Each quarter, our book club meets to discuss a new piece of literature. To provide more context, our Book Club Co-Chairs (Professor Scott Hermanson and Jessica Kullman) release historical information and thought-provoking questions to inspire the discussion before meeting. This information is now stored on our website for reference.
The Great Gatsby is a classic of American literature, a touchstone work that has both defined and critiqued the American dream. Since this will be a discussion, we wanted to provide you some helpful articles to read and ideas to consider prior to our event.
Caution: These articles may contain spoilers if such a thing is possible for a 100 year old novel. If you are reading Gatsby for the first time, you may want to finish the novel before reading these articles.
- Vox’s article , “The Great American Classic We’ve Been Misreading for 100 Years”, on the 100th anniversary of the novel provides a nice overview of Fitzgerald’s journey writing The Great Gatsby and how the novel went from a modest success for the author to the cultural institution it is today.
- 8 Ways ‘The Great Gatsby’ Captured the Roaring Twenties—and Its Dark Side – From the History channel’s website, a brief explanation of the world of The Great Gatsby: the cultural, historical and economic changes that shaped Fitzgerald’s novel.
- A CBS Sunday Morning video about The Great Gatsby, showing East and West Egg, the Plaza Hotel, and glimpses of an original manuscript of the novel.
- Bonus Article: The New York Times has an excellent visual feature on Gatsby at 100. It’s behind a paywall, so only available to subscribers of the Times. – “It’s Gatsby’s World, We Just Live in It”
The Cover Art
Since The Great Gatsby entered public domain in 2021, many more editions have been put in print. Yet Francis Cugat’s “Celestial Eyes” cover is closely associated with the novel. Fitzgerald had seen an early version of the work before finishing his novel and later told his editors to reserve the art for him because he had written the cover into the book. The American Writers Museum has a short article about the cover art.
Some questions to consider after you’ve read the novel
What does Gatsby’s dream represent?
Is it truly the American Dream, or a distorted version of it?
How is time treated in the novel — particularly the past?
What does Gatsby’s obsession with repeating the past say about his character and the era?
How reliable is Nick Carraway as a narrator?
What shapes his perspective, and what do we lose or gain by seeing events through his eyes?
Art Deco is often seen as elegant, ornate, but sometimes superficial.
How might that mirror the themes of the novel itself? Do you think Fitzgerald celebrates or critiques this surface-level beauty?
Who in this novel is admirable?
Nick? Gatsby? Daisy? Does Fitzgerald want us to like anyone, or is he more interested in exposing something?