How Fitzgerald’s Least Popular Novel Became an American Icon (The Great Gatsby, Part 1)

In this inaugural episode of the Norton Library Podcast, we welcome Anne Margaret Daniel to discuss how F. Scott Fitzgerald came to write his Jazz Age masterpiece. We also explore some of the themes that have captivated readers for over a century—self-improvement and the "American Dream," the power and limits of wealth in the upper reaches of the elite, and the narrative filtering of Gatsby's world through the perspective of outsider Nick Carraway.

Anne Margaret Daniel is the editor of the Norton Library edition of The Great Gatsby and teaches literature at The New School University in New York City. She is also the editor of I’d Die For You and Other Lost Stories, Fitzgerald’s last previously unpublished short stories, and of the forthcoming selected letters of Zelda Sayre Fitzgerald.
 
The Norton Library edition of The Great Gatsby  features the complete text of the first 1925 edition, along with a selection of earlier short stories by Fitzgerald. To learn more or purchase a copy, go to https://seagull.wwnorton.com/gatsby.

Learn more about the Norton Library series at https://wwnorton.com/norton-library.

Listen to our Spotify playlist inspired by The Great Gatsby: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/38hcFnY4wCoBbr3Q6Nz6dp?si=861dd02247b4411b.

Have questions or suggestions for the podcast? Email us at nortonlibrary@wwnorton.com or find us on Twitter @TNL_WWN.

Episode transcript at: https://seagull.wwnorton.com/thegreatgatsby/part1/transcript.