This Side of ParadiseThis Side of Paradise is the book that established F. Scott Fitzgerald as the prophet and golden boy of the newly dawned Jazz Age. Published in 1920, when he was just twenty-three, the novel catapulted him to instant fame and financial success. The story of Amory Blaine, a privileged, aimless, and self-absorbed Princeton student, This Side of Paradise closely reflects Fitzgerald's own experiences as an undergraduate. Amory Blaine's journey from prep school to college to the First World War is an account of "the lost generation." The young "romantic egotist" symbolizes what Fitzgerald so memorably described as "a new generation grown up to find all Gods dead, all wars fought, all faiths in man shaken." A pastiche of literary styles, this dazzling chronicle of youth remains bitingly relevant decades later. "This Side of Paradise commits almost every sin that a novel can possibly commit," wrote Edmund Wilson. "But it does not commit the unpardonable sin: it does not fail to live. The whole preposterous farrago is animated with life." |
Contents
Amory Son of Beatrice | 3 |
Spires and Gargoyles | 42 |
The Egotist Considers | 102 |
Narcissus Off Duty | 136 |
THE EDUCATION OF A PERSONAGE | 189 |
Commentary | 323 |
Reading Group Guide | 333 |
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Common terms and phrases
afraid Alec Amory Blaine Amory considered Amory looked Amory's ARTHUR MIZENER asked Beatrice beauty began Burne CECELIA Clara club color CONNAGE course cried crowd D'Invilliers damn dance dark door dream Eleanor eyes face feel feet felt Ferrenby freshman Froggy GILLESPIE girl GLENWAY WESCOTT gray H. L. MENCKEN hair half hands head heard Humbird idea imagination Isabelle John Peale Bishop Kerry kiss knew Lake Geneva laughed light marry mind Minneapolis Monsignor Darcy moon mother Myra never night Oscar Wilde paused play Princeton Princetonian Regis romantic ROSALIND Rupert Brooke Ryder Scott Fitzgerald seemed Side of Paradise sigh slicker Sloane smile sort street suddenly sure Susan Orlean talk taxicab tell there's thing thought tonight took turned voice walked watched week whispered wondered write young youth