The Short Stories of F. Scott Fitzgerald: A New Collection

Reads very well, the prose is excellent, and takes the reader through the life of the twenties and thirties. The stories that take place in Minneapolis and Chicago have several themes that a reader from cold Canadian cities can relate to.

Over 30 of his best, favorite, and most telling short stories; quote by F. Scott: "My whole theory of writing I can sum up in one sentence. An author ought to write for the youth of his own generation, the critics of the next, and the schoolmasters of ever afterward." My favorites of these stories: "Head and Shoulders" for it's irony and certain parallels in my own life; "The Offshore Pirate" just because it was entertaining; "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" due to the perspective if sheds on our life cycle; "The Diamond as Big as the Ritz" because it was so outlandish and so real; "Basil and Cleopatra," the answer to Tom Sawyer; "The Swimmers" for the drama and justice; "Six of One" for the well-put moral; and "The Freeze Out" show more mostly because the bit with the grandmother at the end made me laugh out loud (on the ferry). Scott's themes included North vs. South, America vs. Europe, principal vs. habit, and the changes universal to all our lives. As writers do, his writings always involved what he new from his own life: Ivy League schools, deb culture, intermingling classes, the society of the 20's and 30's, roller-coaster finances, travel, love and loss, and human growth. To me, he was a great writer because he conveyed a flourish of emotional meaning and physical description with limited verbiage, by using the perfect phrases and details. Rather than create a caricature of his characters, he draws the minimum lines needed to distinguish them from anyone else. show less

This collections of the short stories of F. Scott Fitzgerald really blew me away specifically with respect to the quality and poetry of the language employed. His use of prose rhythem, alliteration, assonance, circumlocution and economy is almost mathmatic in its complexities. Combine that with his range of style, mood and subject matter and you've got yourself some heavy yet accessible short stories.

I especially enjoyed "A Diamond as Big as the Ritz" and the descriptions of lost love and his ecstasies over feminine beauty that seem to recur throughout. Of course there will also be several occurances throughout which may offend modern sensibilities.

This is a great collection of Fitzgerald's short stories, an arena where he honestly really shines, despite his greater fame as a novelist. Given the size of the anthology, I tend to read a few of his stories, set it down for a few months, read another couple, and so on. I haven't read a bad one yet.

Fitz isn't really that famous (to today's readers) as a short story writer, but short fiction was his bread and butter. Lots of stories here, and many are gems, even if Fitz dismissed them as mere bill-payers.

A bit of a disappointment. Mostly stories about love among college-age upper-class people in the 1920s and 1930s. Page after page of dialogue became wearying; skipped a few of the stories.

Fitzgerald is probably my favorite writer, and I think his stories are timeless. A great book to keep nearby and dip into often.