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Collected Stories 2: The Crack-up and Other Stories
"Je détestais la nuit parce que je n'arrivais pas à dormir, le jour parce qu'il conduisait à la nuit. Je me couchais désormais du côté du coeur, sachant que plus vite je fatiguerais cet organe, si peu que ce fût, plus tôt arriverait l'heure bénie du cauchemar qui, comme une catharsis, me permettrait de mieux accueillir le jour nouveau." Ce volume rassemble quinze récits écrits entre 1924 et 1939, de l'ironie d'"Échos sur l'âge du jazz" et de "Ma génération" à la détresse de "La fêlure". Fitzgerald pensait que sa vie, ses passions, ses souvenirs, ses malheurs devaient servir son oeuvre, car il n'avait pas d'autre foi que la littérature. C'est pourquoi tout ce qu'il raconte, avec tant de charme, fait de lui un écrivain exemplaire.
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First published July 1, 1965
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About the author
F. Scott Fitzgerald
2,332 books25.5k followersFrancis Scott Key Fitzgerald, widely known simply as Scott Fitzgerald, was an American novelist, essayist, and short story writer. He is best known for his novels depicting the flamboyance and excess of the Jazz Age, a term he popularized in his short story collection Tales of the Jazz Age. During his lifetime, he published four novels, four story collections, and 164 short stories. Although he achieved temporary popular success and fortune in the 1920s, Fitzgerald received critical acclaim only after his death and is now widely regarded as one of the greatest American writers of the 20th century.
Born into a middle-class family in Saint Paul, Minnesota, Fitzgerald was raised primarily in New York state. He attended Princeton University where he befriended future literary critic Edmund Wilson. Owing to a failed romantic relationship with Chicago socialite Ginevra King, he dropped out in 1917 to join the United States Army during World War I. While stationed in Alabama, he met Zelda Sayre, a Southern debutante who belonged to Montgomery's exclusive country-club set. Although she initially rejected Fitzgerald's marriage proposal due to his lack of financial prospects, Zelda agreed to marry him after he published the commercially successful This Side of Paradise (1920). The novel became a cultural sensation and cemented his reputation as one of the eminent writers of the decade.
His second novel, The Beautiful and Damned (1922), propelled him further into the cultural elite. To maintain his affluent lifestyle, he wrote numerous stories for popular magazines such as The Saturday Evening Post, Collier's Weekly, and Esquire. During this period, Fitzgerald frequented Europe, where he befriended modernist writers and artists of the "Lost Generation" expatriate community, including Ernest Hemingway. His third novel, The Great Gatsby (1925), received generally favorable reviews but was a commercial failure, selling fewer than 23,000 copies in its first year. Despite its lackluster debut, The Great Gatsby is now hailed by some literary critics as the "Great American Novel". Following the deterioration of his wife's mental health and her placement in a mental institute for schizophrenia, Fitzgerald completed his final novel, Tender Is the Night (1934).
Struggling financially because of the declining popularity of his works during the Great Depression, Fitzgerald moved to Hollywood, where he embarked upon an unsuccessful career as a screenwriter. While living in Hollywood, he cohabited with columnist Sheilah Graham, his final companion before his death. After a long struggle with alcoholism, he attained sobriety only to die of a heart attack in 1940, at 44. His friend Edmund Wilson edited and published an unfinished fifth novel, The Last Tycoon (1941), after Fitzgerald's death. In 1993, a new edition was published as The Love of the Last Tycoon, edited by Matthew J. Bruccoli.
Born into a middle-class family in Saint Paul, Minnesota, Fitzgerald was raised primarily in New York state. He attended Princeton University where he befriended future literary critic Edmund Wilson. Owing to a failed romantic relationship with Chicago socialite Ginevra King, he dropped out in 1917 to join the United States Army during World War I. While stationed in Alabama, he met Zelda Sayre, a Southern debutante who belonged to Montgomery's exclusive country-club set. Although she initially rejected Fitzgerald's marriage proposal due to his lack of financial prospects, Zelda agreed to marry him after he published the commercially successful This Side of Paradise (1920). The novel became a cultural sensation and cemented his reputation as one of the eminent writers of the decade.
