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The Pat Hobby stories were written between 1939 and 1940, when Fitzgerald himself was struggling to keep afloat in Hollywood. Fitzgerald paints the Hollywood scene as cold, calculating, and manipulative. A place where kissing up is more important than the quality of your talents, a place where the writer gets no respect, and a place that most likely today harbors the same attitude that Fitzgerald so deftly described in his final days.
In reading the Pat Hobby Stories, one can feel Fitzgerald's own sense of poor self-worth, despair, and hopelessness. Yet ironically, a twist of dark humor is thrown into the stories, evoking in the reader an ambiguous response of laughing at Pat Hobby while pitying him at the same time. This collection is not only entertaining and easy to read, but is one that will give you broader insight into the late great F. Scott Fitzgerald.
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In The Crack-Up Fitzgerald writes equally poignantly of the agony of the aftermath of such excess and unfulfilled desires and social insecurities. He was able to capture all of this so clearly because it was the life that he and Zelda aspired to and, from time to timem, lived. But they were always just on the outside, depending on the generosity of others both financially socially. He takes no prisoners.
It is no surprise that he is still being widely read. Don't miss Fitzgeral - it doesn't really matter which of his books you start with, you will find yourself moving through the collection.
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Aside from the sheer thrill of witnessing at least part of the transition and revision, the book itself is a wonder--to one end--to be viewed along with "The Great Gatsby." Things I've been bothered by in "Gatsby" are different in this book, and it's interesting to read that they had indeed been altered - most notably, the mid-section in "Gatsby" when Nick tells the reader in a near omnicient narration Gatsby's true story; this happens entirely differently in "Trimalchio" and in my opinion does not break the narrative flow the way it does in the final "Great Gatsby."
Some unanswered questions, some debated items become clearer after reading this. Is Gatsby a good guy or a bad guy? Is Nick? Who is Jordan Baker really? Is Nick the agent of the action or an observant/removed narrator? "Trimalchio" presents the answers to some of these questions differently than does "The Great Gatsby," or in a more straightforward and clear fashion. In a sense, this could be a truer-to-Fitzgerald's-soul account, as many of the changes were suggested to him from the outside. Many of the characters underwent changes from this version to "The Great Gatsby," though some changes more major than others.
I'm trying, in this review, not to write what would be a book's worth of my opinion about which is a superior book. Gatsby is such a part of me I could write forever. I will mention that typos and other necessary changes were made from this to the final, as well. And although some things I've questioned and have bothered me simply because I do love the book so much are different in this early version, I don't know how I'd feel if this were the *only* version of the book, as what we have here is an early version of a book I'd always thought brilliant.
The language is beautiful; the characters amazing, sad, complex. I'm infinitely impressed by this book, whichever level of "completion."
I've got one complaint about this edition of "Trimalchio": at the back of the book, there is a list of changes made - galley version, holograph, 1st edition, etc. They are laid out in such a way that they are hard to follow and hard to study. I nearly know "The Great Gatsby" by heart. While reading "Trimalchio" I noticed tiny, tiny differences. But, after I finished, I wanted to truly study the changes at each stage of Fitzgerald's writing, and the lay-out and lack of explanation made it oppressively uninviting. It's too bad, too, because I am ceaselessly (as FSF might say) interested in this - this book, the revision process, its history, everything Gatsby.
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In one sense - especially in the little-changed early chapters - this version of the story is interesting mostly in that it demonstrates the improvement brought about by the relatively few changes that were still to come. For example, Jordan Baker's climactic recollection of seeing Daisy and Gatsby together during the war is quite a bit less scandalous here than in the final version, so that the plot still advances but much of the tension of the scene is lacking. Some of the party scenes are also less detailed than they would become. None of this is to say these parts of the book aren't still enjoyable, especially if you haven't read Gatsby recently; it's just that the changes Fitzgerald made really did improve the story in small but noticeable ways.
Although the end of the story is largely the same, the last two chapters do hold several surprises for those who are already familiar with the final version. Gatsby is portrayed at least slightly more sympathetically, Nick is less of a shadow, and the past events leading up to the currently unfolding plot are both different and somewhat less vague. This takes away some of the mystique of several of the characters, but it's not necessarily better or worse; in any case, it's fascinating to see Fitzgerald's original approach and how it changed. One thing he arguably didn't change enough is Nick's bleak outlook in the closing pages; life doesn't end at 30 just because of a lousy summer! I've always considered that the weakest point of the novel, but this version at least offers a slightly different context and narration of the ending.
Imperfections and all, it's still brilliant. Recommended for all Gatsby fans.
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I do recommend reading one of Fitzgerald's many biographies prior to reading his letters, as it is a fascinating exercise comparing Fitzgerald's interpretation/rationalization of an event with a third party's.
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Collected in this superb audio are nine of his early stories performed by accomplished actors. Broadway/film actress Blythe Danner reads "Bernice Bobs Her Hair," a narrative inspired by a lengthy letter Fitzgerald wrote to his younger sister, Annabel, in which he offered advice on how she could become popular with boys.
"The Jelly-Bean," read by Dylan Baker, takes place in Georgia. Fitzgerald credits his wife for her expertise in helping him write a portion of this tale involving crap shooting, saying "as a Southern girl" she was an expert at this endeavor.
The talented Peter Gallagher reads "Head and Shoulders," the first of Fitzgerald's story to appear in The Saturday Evening Post.
Also found in the collection are "The Diamond As Big As The Ritz," "Dalyrimple Goes Wrong," "The Ice Palace," "Benediction," "The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button," and "May Day."
This is an exemplary combination of memorable prose and oral presentation, a remarkable listening experience.
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He uses the JFK assassination as a paradigm for the revelation and understanding of the real powers in the US.
With parallels to 3 other political scandals (MacCarthyism, Watergate, Contragate) he shows that there are deep continuities in the US political system. He arrives at the most alarming conclusion that the US power system is intrinsically vicious, violent and murderous and that conspiracies form an essential part of it.
He shows convincingly that the real powers in the US lay in a symbiosis of public government, organized crime and private wealth.
Most diabolic are the FBI (lead by the insidious Edgar J. Hoover) and the CIA, which are both responsible for the ruthless destruction of opponents and dissidents without legal or moral restraint.
This book gives an appalling picture of the Agency, fighting for the justification of its existence and its resources by prolonging the Cold War. It infiltrated the media in order to preach its Gospel. It used organized crime and drug traffickers as means for its ends.
Very revealing also is the fact that 20 percent of the shares of General Dynamics were in the hands of the mob.
His final analysis is devastating: 'how far our office-holders, including our Presidents, have been reduced to the status of clients, dispensable when the more enduring patronage is withdrawn?' and 'To what extent has our visible political establishment become one regulated by forces operating outside the constitutional process?'
After reading this book, I confess that posing these questions is answering them.
A provocative, dark and disturbing book.
A must read.
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It is books like this that show you why your vote is meaningless, protest is generally futile, and how the US can skip around the world, bringing down governments (and at home) and no one says boo. Frightening book, and required reading for anyone interested in the death of JFK, a landmark event.
I have read nothing like these stories and I know that I will never read anything like them again. When my brother convinced me to read these stories I was, at first, a little skeptical about F. Scott Fitzgerald. I had heard my brother rant and rave about him before but now I understand why he was ranting and raving about him so.
I have thoroughly enjoyed reading this collection of Pat Hobby Short stories. I am now excited to pick up the next F. Scott Fitzgerald Book that my brother will let me borrow.