Zelanator reviewed A short autobiography by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Review of 'A short autobiography' on 'Goodreads'
4 stars
This was an outstanding collection of Fitzgerald's short stories during his career. Admittedly, at least three or four of the essays did not resonate with me at all, especially those where Fitzgerald tended to ramble or wax poetic about "the flapper" and the "young egotist." I found these less appealing because they are major themes in his novels.
The majority of the stories incorporated here have an autobiographical slant to them, with Fitzgerald commenting on the beginning of his literary career, the financial travails of his early married years, the death of his father, and the peculiarities of his generation. Having read this collection it becomes easier to see why Fitzgerald was considered the best articulator of his generation's consciousness in the 1920s and 1930s. In at least three of the short stories included here, Fitzgerald is able to comment profoundly on how his generation was shaped by the First …
This was an outstanding collection of Fitzgerald's short stories during his career. Admittedly, at least three or four of the essays did not resonate with me at all, especially those where Fitzgerald tended to ramble or wax poetic about "the flapper" and the "young egotist." I found these less appealing because they are major themes in his novels.
The majority of the stories incorporated here have an autobiographical slant to them, with Fitzgerald commenting on the beginning of his literary career, the financial travails of his early married years, the death of his father, and the peculiarities of his generation. Having read this collection it becomes easier to see why Fitzgerald was considered the best articulator of his generation's consciousness in the 1920s and 1930s. In at least three of the short stories included here, Fitzgerald is able to comment profoundly on how his generation was shaped by the First World War and the Spanish Flu pandemic which caused an incredible amount of disillusionment, a rejection of social constraints, and a live-for-the-moment mentality. Having read two of Fitzgerald's novels in the past few months, this was a nice change of pace. He was clearly a brilliant essayist.