His second novel, The Beautiful and Damned (1922), propelled him further into the cultural elite. To maintain his affluent lifestyle, he wrote numerous stories for popular magazines such as The Saturday Evening Post, Collier's Weekly, and Esquire. During this period, Fitzgerald frequented Europe, where he befriended modernist writers and artists of the "Lost Generation" expatriate community, including Ernest Hemingway. His third novel, The Great Gatsby (1925), received generally favorable reviews but was a commercial failure, selling fewer than 23,000 copies in its first year. Despite its lackluster debut, The Great Gatsby is now hailed by some literary critics as the "Great American Novel". Following the deterioration of his wife's mental health and her placement in a mental institute for schizophrenia, Fitzgerald completed his final novel, Tender Is the Night (1934).
Struggling financially because of the declining popularity of his works during the Great Depression, Fitzgerald moved to Hollywood, where he embarked upon an unsuccessful career as a screenwriter. While living in Hollywood, he cohabited with columnist Sheilah Graham, his final companion before his death. After a long struggle with alcoholism, he attained sobriety only to die of a heart attack in 1940, at 44. His friend Edmund Wilson edited and published an unfinished fifth novel, The Last Tycoon (1941), after Fitzgerald's death. In 1993, a new edition was published as The Love of the Last Tycoon, edited by Matthew J. Bruccoli.
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Displaying 1 - 27 of 27 reviews
February 3, 2022
My first encounter with F. Scott Fitzgerald.
The autobiographical pieces in this publication were somewhat difficult to get into. All that stayed with me clearly was The Crack-Up. I think it’s an honest telling of someone with a depression. I liked the short stories better. I especially enjoyed Babylon Revisited and Financing Finnegan. Altogether this was an okay read.
The autobiographical pieces in this publication were somewhat difficult to get into. All that stayed with me clearly was The Crack-Up. I think it’s an honest telling of someone with a depression. I liked the short stories better. I especially enjoyed Babylon Revisited and Financing Finnegan. Altogether this was an okay read.
June 17, 2017
Just when I thought that I couldn't love F. Scott Fitzgerald anymore than I already did, along came The Crack Up.
This little book provides an amazing insight into the author's life and work. In these essays Fitzgerald discusses the 'crack' that has formed in him as his life has become more difficult, as well as reflecting on people, places, and things which he encountered at the height of his Jazz Age fame. Of the 5 essays in this collection, My Lost City was by far my favourite. I very nearly squealed out loud when I read the final paragraph of that essay because I CANNOT BELIEVE HOW STUNNING THIS MAN'S WRITING IS. Ugh. If you love Fitzgerald even half as much as I do, then I urge you to check out his essays.
The short stories in here didn't thrill me as much as the essays did. I haven't exactly read many of Fitzgerald's short stories so far, but all of the ones I have read have been very hit-or-miss to me. These 5 were no different. Of the 5 I liked Financing Finnegan the best (unexpectedly, as the famed Babylon Revisted is in here) and probably Pat Hobby Himself the least. Overall it's a decent selection of stories which all compliment the essays though.
I'm so glad to have read The Crack Up at long last. Now I move on to the more obscure works of my beloved Fitzgerald, hoping that I'll enjoy them just as much as this.
This little book provides an amazing insight into the author's life and work. In these essays Fitzgerald discusses the 'crack' that has formed in him as his life has become more difficult, as well as reflecting on people, places, and things which he encountered at the height of his Jazz Age fame. Of the 5 essays in this collection, My Lost City was by far my favourite. I very nearly squealed out loud when I read the final paragraph of that essay because I CANNOT BELIEVE HOW STUNNING THIS MAN'S WRITING IS. Ugh. If you love Fitzgerald even half as much as I do, then I urge you to check out his essays.
The short stories in here didn't thrill me as much as the essays did. I haven't exactly read many of Fitzgerald's short stories so far, but all of the ones I have read have been very hit-or-miss to me. These 5 were no different. Of the 5 I liked Financing Finnegan the best (unexpectedly, as the famed Babylon Revisted is in here) and probably Pat Hobby Himself the least. Overall it's a decent selection of stories which all compliment the essays though.
I'm so glad to have read The Crack Up at long last. Now I move on to the more obscure works of my beloved Fitzgerald, hoping that I'll enjoy them just as much as this.
