F. Scott Fitzgerald is best-known as the author of The Great Gatsby, This Side of Paradise, and Tender Is the Night. In addition, he created many fine short stories, one other novel (The Beautiful and Damned), an unfinished novel about Hollywood (The Last Tycoon), and an unusual collection of prose pieces (The Crack-Up, edited by his Princeton friend, critic Edmund Wilson). For many readers Fitzgerald’s prose has a brilliance and depth making him one of the finest writers in English. Fitzgerald and his wife Zelda have also become legendary figures of the Twenties—true, not all to their benefit, but it is fair to say that their lives had the dramatic power and tragic sadness of the finest fiction, inspiring Fitzgerald himself and other writers.

This eight-session seminar will survey all of Fitzgerald’s major works in the company of lesser-known pieces. Discussion begins on September 30 with This Side of Paradise and The Basil and Josephine Stories. A reading list and copies of the books for discussion are available for registrants.

Dr. James Kraft has previously led popular Library seminars on George Eliot, Henry James, Willa Cather, and others.

This seminar is offered at 11:00 AM on eight dates:

Wednesdays
September 30
October 21
November 18
December 16
January 13
March 16
April 13
May 11

There is also a 2:00 PM section on those same dates. Click here for the 2:00 PM section.

Registration is required. How to Register

With questions, contact the Events Office at 212.288.6900 x230 or events@nysoclib.org.