Fitzgerald and Cather: The Great Gatsby Author(s): Tom Quirk Source: American Literature, Vol. 54, No.

4 (Dec., 1982), pp. 576-591 Published by: Duke University Press Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2926007 Accessed: 29/07/2010 10:42
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Fitzgerald and Cather:The GreatGatsby

TOM QUIRK Universityof Missouri-Columbia

after The Great in 1925, F. Scott Gatsby was published a letter Fitzgerald received from Willa Cather complimenting him on his achievement.' Fitzgerald was understandably excited about theletter, so much so that he wokeup Christian and Gausse hiswife atoneo'clock in the morning tocelebrate.2 His behavior was extravagant, forGaussewas a Dean at Princeton and muchFitzgerald'ssenior, but extravagant behavior was not unusualfor Fitzgerald. Nevertheless, there is reason to suppose thattheexcitement letter Cather's generated in theyoung author was authentic and that it somehow verified hisownambitions forhisnewnovel. Forhehadconsciously striven toemulate literary technique; Cather's more but, importantly, shehadexerted a greater influence uponhim than even he seems tohaverealized, in matters ofincident andstory as wellas style andtechnique. inhisbookTheLastoftheProvincials, wasthe Maxwell Geismar, He theinfluence ofCather first to suggest uponThe Great Gatsby. a similarity andtone in theconcluding perceived oftheme passages
SHORTLY
1 This letter Library, is in "Scrapbook IV (The GreatGatsby),"p. 2I, in the Firestone in Princeton and is dated 28 April I925. Cather'sletterwas actuallywritten University, to writing a passage in Gatsby response to a letter fromFitzgerald in which he confessed letter is reprinted thathe thought reminiscent of a passagefromA Lost Lady. Fitzgerald's Willa in MatthewBruccoli's"'An Instanceof Apparent Plagiarism':F. Scott Fitzgerald, Princeton Chronicle University Library Cather, and theFirstGatsby Manuscript," 39 (1978), herletter. from in Cather's I7I-78; stipulations willprohibit quotation 2 Reported in ArthurMizener'sThe Far Side of Paradise: A Biography of F. Scott Fitzgerald (Boston:Houghton Mifflin Co., i965), p. 202.

American Literature, Volume 54, Number4, Decemberi982.

University Press.

? I982 by Duke Copyright

The GreatGatsby

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as The novelsbear a specialsimilarity of My Antoniaand Gatsby. and Nick Burden Jim narrators, person first in their well,he argued, with association both of whom possessa remembered Carraway, someoneunique and unexampledyet who embodiedsomething as Catherhad of theearlyraces," iflost,"like thefounders precious, it.3 phrased the Cather/Fitzgerald and fortified JamesE. Miller augmented in his The FictionalTechniqueof F. Scott considerably connection mighthave thatFitzgerald thepossibility He suggested Fitzgerald. been acquaintedwith Cather'sessay "The Novel Demeuble," in of fiction all of thefurniture to throw whichCatherurgednovelists that Millerspeculated to Geismar, out thewindow;and,in contrast fromreadform have learnedmoreaboutliterary might Fitzgerald personnarrative)than fromMy ing A Lost Lady (anotherfirst At any less"furnished." is morecompact, Antoniabecausethefirst represents Gatsby that arguing in correct rate, Miller is surely novel of away fromthe heavilyfurnished movement Fitzgerald's theunfurnished, and toward withdetail, whichswarms "saturation," And A Lost Lady does displaygreater novelof "selection." refined the naidentified thanMy Antonia.Millerfurther restraint artistic of one techas essentially on Fitzgerald tureof Cather'sinfluence learnedfromher a greatdeal thatFitzgerald nique,and especially and unity."4 about"pointof viewand aboutform influence in arguing Cather's HenryDan Piperwentevenfurther thatshewas "almostas important whenhe contended on Fitzgerald to Fitzgerald'sdeveloping inspiration as" Conrad in contributing thattheyoung speculated And he additionally craftsmanship. literary to EdmundWilson'sreviewof A Lost authormayhave responded I924, in theDial. There,Wilson had arguedthat Lady in January, manthrough theskillful intensity its dramatic thatnovelachieved Piper review, This view. point of first-person agementof its sugdeto do withFitzgerald's "mayeven have had something gested, approachto laterto abandon the third-person cisionthreemonths
3 The

Mifflin Co., I943),

Last of the Provincials:The AmericanNovel, I9I5-1925

p. i66.

(Boston: Houghton

4 James (The Hague: Martinus The Fictional Techniqueof ScottFitzgerald E. MillerJr., Nijhoff, I957), p. 78; rev. ed. as F. ScottFitzgerald:His Art and His Technique (New

York: New York Univ. Press, I964).

