Matthew Bruccoli's Preface to The Great Gatsby
by Amanda Marcuccio
1. Pleasure vs. Complexity
2. GG is a classic
2.1. read for pleasure and for school
2.1.1. "Every reader's response to a work of fiction is determined by his or her presuppositional bias, beliefs, experience, and knowledge."
2.2. he wrote for the youth of his generation
2.3. "written by a man of his own time about his own time"
2.4. "The defining novel of the twentieth century."
2.4.1. "The Boom"
2.4.2. "The Jazz Age"
2.4.3. "The Roaring Twenties"
3. GG is known for its "American-ness"
3.1. Land of opportunity
3.1.1. wealth
3.2. "The Great American Novel"
3.3. JG is reminiscent of Ben Franklin (self-made man)
3.4. The American Dream
4. What does "great" mean?
4.1. Is it ironic?
4.2. synonymous with "good"?
4.3. "larger than life"?
5. The reader is a collaborator in the narrative
5.1. reconstructs timeline through flashback
5.1.1. chronological problems with the narrative
5.2. must sort and re-order lies
6. GG is a masterpiece
7. Great literature creates great characters
7.1. Nick is the central figure
7.1.1. "partially involved narrator"
7.1.2. Masterpieces are not accidents
7.1.2.1. serious writer and hard worker
7.1.2.2. the art of rewriting