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February 24, 2017I think I may even have started reading this before I came to London, but Fitzgerald is always heady, and pieces explicitly addressing the rise and fall even more so, so no wonder I spaced them out. There are various overlapping books by this title; mine (which doesn't have that cover) collects the rueful autobiographical essays along with various tales on overlapping themes (I nearly described the stories as autobiographical too but Hell, with Fitzgerald you can pretty much take that as read, can't you?). If I'm remembering this right, that means I first read 'My Lost City' before I even found my own splendid mirage. And now I look at the shitty gastropubs and building sites where once my own sprees took place and cry with Scott "Come back, come back, O glittering and white!" I suppose I'm at least ahead of him in that, though myself ten years this side of forty-nine too, I have not diagnosed myself as prematurely cracked. Although of course I do have ten months to go.
If the essays are all winners (and let's face it, even the title 'Echoes of the Jazz Age' is better than many writers' entire oeuvre), the same can't necessarily be said of the stories. Some, such as 'The Last of the Belles' and 'Babylon Revisited', are steeped in FSF's inimitable magic, that sense of the thing infinitely valuable and meaningful yet forever just out of reach. But as the book winds down, 'Pat Hobby Himself' and 'Financing Finnegan' seem robbed of that extra dimension; they're amusing enough, but any competent short story writer could have turned them out. And somehow the thought of Scott reduced to that hurts even more than the more open pathos of the essays.
If the essays are all winners (and let's face it, even the title 'Echoes of the Jazz Age' is better than many writers' entire oeuvre), the same can't necessarily be said of the stories. Some, such as 'The Last of the Belles' and 'Babylon Revisited', are steeped in FSF's inimitable magic, that sense of the thing infinitely valuable and meaningful yet forever just out of reach. But as the book winds down, 'Pat Hobby Himself' and 'Financing Finnegan' seem robbed of that extra dimension; they're amusing enough, but any competent short story writer could have turned them out. And somehow the thought of Scott reduced to that hurts even more than the more open pathos of the essays.
January 30, 2021
I doubt that F. Scott Fitzgerald intended that The Crack-Up with Other Pieces and Stories should ever be published, let alone read as a single volume. This is a mix of autobiographical pieces and short stories. The distinction between the two, if not marked my physical division, would not be immediately obvious. The short stories deal with individuals trying to be somebody, unconsciously aspiring to some form of American Dream that usually only exists while these characters are awake and often dissolves into an alcoholic haze of non-achievement. The author, in the autobiographical pieces, lives a similar life, except that in his case the achievement is tangible.
Fitzgerald always seems to adopt the position of outsider looking in. He never really seems to be part of anything. Even his standpoint as a third person narrator seems more removed than is usual, as if he is reluctant to allow his characters to adopt their own voices. Not that, as an author, he imposes his own values or positions. It is more a case of his being somewhat difficult to pin down.
Perhaps this is because he was from out of town, if that town be the New York, where much of the action takes place. The author reminds us several times that he is a mid-Westerner from St Paul, an identity and origin he seems to regard as both safe and homely when compared to the candle flame attraction of the metropolis he dared not approach too close.
There is, however, a general feeling of the persistent little guy prevailing, of the propertied, apparently privileged receiving eventual, and a hight moral, comeuppance. It’s a perspective he would use in The Great Gatsby, where the observation of a highlife from distance renders it desirable, whereas greater proximity reveals its flaws.
But this is not a coherent set of stories. They stand alone and were designed to do so. They are clearly best experienced individually and then similarities of theme and style will not confuse. Modern readers need to be aware of the fact that these stories were written about a century ago and contain some attitudes and language that today would be difficult to express in public, let alone publish.
Fitzgerald always seems to adopt the position of outsider looking in. He never really seems to be part of anything. Even his standpoint as a third person narrator seems more removed than is usual, as if he is reluctant to allow his characters to adopt their own voices. Not that, as an author, he imposes his own values or positions. It is more a case of his being somewhat difficult to pin down.
Perhaps this is because he was from out of town, if that town be the New York, where much of the action takes place. The author reminds us several times that he is a mid-Westerner from St Paul, an identity and origin he seems to regard as both safe and homely when compared to the candle flame attraction of the metropolis he dared not approach too close.
There is, however, a general feeling of the persistent little guy prevailing, of the propertied, apparently privileged receiving eventual, and a hight moral, comeuppance. It’s a perspective he would use in The Great Gatsby, where the observation of a highlife from distance renders it desirable, whereas greater proximity reveals its flaws.