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upon Fitzhis story."5 But I would argue that Cather'sinfluence and thathis to matters of technique alone geraldwas not restricted Miller, and thanGeismar, affinity withherwas evenmoreextensive Piperhavesuggested. There is no doubt that Fitzgeraldthoughthighlyof Cather's in a letter to her as one of her himself achievements (he identified "greatest admirers"), and her work was in his mind duringand He was familiar enough after thecomposition of The GreatGatsby. thetitle withA Lost Lady (thoughhe consistently misremembered a paragraph thathe had written as "The Lost Lady") to recognize in thatbook and in Gatsby paralleled"a paragraph that"strangely thepublication before conscientious enoughto writeCatherdirectly Addiof his novel and inform her of this accidental plagiarism.6 thecompletionally, in a letter to CharlesC. Baldwin,again before tionof Gatsby, he proudlyannouncedthathis book would be an places "to conveythe feelof scenes, "attempt at form," an attempt and people directly-asConrad does, as few Americans(notably Willa Cather)arealready ofhis trying to do."7After thepublication ambitions to writea novel of novel,however, despitehis conscious of the jazz age, Fitzgerald chronicle formrather than a rambling compared confessed to H. L. Menckenthathis book was a "failure" to My Antoniaand a Lost Lady.8This mayor maynot have been braggedabouthis part; he had often falsemodesty on Fitzgerald's to and feltthisbook made hima novelist accomplishment in Gatsby in terms ofwhathe had attempted, be reckoned simply with.In fact, in the comparison. Artisa novelof form, he was probably correct A LostLady is no doubtthebetter book-it is quietand sure; tically, moreconsistently drawn;it itstoneis steadier; itsnarrative persona to excitable variations ofmoodand tempo. seldomyields whilehe But,be thatas it may,we know as well thatFitzgerald, equally recognizedher as a recognizedCatheras a fellowartist, he thought fellowmid-Westerner. Somewhat mistakenly, however, of her as a mid-Western novelist whose pioneerswere exclusively
5HenryDan Piper,F. ScottFitzgerald:A Critical Portrait (New York: Holt, Rinehart, and Winston, I965), pp. I33-34. 6 The Letters Scribner's Turnbull, ed. (New York: Charles Andrew of F. ScottFitzgerald, citedas Letters. Sons,I963), p. 507. Hereafter 7 Quotedin Miller, pp. 73-74. 8 Letter pp. 480-8I. to H. L. Mencken, 4 May I925. Letters,

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and was dis"Swedes."9 He mayhavehad Catherin mind,in fact, fromhers,when he had Nick recallhis tinguishing his experience from Eastern schoolsat Christmasreturn trips withfellowstudents once again the snow in theair, time.When theysaw and breathed withthis awareofouridentity Nick recalls, we became"unutterably into hour, before we melted indistinguishably country forone strange it again.""That's myMiddleWest-," saysNick,"notthewheator trains returning theprairies butthethrilling or thelostSwedetowns, dark lampsand sleighbellsin thefrosty of myyouth, and thestreet on the windows and theshadows thrown bylighted ofhollywreaths in thefinalchapter which snow.I am partof that."It is thisreverie one: thathis story has been a mid-Western triggers therecognition "I seenow thatthishas beena story all-Tom and of theWest,after and perhapswe and I were all Westerners, Gatsby, Daisy, Jordan in commonwhich made us subtlyunpossessed some deficiency "distoradaptableto Easternlife."'0And it is the "El Greco-like" his in Easternlife which justify tions"(pp. I77-78) he perceives death. return home after Gatsby's and A LostLady aretheonlyCather novels Although My 14ntonia forone in hisletters, he showeda specialrespect mentions Fitzgerald that alone that story ofhershort stories, "Paul's Case,"whenhe wrote had to say in her Canfield was worthmorethananything Dorothy and had claimedin hisletter herself thatit was one to Cather fiction is suggestive becauseof of thisstory of his favorites." His mention similarity to one and itsthematic certain similarities it has to Gatsby of Fitzgerald's own stories, "Absolution," whichhad beenoriginally and whichwould fillin intended as a prologue to The GreatGatsby "A as its subtitle, detailsabout Gatsby'searlylife.Cather'sstory, suggests, is clearly a case study. Studyin Temperament," who leads two It is thestory of a youngman livingin Pittsburgh of one symbolized conventional by the pictures lives-a cramped,
9 Letter with Perkins c. I JuneI925. Letters, pp. I83-88. Fitzgerald provided to Perkins, In in thisletter. Farmerand His Hired Man Christy" of the SimpleInarticulate a "History Swede." I9I8 for i9I8, he wrote:"Willa Catherturnshim [the simplefarmer] his entry whichdoes not deal withSwedes butBohemians. is the yearof publication of My Antonia, which does deal with Swedish of 0 Pioneers! (19I3), thinking Fitzgeraldwas probably farmers. 10 The Great Gatsby (New York: Scribner's citedparenSons, I925), p. I77. Hereafter in thetext. thetically 1: Letter pp. 571-72. 4 March1938.Letters, to DaytonKohler,

