Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Judging ‘Gatsby’ by Its Cover(s)
NYT ^ | 4/26/2013 | JULIE BOSMAN

Posted on 04/26/2013 1:58:11 PM PDT by Borges

click here to read article


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-20 ... 41-6061-8081-100101-115 next last
To: Mmogamer

It’s a very good “period” piece. You get a good image of the roaring 20s sort of urban America.

It is puffed up to be more, but for what it is, it’s perfectly good.


61 posted on 04/26/2013 3:42:54 PM PDT by Persevero (Homeschooling for Excellence since 1992)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 10 | View Replies]

To: stanne

“why the boys jump up and take on the female roles.”

‘cause it’s funny. Most boys love to laugh.


62 posted on 04/26/2013 3:46:26 PM PDT by Persevero (Homeschooling for Excellence since 1992)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 40 | View Replies]

To: Borges

“I have not read Bell Tolls...I assumed Sun also rises and farewell to rms were the best novels?”

(you didn’t ask me, but. . .)

I thought For Whom the Bell Tolls was superlative, and it is sort of defense of the socialist cause in Spain - I recall it follows socialist activist, I am sure my fellow FReepers will gleefullly correct me if I’m wrong - so that is an amazing declaration by me.

It did not make me a socialist (obviously), but it is character driven and really fascinating.


63 posted on 04/26/2013 3:49:13 PM PDT by Persevero (Homeschooling for Excellence since 1992)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 51 | View Replies]

To: Borges

If I could take the time to find out I would. I remember analyzing “Hills Like White Elephants” in school and the symbolism is brilliant and inspiring.

These stories are well written. I don’t argue the poetry in Fitzegerald, the story itself is. . . Well it’s a hard sell.


64 posted on 04/26/2013 3:54:18 PM PDT by stanne
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 51 | View Replies]

To: Andrei Bulba; Borges
Depressing can have a reason

Yes, and great art can have this as an intention.

However, where's the great novel writer who depicts the uber wealthy as wholesome, happy people I ask you?

Overwhelmingly the left-centered artist depicts the upper class in a horrid way and then their socialist buddies promote the false image to a gullible public, even compelling young minds to soak up the twisted point of view at a young age in lit class. Didn't The League of American Writers (commie group), in fact, have this as its aim back in the 30's?

65 posted on 04/26/2013 3:55:00 PM PDT by what's up
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 47 | View Replies]

To: Persevero

Tenth g boys are the funniest creatures.

It’s their humor that SNL started on.

If someone were to go to a lunchroom, listen in and put it out in skits on Saturday night they’d have a hit.


66 posted on 04/26/2013 3:56:09 PM PDT by stanne
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 62 | View Replies]

To: Borges

We’re selling the classic cover and have no intention of selling the new one.”

&&&
Good! Why would anyone want to book that has the homely and untalented DiCaprio and the other Hollywood morons?


67 posted on 04/26/2013 4:17:03 PM PDT by Bigg Red (Restore us, O God of hosts; let your face shine, that we may be saved! -Ps80)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: what's up

Wholesome and well adjusted people aren’t interesting. Shakespeare didn’t center too much around them either. Fitzgerald was hardly an activist in the Dreiser mode.


68 posted on 04/26/2013 4:17:14 PM PDT by Borges
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 65 | View Replies]

To: Bigg Red

want to book = want the book


69 posted on 04/26/2013 4:18:08 PM PDT by Bigg Red (Restore us, O God of hosts; let your face shine, that we may be saved! -Ps80)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 67 | View Replies]

To: Bigg Red

Dicaprio is highly talented.


70 posted on 04/26/2013 4:18:36 PM PDT by Borges
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 67 | View Replies]

To: Bigg Red
Good! Why would anyone want to book that has the homely and untalented DiCaprio and the other Hollywood morons?

DiCaprio is a cure for insomnia.

71 posted on 04/26/2013 4:22:17 PM PDT by Moonman62 (The US has become a government with a country, rather than a country with a government.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 67 | View Replies]

To: Borges
Fitzgerald was hardly an activist in the Dreiser mode.

I didn't say he was an activist; however, the practice of not presenting the wealthy in an accurate way is still present.

Wholesome and well adjusted people aren’t interesting

I find them very interesting. And millions of people who watched "Leave it to Beaver" or "The Bill Cosby Show" also apparently felt the same way.

72 posted on 04/26/2013 4:28:01 PM PDT by what's up
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 68 | View Replies]

To: Borges

Who is that homely girl?

No one can compare with Mia Farrow in the role of Daisy. She was absolutely stunning.


73 posted on 04/26/2013 4:31:47 PM PDT by miserare
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Borges
Faulkner at his best is awesome and not remotely dry.

I taught Faulkner's Barn Burning to Soph/Jr for many years. It's one of the great coming of age stories - waking to moral responsibility at the expense of one's family ties.

I never used Sound and the Fury for high schoolers, but it is an incredible work of art. He's tough, no doubt, but one of our geniuses of literature.
74 posted on 04/26/2013 4:34:40 PM PDT by jobim (.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 14 | View Replies]

To: vladimir998
All Quiet on the Western Front, book & film, is excellent for high schoolers. I have covered it with advanced freshmen successfully.
75 posted on 04/26/2013 4:37:24 PM PDT by jobim (.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 18 | View Replies]

To: what's up

That’s mass market pabulum. Art is supposed to disturb. Angels aren’t interesting. Dickens and Dostoevsky would have these sorts of characters...angelic, innocent young women...and they are a bore. There’s no concept of ‘accuracy’ in fiction only consistency within a given work. The point isn’t to be accurate but to be vivid. If you want the analog of the ‘Filthy Rich’ depictions just look at how negatively poor and middle class people are depicted in ‘Winesberg, Ohio’ and the Spoon River anthology from about Fitzgerald’s time. It’s not so much Class based as Freudian...seemingly well adjusted people/communities have a seedy underbelly.


76 posted on 04/26/2013 4:45:18 PM PDT by Borges
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 72 | View Replies]

To: Williams

I like some of Fitzgerald’s other stuff - he wrote some fine essays and the Pat Hobby stories are fun. But Gatsby bored the crap outta me.


77 posted on 04/26/2013 4:45:33 PM PDT by Argus
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: Borges

—— Dostoevsky would have these sorts of characters...angelic, innocent young women...and they are a bore. ——

Huh? Doestoevsky is the only novelist who matters. His understanding of human nature is profound.


78 posted on 04/26/2013 4:48:15 PM PDT by St_Thomas_Aquinas
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 76 | View Replies]

To: vladimir998
So, Gatsby is “necessary reading”? For what exactly? I mean, I suppose, for American Literature majors in college sure, but it doesn’t seem all that necessary for the rest of us.

Necessary implies indispensible, which I don't think any one novel is, any more than any one painting, symphony, etc. A novel is an aesthetic, which by nature will not appeal to all. Moby Dick does not have aesthetic appeal for me, although I can recognize Melville's accomplishment, whereas The Scarlet Letter does. Dostoyevsky hits me; Dickens doesn't. We hope to expose the next generation to a range of great works to whet their appetites for the remainder of their lives.
79 posted on 04/26/2013 4:49:41 PM PDT by jobim (.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 30 | View Replies]

To: what's up

You haven’t read “Pride and Prejudice”.

The Colin Firth version (film) is very well done.


80 posted on 04/26/2013 4:51:18 PM PDT by stanne
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 65 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-20 ... 41-6061-8081-100101-115 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson