination with the tumult and drama of the upper class.
However short-sighted the plot may be, Fitzgerald’s writing does not disappoint. Fitzgerald writes the fascination and radiance of romance in a fresh way in each of his stories. Take this example from “O Russet Witch”:
“‘Are you going?’
He knew she was.
His question was simply a lingering wile to detain her and extract for another moment that dazzling essence of light he drew from her presence, to continue his enormous satisfaction in her features, which were like kisses and, he thought, like the features of a girl he had known back in 1910.”
“The Lees of Happiness”
1920
★☆☆☆☆
This one did not contain a hint of Fitzgerald’s usual romping pomp and splendor. This is a quiet story about a woman named Roxanne. Roxanne gives up a promising dancing career to settle down with a man named Jeff. They are both very much young and in love, but after only a few years of marriage, Jeff is diagnosed with a terminal illness and becomes comatose. Roxanne continues to care for him until his death less than ten years later.
Similar to a famous Christmas story I dislike, IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE, the wife does not remarry after her husband’s death, but remains devoted entirely to him. She becomes saintlike. Again, similar to the wife in that Christmas tale, she takes on the reputation of a spinster. Her only happiness is in memories of her husband. Funny that she never thinks back to her days as a dancer, or of her own family. I’d rather just forget this story altogether.
“Mr. Icky”
1920
★☆☆☆☆
This is a short one-act play written in a somewhat absurdist, flippant style. This seems like Fitzgerald’s attempt at dark humor. I would call it inspired by Samuel Beckett if Beckett had not contributed to the theater of the absurd 30 years after this was written.
An old man, Mr. Icky, is mistreated and forgotten by his children, and then he dies. Depressing and strange – I didn’t get this one at all.
“Jemina, the Mountain Girl”
1917
★★☆☆☆
Jemina Tantrum, a “mountain girl,” is from a family of whiskey brewers. Upon finding gold on Tantrum land, a feud with the neighbors, the Doldrums, ignites. Meanwhile, a man from a nearby city arrives in attempt to buy the land. Jemina falls in love with him. The Doldrums launch a full-scale attack on the Tantrums, including brick-throwing and arson. Jemina and the man from the city die in one another’s arms.
This extremely brief piece of humor was enjoyable for its clever names and touches of satire. Better than “Mr. Icky” but not as good as “Jelly-Bean.” -
I picked this up because I remembered the story "May Day" as having a "post-pandemic" feel to it.
Some of these stories are good, some are not. -
Apart from the famous short about ole' Benny there is nothing here to write home about. The acclaim for F. Scott Fitzgerald is overrated, the skill of the pen does not exist. Two books, two failures and no amount of telling me what I am misssing will convince me to read anymore of this third-rate writer. Awful, just awful.
Two stars for the story of Ben.
Yes my kind bookshop gave me a refund.
File under c for Murakami... (That's c for crap). -
Fitzgerald's second collection of short stories, published shortly after his second novel The Beautiful and Damned.
Book Review: Tales of the Jazz Age includes a few of the best stories by F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896-1940) and several that achieve nothing more than being briefly entertaining ("Porcelain and Pink") and beautifully written. By this time magazines would publish anything he wrote, so Fitzgerald was scraping the barrel (he needed the money) digging up old sketches from college, absurdist ramblings, imaginary plays, six-page enigmas, anything else he could find -- and all were published. His daughter, Frances "Scottie" Fitzgerald. observed that not all of them were worth keeping as "they are 'pieces' rather than stories proper." Some are more clever than brilliant ("Tarquin of Cheapside"), but the oddities are fun and demonstrate his range -- few would guess that all of these were written by our Chronicler of the Roaring Twenties a century ago. He was interested in experimenting, breaking the mold, and could be absurdly silly as some sort of proto-Beckett. But amidst the others are high points of Fitzgerald's short story career. "May Day" is a serious (he calls it "unpleasant") and nuanced take on social and political issues of the day. In "A Diamond as Big as the Ritz" (my favorite) Fitzgerald demonstrates that the rich really are quite different than the rest of us, willing to calmly countenance slavery, fratricide, and serial killing to preserve their wealth. "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button," a fanciful tour de force, is both more sentimental and more effective than I expected. (It's also a distantly related 2008 film with Brad Pitt.) These three works belong in any selection of his stories. Fitzgerald's secret weapon is his unique empathy, an ability to get inside the minds and emotions of any of his characters, and take us along with him. [3½★] -
While I have loved Fitzgerald's novels (at least, back when I read them), I can't say I actually enjoyed this collection of stories. While Fitzgerald was obviously an engaging writer, the stories here feel like him coasting along. There are completely trivial pieces that he wrote as an undergraduate (and are of the quality you'd expect from an undergrad), pieces that he wrote for the money (literally, he admits in the forward that one was written so he could buy, IIRC, a watch), and experimental pieces that, in my opinion, don't work (Tarquin of Cheapside, for example). The collection feels like it was pulled together from whatever he had lying about, to cash in on the reputation that his novels had built. I don't think I'd classify anything here as even remotely essential Fitzgerald.
-
This is rather a mixed bunch of Fitzgerald's early short stories. I preferred the tragi-comic ones where he combines the crazy whirl of the Jazz Age with the poignant sense of lost youth and innocence - for example, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button or the brilliantly understated The Lees of Happiness . Some of the other sketches and stories are less satisfying, especially those where the satire seems quite heavy handed.
Interesting as an introduction to the themes and ideas that Fitzgerald developed further in his novels, and I particularly liked the presentation of my Alma Classics edition, which has photographs, extensive notes and a delightful cover.