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"Feed the Calvinand the motto and John GeorgeWashington Lambs"whichhangabovehis bed,and thelifeof his romantic at Carwhenhe is at workas an usher thrives which imagination his first from with the deal to his courage negieHall. Paul takes and flamboyantly He dresses thesecond. about convictions romantic placeduponhimby expectations of theconventional is disdainful thetheater Paul follows In one episode, and hisschool. hisfather hisimagiandallows performance the after hotel totheir performers As he thatlay within. possibilities to playupontheexotic nation orange "the up at looked he rain, the in drive gravel in the stood abovehim.Thereit was,whathe wantedglowof thewindows ofa Christmas world likea fairy before tangibly pantomime"; him, beatin and,as therain at thedoors, guard stood spirits butmocking shiver to always destined he were whether "Paulwondered hisface, up atit."12 looking night in theblack outside, to and travel-s dollars thousand three he steals In a boldgesture, His refora fortnight. splendor New Yorkand livesin romantic is in New Yorklooking hisfather andawarethat depleted sources to hishomeon thanreturn he optsto endhisliferather forhim, in front himself suicide bythrowing Paul commits Street. Cordelia design the"immense backinto andhedrops train, ofan onrushing in elements as "Paul'sCase" is of certain Reminiscent of things." and imagination, his romantic dress, flamboyant Gatsby-Gatsby's drive in a gravel VII standing in Chapter vigil latenight hissacred, emowindows-the up at lighted looking in a pinkragof a suit, Paulcourwhich gives life theimagined ofboyhood, complex tional hecalled which Miller, ofRudolph story toFitzgerald's age,iscloser the between mancaught "Absolution," too,dealswitha young imagination, ofhimandhisownromantic expectations conventional convenwhoneither observes double, byhisundaunted represented
12 "Paul's Case," in Youthand the Bright Medusa (New York: RandomHouse, I975), publishedin McClure'sand later collectedin The Troll p. I89. "Paul's Case" was first "Paul's mentions Since Fitzgerald (I920). Meduisa and Youthand theBright Garden(I905) Medusa,in his bothof whichare includedin Youthand the Bright Case" and "Seduction," in this stories by her,it is likelythathe read the story to Catheras beinghis favorite letter lastcollection. pp. I36-5I; in June, in theAmerican Mercury I924, was first published 13 "Absolution" the Background, The GreatGatsby:The Novel, the Critics, in Fitzgerald's it is reprinted Sons, I970), pp. 83-92. Scribner's ed. (New York: Charles HenryDan Piper,

"Absolution."13

The GreatGatsby

58I

For Rudolph of his disregard. oftheconsequences tionnoris fearful Sarnemington. Miller,theimagineddoublehas a name,Blatchford but Rudolph is lives in "great,sweepingtriumphs," Blatchford to admitthat And whenhe goesto his priest gnawedbyconscience. he is takenaback by FatherSchwartz's he had lied in confession, of a gayworld.The attractions speechabouttheseductive rhapsodic park,where"everyadvisesRudolphto go to an amusement priest is attracted likeRudolph, For FatherSchwartz, thing will twinkle." go glimmering." worldwhere"things to theromantic removedthisepisodefromhis novel and sold it He eventually and in the novelhe changedRudolph's story, as a short separately butthedouble Gatsby, ego'stoJay Gatz and hisalter nameto Jimmie Morethan"Paul's Case," persisted. lifeofhisnewly namedcharacter seemsto have exBridge, novel,Alexander's first Cather's however, The novelwas upon Fitzgerald. influence ertedthemostsuggestive Masqueradein in McClure'sunderthe titleAlexander's serialized laterthe same as a book by HoughtonMifflin and published I9I2 preface withan author's and was reissued year.It was well received the novel in I922, at a timewhen Fitzgeraldwas contemplating whichwould becomeThe GreatGaisby. an apprenBridgeis understandably novel,Alexander's As a first was to claim her second ticepiece in manyways-Cather herself and to confess thatat spiritually novel,0 Pioneers!(19I3), herfirst bythe Alexander's Bridge shewas toofascinated thetimeofwriting of the subjectmatter of the richness and unmindful unfamiliar to her-her nativeNebraska.14 closest of a middle-aged In any event, Alexander's Bridgeis the story and mariAlexander whoseworldly success namedBartley engineer his forhim. Livingin Boston, insufficient tal happiness are vaguely bridgein Canada of a cantilever of the construction supervision himself to reacquaint to London periodically him to travel requires a play withBritish buildingcodes.It is in London thathe attends stars. his first love of several before, years in whichHilda Burgoyne, while all the better the flameagainsthis judgment, He re-kindles is themorevaluableand durablerelathathis marriage recognizing
14 "My FirstNovels: There Were Two," Part 6 of The Colophon, rpt.in Willa I93I; as an Art (New York: AlfredA. Knopf, Catheron Writing: CriticalStudieson Writing I949), pp. 89-97.

