A hundred years ago this month, F. Scott Fitzgerald published what would come to be considered not only a great American novel, but for many, the great American novel.
The Great Gatsby captured the romance, illusion, and corruption of the nation that would dominate the 20th century.
Over a mere 47,000 words – one eighth of a “Bleak House” or a quarter of a “Wolf Hall,” whichever is your preferred literary yardstick – Fitzgerald crafted a masterpiece that continues to captivate readers a century later.
The novel follows Nick Carraway, a 30-year-old bond salesman recently arrived in New York, who recounts the story of a summer spent as a neighbor to the mysterious millionaire Jay Gatsby and witnesses the obsession that leads to Gatsby’s undoing.
This brief description doesn’t come close to explaining the novel’s magic or why we remain in its grip a century on. To explore these questions, New Statesman acting editor Tom Gatti hosted a discussion in front of a live audience at the Cambridge Literary Festival.
Joining him were Sarah Churchwell, author of Careless People: Murder, Mayhem, and the Invention of the Great Gatsby, and the author and critic Erica Wagner.
In this podcast episode, our guests examine what makes this compact novel so powerful and why its themes of aspiration, reinvention, and disillusionment continue to resonate with readers around the world a century after its publication.
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