Babylon Revisited F. Scott Fitzgerald | James B. Twitchell (essay date 1979)
James B. Twitchell (essay date 1979)
SOURCE: "'Babylon Revisited': Chronology and Characters," in Fitzgerald/Hemingway Annual 1978, edited by Matthew J. Bruccoli and Richard Layman, Gale Research Company, 1979, pp. 155-60.
[In the following essay, Twitchell refutes the argument that Charlie Wales is unreformed.]
In recent years there has been a small critical hubbub over the completeness of Charlie Wales's reformation in Fitzgerald's "Babylon Revisited." On the surface it does seem that Charlie has converted from wine, women, and song to one midday drink, devotion to his daughter, and serious introspection. But recently critics have questioned Charlie's conversion by pointing to a crucial scene overlooked by earlier commentators. Lorraine Quarries and Duncan Schaeffer arrive at the Peterses' apartment because Charlie has consciously or unconsciously pointed the way by leaving his address with the bartender at the Ritz. Their appearance...
[The entire page is 1823 words long]
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