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in lovewithHilda so muchas he is notactually ButBartley tionship. whichhe and vitalimageof himself is in lovewitha moreyouthful to be slippingaway fromhim and whichhe seeksto reperceives to put an end to the he resolves her.Repeatedly capturethrough thathis resoluwiththisidea of himself buthe is so obsessed affair, her. to be with London to tionweakensand he travels to New York travels Toward theend of thenovel,Hilda's troupe purposes. whichhe keepsforbusiness in an apartment meet and they attendfrom Alexander of Hilda whichprevents It is thedistraction with problem a structural Canada concerning from ing to a telegram to theconhimand he rushes reaches A secondtelegram thebridge. imand Bartley strain, site.The lowerbeamsare showing struction come Buthiscommands off thebridge. theworkers mediately orders too late; the bridgecollapsesand Alexanderdrownsalong with dozensof workers. Cather's perin thatit reveals interesting The novelis principally of personality, thoughwiththe withthe doubleness concern sistent her symbolism In particular, as yetunrefined. technique Catherian bridge is a conThe cantilever is too obviousand heavy-handed. permentalstate-just as Bartley's spicuousanalogueforBartley's a "weak spot" wheresome day as possessing is described sonality in thebridgehe is defect "15 so is there a structural strain would tell, of two in his maintenance of course, The strain is tested, building. romanone withhiswifeand theyouthful, domestic thesecure lives, longsforthedayswhenhe had a "single ticone withHilda. Bartley thatdreamin and a singleheart"(p. ioi), butin pursuing purpose as if "a secondman has a "another nature," middleage he develops forhis lifeat thecostof intome,"and "he is fighting been grafted acrossthe stretched half-way bridge, mine" (p. I02). The cantilever and of Alexander's as symbolic passion, identified is explicitly river, as love. as "death,the onlyotherthingas strong beneath theriver there wereonlythose underthecold,splendid stars, Underthemoon, and river deathand love,therushing awakeand sleepless; twothings heart" (p. II8). hisburning withthose are roughly congruent The anglesof thislove triangle in a single exist similarities passage in Gatsby, butthemostsuggestive
15 Alexander's Bridge (Lincoln: Univ. of NebraskaPress,i982), p. in thetext. parenthetically I2.

cited Hereafter

The GreatGatsby

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desire and his developing background Alexander's whichidentifies his passionforHilda. He himself fromthepastthrough to retrieve thathe is afraidof the"dead calm of middlelifewhich recognizes hisown him" (p. 38) and longsforthedayswhenhe felt confronted "wildlight-heartedness": hisowncontinuous he couldfeel onesin which were theonly Suchhours feel oftheoldWest, days theboyhe hadbeenin therough identity-feel and theoceanon a cattle-ship hiswayacross whohad worked theyouth The manwhosatin in hispocket. without a dollar in Paris gonetostudy of Undertheactivities machine. a powerful in Boston wasonly hisoffices he felt tobe himas this, who, in suchmoments theperson that machine boy when he wasa little how, He remembered anddying. self, wasfading his bed he usedto leap from calledhimin themorning, and hisfather was Lifeitself. Thatconsciousness ofhimself. intothefullconsciousness the powerof concentrated reflection, tookits place,action, Whatever things that tosociety; useful ofa mechanism were only functions thought, thathad an Therewas onlyone thing in themarket. couldbe bought impulse, original and it was justthat valueforeachindividual, absolute in one'sownbreast. feeling ofone'sself heat, that that internal lights were WhenAlexander backtohishotel, the redandgreen walked stars were the soft white shore, and on the farther along the docks blinking
shining in thewide skyabovetheriver. (pp. 39-40)