But this is not a coherent set of stories. They stand alone and were designed to do so. They are clearly best experienced individually and then similarities of theme and style will not confuse. Modern readers need to be aware of the fact that these stories were written about a century ago and contain some attitudes and language that today would be difficult to express in public, let alone publish.
November 27, 2016
Very insightful. A brief research of Fitzgerald's life would be recommended to fully appreciate the stories. Highly recommended if you are into the Jazz Age in general or Fitzgerald in particular.
March 11, 2020
La Fêlure réunit des nouvelles de Fitzgerald, dépouillées de toute son génie clinquant pour mieux montrer l'homme torturé qu'il était. Il y décrit le New-York somptuaire des années 20 et sa génération perdue, l’insomnie qui le frappe et fait remonter l’absence, le manque et l’angoisse enfoui en lui, et plus encore en pêle-mêle.
Certaines nouvelles sont très drôles (comment vivre au dessus de ses moyens ou partir sur la Côte d'Azur pour "économiser", à grand coup d'ironie grinçante), d'autres détaillent le travail de l’écrivain (la nouvelle sur ses centaines de "faux départs", énumérant les brouillons qu'il laisse en jachère, est superbe ; ainsi que celle où il fait visiter sa psyché sous la forme d'une visite de sa maison). En filigrane et avec beaucoup de pudeur, il raconte aussi sa dépression, le manque indicible qu'il ressent et la désintégration de son identité.
Il y a des éclats qui m'ont beaucoup frappé, mais aussi une langueur dans le style que j'ai trouvé parfois paresseux. Fitzgerald avait la réputation de produire des chefs d'oeuvres comme des textes indigents, peut-être que la traduction joue aussi dans mon appréciation. Il reste un personnage profondément touchant pour qui j'ai beaucoup d'empathie.
Certaines nouvelles sont très drôles (comment vivre au dessus de ses moyens ou partir sur la Côte d'Azur pour "économiser", à grand coup d'ironie grinçante), d'autres détaillent le travail de l’écrivain (la nouvelle sur ses centaines de "faux départs", énumérant les brouillons qu'il laisse en jachère, est superbe ; ainsi que celle où il fait visiter sa psyché sous la forme d'une visite de sa maison). En filigrane et avec beaucoup de pudeur, il raconte aussi sa dépression, le manque indicible qu'il ressent et la désintégration de son identité.
Il y a des éclats qui m'ont beaucoup frappé, mais aussi une langueur dans le style que j'ai trouvé parfois paresseux. Fitzgerald avait la réputation de produire des chefs d'oeuvres comme des textes indigents, peut-être que la traduction joue aussi dans mon appréciation. Il reste un personnage profondément touchant pour qui j'ai beaucoup d'empathie.
May 27, 2021
tiny stories for my tiny attention span
May 23, 2009
A curious collection of some of Fitzgerald's later essays and short stories. This volume stands as proof to me that he was a writer who deserves to be remembered for more than just The Great Gatsby and his tumultuous personal life.
The essays are undoubtedly the most compelling reason to read this collection. The Crack Up in particular is shockingly frank and intimate, a psychological snapshot into the mind of a man facing personal crisis. I believe it is one of the most well written personal confessions I have ever read. The others are fantastic too, particulary the nostalgic ode to New York (My Lost City) and Fitzgerald's warm memories of the heady atmosphere of the 1920s (Echoes of the Jazz Age).
Fitzgerald's style translates well into short stories, producing easily readable, aesthetically pleasing tales. While he doesn't stand up well to masters of the form like Joyce and Maupassant, Fitzgerald still displays deft understanding and control over their conventions. He seems to falter with his stories when reverting to lightweight themes though. Babylon Revisited and The Last of the Belles spoke the most directly to me, and it is no coincidence that they tackle the weightiest themes of the stories.
I think a degree of Fitzgerald's popularity can be attributed to his accessable style. He manages to write sincerely of weighty themes with beautiful phrasing, flourishes and a sense of flair. In addition, his writing was uncomplicated enough to appeal to literary heavyweights and ignorant housewives alike.
Strange perhaps, but I detected echoes of Hunter S Thompson in some of these essays (My Lost City, Echoes of the Jazz Age). How interesting.
