The Great Gatsby | A Modernist Masterwork

The following essay discusses how Fitzgerald, in his style, portrayal of American morality, and treatment of his characters in The Great Gatsby, left the Victorian era behind and created a Modernist masterwork that still serves as a model for American fiction.

The Great Gatsby, the first truly Modernist novel to find success in the United States, set the tone for the movement that defined American literature well into the present day. In Modernism Fitzgerald found a way to define his world that would have been impossible in the nineteenth-century Victorian style that still dominated American writing. In his style, portrayal of American morality and treatment of his characters, Fitzgerald left the Victorian era behind, creating a Modernist masterwork that still serves as a...

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