The Complexity of Jay Gatsby

This year, “The Great Gatsby” turns 100.

A.O. Scott, a critic at large for The New York Times Book Review, tells the story of how an overlooked book by a 28-year-old author eventually became the great American novel, and explores why all of these decades later, we still see ourselves in its pages.

Guest: A.O. Scott, a critic at large for The New York Times Book Review, writing about literature and ideas.

Background reading: 

• What the hero in “The Great Gatsby” tell us about how we see ourselves.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

Photo: Abigail Cole/University of South Carolina Libraries

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