The essays are undoubtedly the most compelling reason to read this collection. The Crack Up in particular is shockingly frank and intimate, a psychological snapshot into the mind of a man facing personal crisis. I believe it is one of the most well written personal confessions I have ever read. The others are fantastic too, particulary the nostalgic ode to New York (My Lost City) and Fitzgerald's warm memories of the heady atmosphere of the 1920s (Echoes of the Jazz Age).
Fitzgerald's style translates well into short stories, producing easily readable, aesthetically pleasing tales. While he doesn't stand up well to masters of the form like Joyce and Maupassant, Fitzgerald still displays deft understanding and control over their conventions. He seems to falter with his stories when reverting to lightweight themes though. Babylon Revisited and The Last of the Belles spoke the most directly to me, and it is no coincidence that they tackle the weightiest themes of the stories.
I think a degree of Fitzgerald's popularity can be attributed to his accessable style. He manages to write sincerely of weighty themes with beautiful phrasing, flourishes and a sense of flair. In addition, his writing was uncomplicated enough to appeal to literary heavyweights and ignorant housewives alike.
Strange perhaps, but I detected echoes of Hunter S Thompson in some of these essays (My Lost City, Echoes of the Jazz Age). How interesting.
March 9, 2025
🖊 "Pat Hobby Himself" is specifically the reason I picked up this anthology of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s short stories, sketches, and essay — and I was treated to so much more beyond that piece.
Fitzgerald’s themes of glories long past and perhaps dead, are woven meticulously within these pieces, and could well be viewed as autobiographical when not taking an analytical voyagedown Memory Lane of the world.
I enjoyed reading The Stories of F. Scott Fitzgerald Volume 2.
📕This anthology was published — 1962.
CONTENTS
Autobiographical Pieces
📍Echoes of the Jazz Age ★★★★★ I felt a melancholy about this essay on The Jazz Age. I also mourned for its demise, though I was born nearly forty years after it began. *sigh* Fitzgerald made me feel that I also experienced all that he did during those heady days.
📍My Lost City ★★★★★ New York City and his time spent there is the topic of this essay. Fitzgerald expresses surprise that “To my bewilderment, I was adopted, not as a Middle Westerner, not even as a detached observer, but as the archetype of what New York wanted.” As a fellow Middle Westerner, I understand his surprise.
📍Ring ★★★★★ Fitzgerald’s memories of fellow writer, Ring Lardner.
📍The Crack-Up ★★★★★ “Of course,” Fitzgerald began, “all life is a process of breaking down, but the blows that do the dramatic side of the work – the big sudden blows that come, or even to come, from outside . . . There is another sort of blow that comes from within . . .” From there, Fitzgerald lays it all out for us to gawk at and understand him better.
📍Early Success ★★★★★ This essay is also about expectations and letdowns.
Stories
📍Gretchen’s Forty Winks ★★★★★ Published in The Saturday Evening Post in March 15, 1924. Roger and Gretchen Halsey are newlyweds of three years. Though Roger questions his success, Gretchen is his solid pillar of reassurance. Yet Roger’s insecurity and jealousy pops up when his friend, Tompkins, starts taking Gretchen out because Roger is so focused on working to “success.” This short story is a message that bodes well even in the twenty-first century – worklife and homelife must be balanced in order to experience true success.
📍The Last of the Belles (March 1929) ★★★★★ In a roman à clef of sorts, Fitzgerald takes elements of his romance with Zelda Sayre, his future wife. I also saw pieces of The Great Gatsby woven into the plot.
📍Babylon Revisited (February 1931) ★★★★★ This story delves into well-understood themes of guilt, alienation, disillusionment, displacement, and hope during The Great Depression and flashback to The Jazz Age. It was made into the 1954 movie, “The Last Time I Saw Paris” with Elizabeth Taylor, Van Johnson, Eva Gabor, Roger Moore, Donna Reed, Walter Pigeon, et al.
📍Pat Hobby Himself ★★★★★ Fitzgerald’s Pat Hobby marinates in nostalgia and self-depreciating humor, blended well with themes of glories long past, with brilliant digs at the Hollywood machine he knew so well.
📍Financing Finnegan (January 1938) ★★★ I took this piece as Fitzgerald satirizing himself.