the livesof Gatsbyand Alexanderas they The parallelsbetween come Bothcharacters in thispassageare rather obvious. are revealed homes and had worked or mid-Western fromprovincial Western aboardships.Both studiedabroad-Alexanderin Paris,Gatsbyfor greenlightsacrossthe a few months And bothobserve at Oxford. which of thatimage of themselves whichserveas emblems water, a lostlove.This lastparallel through reviving toretrieve they attempt becauseit is the greenlight at the end of is the mostsignificant symbolof Daisy's dock in East Egg whichbecomesthe dominant of ChapterI, Nick emotional complex.At the conclusion Gatsby's his mysterious neighbor home in the eveningand observes returns He decidesto call to him, thesilver pepperof the stars." "regarding to be aloneis content whenhe realizesGatsby butcheckshimself way, out his armstowardthedarkwaterin a curious "he stretched was he I have sworn could I trembling. from far as was him, and, I glancedseaward-and distinguished nothing except Involuntarily

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2I-22).

image in thelyrical conclusion ofthebookwhenhe hasNicksum the up Gatsby's motivation: "Gatsby believed in thegreenlight, orgiastic future that year byyear recedes before us" (p. I82). in the The green light didnotalways occupy so central a position dockand novel. Originally there were twolights atthe endofDaisy's weremeant a certain to convey romantic intimacy, forthey simply wereintroduced V whenDaisyand Gatsby wererein Chapter central tohis united.16 Through revision, Fitzgerald madetheimage paragraphs novel. He made itthe dominant image ofthe concluding and introduced I. It became it intothefinal paragraph of Chapter a symbol to which Gatsby devoted thelastounceof his"romantic appropriareadiness," "hisextraordinary gift for hope." Fitzgerald's symtionofthis image andhistransformation ofit intoa forceful of bolinvites further speculation about howextensive theinfluence Alexander's Bridge wasupon the author. at odd enacts his own masquerade Gatsby and,likeAlexander, his"resourcefulness ofhisdual-life tells. moments thestrain Despite
was "never Nick notices of movement," thatGatsby quitestill;there

a singlegreenlight" (pp.

to this And Fitzgeraldreturns

and ortheimpatient a tapping foot somewhere opening wasalways bedivision closing of a hand"(p. 64). Thereis alsoa fascinating

business and his private, sinister tweenGatsby's publicpersonality Jay dealingswhich Fitzgeraldwiselydecidedto keep mysterious.

ofhimself" hisPlatonic from "sprang conception (p. 99), and to this to theend. we are told,Gatsby was faithful immutable conception, and obsessive Daisy's love are His extravagant designsto recapture vain attempts to "repeatthe past,"an ambitionto which Gatsby devotes all his energies. his own lostvitality and Like Bartley Alexander, Gatsby pursues but Gatsby is muchyounger. is in his mid-forties, youth;Alexander a yearor to Nick, an "elegantyoungroughneck, He is, according two over thirty" Fitzgerald's (p. 48). Yet when Maxwell Perkins, thatGatsby wrotethe authorafter editor, readingthe manuscript,

which Nicksays, toJimmie is an invention as opposed Gatsby, Gatz,

16 Information based on the composition of The Great Gatsbyis primarily concerning American 36 (Autumn Literature, The GreatGatsby," ofRevision: Kenneth Eble's "The Craft Some Sort Brucolli's by Piper,pp. I38-54, and Matthew and supplemented I964), 3I5-26; Brace Jovanovich, The Life of F. ScottFitzgerald(New York: Harcourt of Epic Grandeur:

I98I),

pp. I95-2I9.

The GreatGatsby

585

seemedto be a much"olderman,"Fitzgerald replied:"It seemsof he was olderalmostmystical significance to me thatyou thought was older."'7This disthe man I had in mind,half-unconsciously, crepancy is notone ofdetail-whatwe knowofGatsby's background numerically tallieswithhis actualage-; it is rather a matter of the emotional quality of Gatsby's character. He is notso old as to possess MeyerWolfsheim's tiredsentimentality, who excuses himself at the restaurant becausehe belongsto "another generation" (p. 73). But Gatsby is wellintothat"menacing" decadewhichNick imagines for himself on his thirtieth birthday: "Thirty-thepromise of a decade of loneliness, a thinning listof singlemento know,a thinning briefcase of enthusiasm, thinning hair" (p. 136). Gatsby'senthusiasms already havethinned to one,his enthusiasm forDaisy. with "some idea of Gatsby's obsessions are, as Nick speculates, thathe himself": "He talkeda lot about the past,and I gathered thathad wantedto recover someidea ofhimself something, perhaps, and disordered gone intolovingDaisy. His lifehad been confused to a certain sincethen, butifhe couldoncereturn starting place and he could findout what thatthingwas" (pp. go overit all slowly, in fact, forGatsby(or III-I2). That "thing," never existed probably forJimmie Gatz forthatmatter). For Nickrenders recollecGatsby's in such romantic tionsof his love forDaisy fiveyearsbefore and distorted detail thatwe immediately of his recognizethe futility dreams. The moonlit "blocksof thesidewalk"in Daisy'shometown really formed a ladderto a "secret place abovethetrees" where, once climbed, Gatsby could "gulp down theincomparable milkof wonder" (p. II2). As he kissedDaisy thatautumn evening in Louisville, he listened "fora moment longerto the tuning-fork thathad been struck upon a star.Then he kissedher.At his lips' touchshe blossomed for him like a flower and the incarnation was complete" and whichis unbelievThe "incarnation" of whichNick speaks, able precisely to the degreethatit is poetic,is thatparticularized whenGatsby moment, as itis sustained believed hisown bymemory, touchedthe earth; and it is that Platonicselfhad for an instant identity, which neveractuallyexisted, thathe seeksand which is futile symbolized by thegreenlightacrossthewater.It is Gatsby's
17

