Fitzgerald and Short Story Writing
Although Fitzgerald today is usually considered a novelist, in his lifetime he was more well-known for his short stories. He was a prolific writer of short stories, and published around 160 of them (Bruccoli xiii). Many literary critics often separate “Fitzgerald the novel writer” from “Fitzgerald the short story writer”. In his own life, Fitzgerald felt somewhat of a disconnection between his ‘literary’ career as a novelist and his more professional career writing short stories. However, Fitzgerald’s short stories are very important to the study of his work. One can observe his development as a writer and see parallels between his stories and his novels.
Writing short stories was much more lucrative for Fitzgerald than writing novels, which only brought in a very meager income. For example, in 1929, 8 short stories earned him $30,000, while all profits in this year from his novels only earned him $31.77 (Bruccoli, xiv). Fitzgerald depended on the money he made from his stories to allow him time to work on his novels, and he greatly resented this. As Hemingway writes in A Moveable Feast, Fitzgerald told him in 1925 that writing short stories for popular magazines was “whoring but that he had to do it as he made his money from the magazines to have money ahead to write decent books” (qtd. in Mangum 57). Fitzgerald felt that writing for popular magazines discredited him as a real literary writer. He also felt that his short stories took time and energy away from his novels.
Many literary critics of his day did not feel that his short stories were quality writing. They criticized them for being too light in subject matter and for being on...
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...t is a useful resource
for locating the dates of publications of stories, as well as a resource for which stories are included
in the numerous compilations that have been published.
Mangum, B. “F. Scott Fitzgerald” Critical Survey of Short Fiction. Ed. Frank Magill. Salem: Salem
Press, Inc., 1982. Available online: <http://www.people.vcu.edu/~bmangum/fitzstories.html>.
This article provides brief synopses of Fitzgerald’s principal short stories, other literary forms, his influence, and the characteristics of his short stories. In addition, there is a thorough analysis of Fitzgerald’s short story writing career.
---. “The short stories of F. Scott Fitzgerald.” The Cambridge Companion to
F. Scott Fitzgerald. Ed. Ruth Prigozy. Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press, 2002. 57-78.
The. Fitzgerald, F. S., and Matthew J. Bruccoli. The Short Stories of F. Scott Fitzgerald: A New Collection. The. New York: Scribner, 1989.
In the last three paragraphs of An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge told by a third person point of view, Farquhar is being hanged by the rope, and when the rope is undone, Farquhar escapes and sees the light of the river. The light in this particular story represents a warm bright light from heaven. On other hand on the complete opposite side, in The Tell Tale Heart the light (lantern) signifies fear of the eye. However the narrator reveals that Farquhar?s escape is a hallucination that lasts only from moment the rope breaks his neck at the end of the fall.
Mizener, Arthur, ed. F. Scott Fitzgerald: A Collection of Critical Essays. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1963.
Merriman, C. D. "F. Scott Fitzgerald." The Literature Network. Jalic Inc., 2007. Web. 17 Jan. 2014.
"An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" is a story of illusion, decision, and fate. It presents one with a very powerful scenario - one that questions the protagonist 's ultimate destiny, and the concept of good vs. evil. It defines the grey area of deeds by which most humans live, and uses powerful thematic concepts and devices to convey the author 's own value while leaving some space for the reader to make their own choice. Furthermore, this story discusses the life of a man who ended up on the wrong side of history, humanizing yet criminalizing him for his beliefs. This can all be attributed to a wide array of symbols and interactions- all which support the theme of illusion vs. reality. The complex thematic value of this piece stems from multiple aspects – the most important of which are the bridge through both its literal and symbolic meaning, the colour grey in all its depth and broad variations, the essence of time in all of its distortion, and the story 's style of writing.
United States. National Center for Education Statistics. Long-Term Trends in Student Mathematics Performance. Sep. 1998. Web. 2 May 2009. .
Gidmark, Jill B. “F. Scott Fitzgerald.” Cycolpedia Of World Authors, Fourth Revised Edition (2003): 1-2. Literary Reference Center. Web. 22 Apr. 2014.
...ony, and narration. Without these exceptional parts the theme would not have as much meaning and depth in its perception to the reader. The symbols show to the reader that there is a hidden message to what is going to happen in the end and hints to the theme of the story but is purposely ignored. Irony brings attention to the conscious or thoughts during the story and the unlikelihood of actually dying at the end shows how strong our minds are. Narration is brought to show the theme of his expected death and a diversion from the reality of the readers thoughts. The story is saturated with literary elements that help prove the theme of “An Occurrence of Owl Creek Bridge”.
Unbeknownst to the literary world, a future great American novelist, Francis Scott Fitzgerald was born in 1896. As an intellectual young man with great ambition, F. Scott Fitzgerald attended Princeton in the fall of 1913 with great hopes of fulfilling his dream to become a writer (“F. Scott Fitzgerald – Bio”, 2015). Unfortunately, Fitzgerald did not find much success at Princeton, was put on academic probation, and in 1917 left the school and enlisted himself into the U.S Army. During his time spent on base in Alabama, Fitzgerald met a woman, Zelda Sayre, and fell in love. Following his discharge at the end of the war, Fitzgerald and Zelda moved to Great Neck, New York on Long Island to pursue his literary aspirations
“An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” is written by Ambrose Bierce. Ambrose Bierce uses foreshadowing to show the shock effect allowing one to know Peyton is going to die. This short story took place during the Civil War. Peyton is caught tarnishing with the bridge and is sentenced to be hanged. Ambrose Bierce used foreshadow and literary techniques to tell the short story “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge”.
Ryan, Julia. "American Schools vs. the World: Expensive, Unequal, Bad at Math." www.theAtlantic.com. The Atlantic Monthly Group, 23 Dec. 2013. Web. 18 Feb. 2014. .
Rpt. in Short Story Criticism. Ed. Joseph Palmisano. Vol.
Barr, C., Doyle, M., Clifford, J., De Leo,T., Dubeau, C. (2003). "There is More to Math: A Framework for Learning and Math Instruction” Waterloo Catholic District School Board
Following the Great War, new writers emerged and so did many cultural aspects of America, like music, poetry, and art. Americans were looking for a place in order to be able to express themselves. New York was becoming the cultural central of the new American life. American writers were slowly being discovered and this era is called Modernism. F. Scott Fitzgerald was one of those writers that quickly began to express himself though literature during the era of Modernism.
Fitzgerald’s personal life was just as intriguing as his writing. He was born on September 24, 1896 in St. Paul Minnesota as the son of Edward Fitzgerald and Mary Mcquillan. His mother was occupied as a wholesale grocer in St. Paul while his father was an old Southerner (Bruccoli). The family relocated to New York after his father failed as a manufacturer of wicker. His father took the job as a salesman for Procter and Gamble, but not soon after, Edward was dismissed and once again, the family found themselves back in St. Paul. In the Fall of 1913. Fitzgerald enrolled at Princeton where he dove deep into the literary life. He made contributions to the Princeton Triangle Club, the Princeton Tiger, and the Nassau Literary Magazine, as well as forming relationships with students who pursued a similar dream of being a writer...