જ⁀ 🫐 Public domain; read on Internet Archive.
༻ ༺ ༅ ✬ ༅ ༻ ༺ ༅ ✬ ༅ ༻༺ ༅ ✬ ༅ ༻ ༺
Fitzgerald’s themes of glories long past and perhaps dead, are woven meticulously within these pieces, and could well be viewed as autobiographical when not taking an analytical voyagedown Memory Lane of the world.
I enjoyed reading The Stories of F. Scott Fitzgerald Volume 2.
📕This anthology was published — 1962.
CONTENTS
Autobiographical Pieces
📍Echoes of the Jazz Age ★★★★★ I felt a melancholy about this essay on The Jazz Age. I also mourned for its demise, though I was born nearly forty years after it began. *sigh* Fitzgerald made me feel that I also experienced all that he did during those heady days.
📍My Lost City ★★★★★ New York City and his time spent there is the topic of this essay. Fitzgerald expresses surprise that “To my bewilderment, I was adopted, not as a Middle Westerner, not even as a detached observer, but as the archetype of what New York wanted.” As a fellow Middle Westerner, I understand his surprise.
📍Ring ★★★★★ Fitzgerald’s memories of fellow writer, Ring Lardner.
📍The Crack-Up ★★★★★ “Of course,” Fitzgerald began, “all life is a process of breaking down, but the blows that do the dramatic side of the work – the big sudden blows that come, or even to come, from outside . . . There is another sort of blow that comes from within . . .” From there, Fitzgerald lays it all out for us to gawk at and understand him better.
📍Early Success ★★★★★ This essay is also about expectations and letdowns.
Stories
📍Gretchen’s Forty Winks ★★★★★ Published in The Saturday Evening Post in March 15, 1924. Roger and Gretchen Halsey are newlyweds of three years. Though Roger questions his success, Gretchen is his solid pillar of reassurance. Yet Roger’s insecurity and jealousy pops up when his friend, Tompkins, starts taking Gretchen out because Roger is so focused on working to “success.” This short story is a message that bodes well even in the twenty-first century – worklife and homelife must be balanced in order to experience true success.
📍The Last of the Belles (March 1929) ★★★★★ In a roman à clef of sorts, Fitzgerald takes elements of his romance with Zelda Sayre, his future wife. I also saw pieces of The Great Gatsby woven into the plot.
📍Babylon Revisited (February 1931) ★★★★★ This story delves into well-understood themes of guilt, alienation, disillusionment, displacement, and hope during The Great Depression and flashback to The Jazz Age. It was made into the 1954 movie, “The Last Time I Saw Paris” with Elizabeth Taylor, Van Johnson, Eva Gabor, Roger Moore, Donna Reed, Walter Pigeon, et al.
📍Pat Hobby Himself ★★★★★ Fitzgerald’s Pat Hobby marinates in nostalgia and self-depreciating humor, blended well with themes of glories long past, with brilliant digs at the Hollywood machine he knew so well.
📍Financing Finnegan (January 1938) ★★★ I took this piece as Fitzgerald satirizing himself.
જ⁀ 🫐 Public domain; read on Internet Archive.
༻ ༺ ༅ ✬ ༅ ༻ ༺ ༅ ✬ ༅ ༻༺ ༅ ✬ ༅ ༻ ༺
July 27, 2024
"Now once more the belt is tight and we summon the proper expression of horror as we look back at our wasted youth. Sometimes, though, there is a ghostly rumble among the drums, an asthmatic whisper in the trombones that swings me back into the early twenties when we drank wood alcohol and every day in every way grew better and better, and there was a first abortive shortening of the skirts, and girls all looked alike in sweater dresses, and people you didn't want to know said 'Yes, we have no bananas', and it seemed only a question of a few years before the older people would step aside and let the world be run by those who saw things as they were - and it all seems rosy and romantic to us who were young then, because we will never feel quite so intensely about our surroundings any more." - "echoes of the jazz age" (1931)
somehow this essay made me nostalgic for a time in which i never lived
somehow this essay made me nostalgic for a time in which i never lived
June 22, 2023
Finally completed a book! Totally lost my book mojo recently, but finished this this morning. The Great Gatsby remains one of my most favourite books, but I had always been a bit ambivalent about Fitzgerald himself, as you hear so much about his excesses, wasted talent, ego etc. This is something of a remedy and address to all that. In both the meditations and stories a much humbler and self-aware figure emerges. He clearly seems to identify much more as a Nick Carraway than a Jay Gatsby or Tom Buchanan. His clear-eyed view of America between the wars is also really interesting and not the bombast I expected. All in all, quite a melancholy set of writings, but beautifully written and poignant.