(p.

112).

Letter to Maxwell Perkins,c.

20

pp. I7I-75. Dec. I924. Letters,

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identifies withthe American explicitly dreamwhichFitzgerald of the noveland whichthusmakesa Dreamin theconclusion ofhischaracter: figure mythical
Dutchsailors' oncefor that flowered here oftheoldisland I became aware thetrees trees, Its vanished ofthenewworld. breast green eyes-a fresh, to in whispers hadoncepandered Gatsby's house, hadmadewayfor that enchanted fora transitory of all humandreams; thelastand greatest continent, ofthis in thepresence haveheldhisbreath moment manmust nor understood he neither contemplation into an aesthetic compelled comwithsomething desired, faceto faceforthelast timein history forwonder. (p. I82) mensurate to hiscapacity

"He butitis a vainstriving: seeks, dream Gatsby Thisis theage-old have must bluelawn,and hisdream had comea longwayto this fail tograsp it.He didnotknow hecould soclose that hardly seemed backin the vast obscurity somewhere him, behind that itwasalready on under rolled ofthe dark fields republic where the city, the beyond night" (p. I82). the
not only passagesof The GreatGatsby These famousconcluding into story Gatsby's transport ofthenoveland,in fact, beartheweight

whichFitzgeraldhad graphsgrew out of a singlelyricalsentence thatsentence He crossed chapter. thefirst usedtoconclude originally and placed themat theconclusion. out,workedup theparagraphs, been In doing so, he introduced the greenlightwhich had before paraV, and thenworkedit intotheconcluding to Chapter confined a single yearnings I as well.Thus,he gaveGatsby's graphofChapter is inextricably focus, forthisgreenlight,as symbol, and dramatic he made his of it. Throughrevision, consciousness wed to Gatsby's sinisNorthDakota a jaded and mysteriously smalltownboyfrom forwhom theworldat largedoes not go "glimmering," terfigure, purbut forwhom a singleand resolute as it had in "Absolution," of of his own imaginedmemory, in thefreesolution pose,existing in the a possession locatedand symbolized past, is palpably years five at theendofDaisy'sdock. light green Mizenerhas pointed as Arthur creative imagination, Fitzgerald's one. Despite his ratherthan a calculating out, was an instinctive theauthor's a of novel to write form, claimsthathe was attempting thandisfeltrather in Gatsby was probably to his material relation

paraitas well.The final hadinformed butthey realm ofmyth, the

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cerned.SurelyMaxwell Perkinsmusthave been dismayed by the reply he received after he had written Fitzgerald commending him on his achievement withthisnoveland makinga fewsuggestions: "You oncetoldme youwerenota natural writer," he wrote, "-my God! You haveplainly mastered thecraft, ofcourse;butyouneeded far more than craftsmanship for this."18 Fitzgerald'sresponseincludeda curiousremark:"My first after was to instinct yourletter let [Gatsby]go and have Tom Buchanandominatethe book . . . but Gatsbysticks in my heart."'9 If we imaginewhat a small and trivial book his novel might have been withTom Buchananas the dominant character, we mustrealizehow muchwe have to thank forFitzgerald's "heart." Butmorethanthat, we can understand how, in his meticulous attention to individual his "craftsmansentences, ship,"he was somehowblind to the largersuccesses of his novel exceptin the mostinstinctive way. This may help to explainwhy he mightrecognize a paragraph that"strangely paralleled"one of Cather'sin A Lost Lady and, at the same time,to have failedto remember thetitle ofthatnovelor to recognize theultimately larger influences which"Paul's Case" and Alexander's Bridgehad exerted uponhim. II Willa Catherhad written of Gatsby Fitzgerald of heradmiration in thespring of I925; thenextfallshewouldbegintowrite whatshe her finest considered ultimately novel,Death Comes forthe Archbishop(I927). It wouldbe written, shewouldrecalla fewyears later, in "thestyle oflegend," theessence ofwhichis to lightly "touchand passon." Such a creative method wouldbe a "kindofdiscipline," she wrote, "in thesedays when the 'situation' is made to countfor so much in writing."20 It was this sortof artistic detachment which Catherhad cultivated sincethe beginning of her careerand which of gave riseto someof her finest work.In part,her disparagement ofthenovelproAlexander's Bridgein thepreface to theI922 edition
18 Letterto Fitzgerald, 20 Nov. I924, Editor to Author: The Lettersof Maxwell E. Sons, I950), pp. 38-4I. ed. (New York: CharlesScribner's JohnHall Wheelock, Perkins, 19 Letter pp. I7I-75. to Perkins, c. 20 Dec. I924. Letters, 20 "On Death Comesforthe Archbishop," of The Commonan open letter to the editor

