Before Gatsby
The First Twenty-Six Stories

F. Scott Fitzgerald

The Jazz Age of the United States between World War I and 1930 or so is best represented now by the writings of F. Scott Fitzgerald. That was the society where he lived and watched. Fitzgerald had the eye to catch human foibles. He had the wit to be able to then tell the stories.

The 26 stories collected in this book are his earliest sold work up until The Great Gatsby was published. He wrote stories that would earn him money - he was straight forward about that. He wrote stories that people would buy and then would buy more of his work. Yet he wrote good, insightful stories, for the most part, that yes, people wanted to read, but also that they would remember. His writing was well done and has outlived most of the short story authors who also sold to the fiction magazines of the time.

As I state in my blog, I borrowed this book because I wanted to read the story behind the movie The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. It's the next to last story in this collection. But of course once I had the book in hand I had to read all the short stories and novelettes in it. Many of the stories showcase Fitzgerald's talent of capturing characters in small pictures and making them real. He knew the capriciousness of the socialite and young woman as well as the desires (in the way they were allowed to be expressed at the time) of young men. Many of his stories are about some form of love, usually thwarted.

Then there are stories like "Bernice Bobs Her Hair", "His Russet Witch", or "Two for a Cent". They are both stories of the vagrancies of life. You'll cheer for Bernice by the end of her story. Some of the stories are forgettable, like the first one in the collection. In fact the Jazz Age stories don't start until the third short story, "The Debutante". Other stories I especially enjoyed - "The Diamond As Big As the Ritz", The Offshore Pirate", "The Camel's Back", and "Head and Shoulders".

As for "Curious Case of Benjamin Button" - it's OK, but I like Andrew Sean Greer's novel using the same theme - The Confessions of Max Tivoli - much better. You have to feel extremely sorry for Benjamin's mother because he was 5' 8" when he was born - I don't want to know how. Max developed mentally the way all humans do, just physically backward. Benjamin started with an old man's knowledge and regresses mentally as well as physically. I haven't seen the movie yet and wonder how they handled it. Max Tivoli is a more sensitive story than "Benjamin Button", and the movie trailers imply sensitivity. I'll find out when I see it.