January 6, 2022
4/5.
Here’s something that sat on my shelf untouched for months, and I don’t know why. Fitzgerald has a charming writing style with the perfect balance of immersive plot and small details. I wasn’t so impressed with the non-fiction half of this collection as he isn’t as good at controlling his tangents when he talks about himself, but each fictional short story is memorable and entertaining.
Here’s something that sat on my shelf untouched for months, and I don’t know why. Fitzgerald has a charming writing style with the perfect balance of immersive plot and small details. I wasn’t so impressed with the non-fiction half of this collection as he isn’t as good at controlling his tangents when he talks about himself, but each fictional short story is memorable and entertaining.
May 14, 2025
"I do not any longer like the postman, nor the cousin's husband, and he in turn will come to dislike me, so that life will never be very pleasant again, and the sign Cave Canem is hung permanently above my door. I will try to be a correct animal though, and if you throw me a bone with enough meat on it I may even lick your hand."
June 25, 2017
Great stories, good introspection into Fitzgerald's views on life. His autobiographies hit me a few times with striking relevancy.
June 18, 2022
“I remember riding in a taxi one afternoon between very tall buildings under a mauve and rosy sky; I began to bawl because I had everything I wanted and knew I would never be so happy again.”
November 1, 2022
This was a terrific read. Did not expect some of the stories to be as moving as they were, especially 'Babylon Revisited' which aches with sadness.
December 22, 2022
4 stars overall, 5 stars for The Crack-Up, Gretchen's Forty Winks, and Babylon Revisited
May 21, 2024
Autobiographical pieces👍
Shorts stories could be better
Shorts stories could be better
January 5, 2025
the short stories were really good but the crack-up itself was not really my vibe, also he's kind of racist so can't say i fully enjoyed this one !
May 18, 2025
I just can't get enough of what this man writes! The autobiographical pieces are very interesting, and I really liked the stories, especially all of them, actually, on reflection. More FSF to come!
October 19, 2025
Fitzgerald was my first 'favourite author' and his work is still amongst the absolute best.
September 10, 2024
Un peu déçu, quand il parle d’hemingway ou de dépression c’est trop fort et très relatable sinon on se fait chier en gros
February 21, 2012
I am becoming more and more convinced each day that the proof a good writer's prose is in its less elaborated pieces. Newspaper articles, unpublished short stories, correspondence, little fragments or early versions of his or hers more renowned oeuvres. This, in sum, is Scott Fitzgerald at his best: a couple of autobiographical accounts (like "Early success") and a couple of short stories, undebiably autobiographical as well (like "Babylon revisited", arguably the best in this collection).
To anyone who has read his famous novels (The Great Gatsby or Tender Is the Night), this less-known pieces will either enforce your liking of this fundamental author or utterly discard him from your pantheon. I think I made myself clear about which group I'm in.
To anyone who has read his famous novels (The Great Gatsby or Tender Is the Night), this less-known pieces will either enforce your liking of this fundamental author or utterly discard him from your pantheon. I think I made myself clear about which group I'm in.
December 14, 2012
I seem to be on a bit of a F. Scott Fitzgerald run at the moment. Having just read the "Beautiful and the Damned" thought I would read a few short stories. What struck me about this little selection was how funny some of them were - in a very ironic sort of a way!
Read
August 29, 2016Short stories. I enjoyed more those who are autobiographic.
The story: "the Crack up" is the best piece of writing I have read in a long time. It's not often One can relate so much to a story. Especially written in 1936. That just proves that some things never change.
The story: "the Crack up" is the best piece of writing I have read in a long time. It's not often One can relate so much to a story. Especially written in 1936. That just proves that some things never change.
September 20, 2011
Love the jazz age, love the writing, love the story.....a genuine master of writing and description of one man's breakdown in a troubled age
December 16, 2021
Some stories were hilarious and facinating. Other stories very boring, I found myself losing focus towards the end...
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