weal,

23

Nov.

I927;

rpt. in Willa Cather on Writing,pp. 3-I3.

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too much thatshehad relied recognition herbelated from ceeded a situpon capitalize to tried had and material upon"interesting" Fitzgerald coherence the imaginative But,unlikeCather, uation. his notfrom tohavederived appears Gatsby in The Great achieved However withhis material. buthisinvolvement from detachment aboutthewriter's from Cather mayhavelearned Fitzgerald much mayor maynothaveconBridge Alexander's much however craft, ofGatsby therealachievement that onesuspects tohisplot, tributed bothhis with identification emotional in an intense haditssources wasbuthalf-conscious. in a waythat andhisnarrator character main andA LostLadyprofessiontoMyAntonia responded IfFitzgerald forit Bridge personally, to Alexander's responded he probably ally, indeed one sympathetic, found he complex an emotional identified hisown. with tallied have that may conNickCarraway Gatsby, of chapter The Great In theopening in theEast: forhisnewcareer expectations tohisburgeoning fesses the ofall specialists, limited most againthat to"become I wasgoing more is much man.'Thisisn'tjustan epigram-life 'well-rounded all" (p. 4). His after window, a single at from looked successfully his soonafter however; untenable, prove ambitions window single withthecareless, entangled in New Yorkhislifebecomes arrival by apartment toa NewYorkCity Dragged ofothers. lives careening drink, rest and the Wilson, Myrtle Tom, Nick, Tom Buchanan, andNick andinto twilight, afternoon the through andlament argue, withthiscrowd:"Yet high association uponhisunwilling reflects their havecontributed must windows ourlineofyellow city over the streets, darkening inthe watcher casual tothe secrecy share ofhuman and I was within up and wondering. and I was himtoo,looking inexhaustible by the andrepelled enchanted simultaneously without, (p. 36). oflife" variety a double Nick brings and reluctant participant, Casualobserver It is a simuland exact. at oncediffuse he tells, vision to thestory from its lifts a much like stereopticon, figures which, vision taneous instead, butare, don't jibe, quite the because images the pageprecisely sortof this How close this discrepancy. without and lifeless flat of his saneassessment very is to Fitzgerald's doubleconsciousness ofa first-rate "Thetest name. same bythe own"crack up"inanessay "is of Gatsby, after thepublication a decade he wrote intelligence,"

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theability to hold two opposedideas in themindat thesame time, Fitzgerald's quietand lucid to function."21 and stillretain theability butof notof thelossof his intelligence self-diagnosis is a complaint hisartistic edge. hisability tofunction, the however, he retained The GreatGatsby, While he was writing with by identifying thoughhe dividedhimself ability to function both the jaded and obsessive Gatsbyand the dazzled Nick, full of life.Thus divided, bythevariety of "interior rules"yetawestruck had of courseidentified he would dividehis sympathies. Fitzgerald "started withGatsby; John Peale Bishopthatthatcharacter he wrote intomyself-the amalgam outas one man I knewand thenchanged too. was never in mymind."22 Buthe was Nick Carraway, complete reactions to New York as his own first For he could well remember bears . . . I gapingat the trained beingone "up fromthe country and glitter I had come onlyto stareat theshow . . . tookthestyle of New York evenaboveitsown valuation."23 In nearly is a certain dividedquality, every line of thebook there emoa pervasive fissure thatyields notyeta "crackup" buta slight strain would tell."I had no wheresomeday tionaltension, a tension face floatedalong the dark cornicesand girl whose disembodied obsession, blinding signs"(p. 8i), saysNick; and lackingGatsby's he is left signsforwhichhis and blinding simply withdarkcornices The worldgoes "glimmering" "interior rules"are sorry equipment. of such is representative forNick,butit lacksfocus. This paragraph a tension, I think:"Again at eighto'clock,when the dark lanes of taxicabsbound for the the Fortieswere fivedeep with throbbing in myheart. Formsleaned together I felta sinking theater district, was laughter in thetaxisas they waited, and voicessang,and there outlinedunintelligible fromunheardjokes, and lightedcigarettes towardgayety inside.ImaginingthatI, too,was hurrying gestures I wishedthemwell" (p. 57intimate and sharing their excitement, his depunctuate magnanimity 58). Nick's despairand provincial sceneof faceless of thishaunted lighted forms-irregularly scription
21 "The Crack-Up,"in The Crack-Up, Edmund Wilson,ed. (New York: New Direcappearedin Esquire Feb., I936. originally Corp., I945), p. 69; thisarticle tionsPublishing 22 Letter 9 Aug. I925. Letters, p. 358. to John Peale Bishop, 23 "MyLost City," p. 24. in The Crack-Up,

