Critical Insights: The Great Gatsby

by Morris Dickstein

This volume of criticism begins with essays that provide the reader with cultural, historical, comparative, and critical contexts for understanding Gatsby. Several essays consider the cultural and historical contexts of Fitzgerald’s work while critical comparisons link the novel to the poetry of Keats and the novels Daisy Miller and Passing. The section of contextual readings is followed by a selection of critical overviews, including a consideration of Gatsby as a type of culmination of Fitzgerald’s writings and a comprehensive introduction to the Oxford World Classic edition of Gatsby. The critical overviews are followed by a series of critical readings that focus on narrative style, color symbolism, and character analysis among other topics.

291 pages, Kindle Edition

First published September 1, 2009

About the author

Morris Dickstein is Distinguished Professor of English and Theatre at the CUNY Graduate Center and the author of Gates of Eden and Leopards in the Temple, among other works. He lives in New York City. "