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in traffic. excitement butstalled with andhalf heard-throbbing permeates the distortion that of theEl Greco-like Thisis typical (p. I78). Andwe find and grotesque" novel, "atonceconventional Wilson's it everywhere of Myrtle in thebook.In thephotograph on thewall"(p. 30); in the "hovered likean ectoplasm mother that uponherchin;in Nick'ssiJordan Baker balances invisible object onemancould bytheideathat andrepulsion multaneous fascination and whosellsdogson thestreet fixtheWorldSeries; in thetramp in thetragic eyes D. Rockefeller; likeJohn yetlooksall theworld train; in European faces in a funeral andshort lipsofeastern upper heapsand sugar theriver in white "rising up across thecity itself, lumpsall builtwitha wish"(p. 69). And we findit in Nick's of andrepresentative himself, at once"gorgeous" reaction toGatsby (p. 2). scorn" which I havean unaffected "everything for andhow "craftsmanship" result ofsheer ofthis wasthe How much in his of theauthor himself a heavy investment much represented continued his that Butwe do know Fitzgerald material is unknown. which looks back in a sequel to"The Crack-Up" inventory oflosses indicated liabilities "Fora check-up ofmyspiritual that time: tothat OnceI hadhad I hadno particular orunbowed. headtobe bowed of."24 His perception of thegroa heart wasall I was sure butthat andsustained bysympathy hadoncebeen tempered tesqueries oflife hadplayed out;he had qualities vitality. Butthese byan enormous toa attitude a "sad toward sadness, melancholy attitude developed He had wardmelancholy tragedy."25 attitude toward and a tragic and compassion," identified ofhis"horror become with theobjects tenyears andhe wasparalyzed "Life, ago," byhisownperceptions. the holdin balance hewrote, matter. I must a personal "waslargely ofthe tostruggle. andthesense ofeffort sense ofthe necessity futility thecommon ills-domestic, profesthrough . . . If I coulddo this shot as an arrow theegowouldcontinue sional andpersonal-then that withsuchforce onlygravity from to nothingness nothingness oftruth, hasthering Thispassage at last."26 wouldbring ittoearth rather than conviction ofphilosophical as a statement butit stands when tohavebeena time Butthere seems a felt reaction life, tolife.
24 "PastingIt Together," in The Crack-Up, p. 8o; this articleoriginally appeared in EsquireApril,I936.
25

Ibid, p. 8o-8I.

26

"The Crack-Up," P. 70.

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when indeed, wasa "personal matter" for when Fitzgerald, Gatsby, human allvain "stuck inhisheart." striving, anda lost which characterized The search a lost self for vitality the to of Bartley and Jay was toofamiliar strivings Alexander Gatsby Fitzgerald bythetime he cameto write "The Crack-Up." If at one time he had sympathized withtheir middle-aged dream of youth, nowheshared it.In theend, Fitzgerald suffered from that convery dition he hadhimself onceso compassionately dramatized:
It wasbackinto themind oftheyoung manwith cardboard soles whohad I had walked thestreets of New York.I was himagain-for an instant thegoodfortune to share hisdreams, I whohad no more dreams ofmy own.And there are stilltimes I creepup on him,surprise himon an autumn morning in New Yorkor a spring night in Carolina whenit is so quietthat youcan heara dog barking in thenextcounty. But never againas during that all tooshort period when he and I wereoneperson, whenthefulfilled future and thewistful pastweremingled in a single gorgeous moment-when life wasliterally a dream.27
27 "EarlySuccess," in The Crack-Up, p. go; thisarticle originally appearedin American CavalcadeOct.,I937.