Historical Context
World War I
In 1914, the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and his wife in Belgrade ignited World War I amidst already high tensions among the major European powers. Germany, Austro-Hungary, and the Ottoman Empire formed the Central Alliance to oppose Great Britain, France, Russia, and eventually many other nations, leading to a destructive war on multiple fronts. The United States remained neutral for much of the conflict, but anti-German sentiment grew when American interests were threatened as passenger and commercial ships were attacked and sunk. This sentiment intensified when Great Britain revealed a decoded telegram from the German foreign minister offering Mexico control of parts of the United States if it joined the Central Powers.
In April 1917, President Woodrow Wilson declared war on Germany. American involvement on the Western front helped to overpower the Central Powers, even as Russia withdrew in the spring of 1918. By November of the same year, the Central Powers were defeated. In January, Wilson presented his visionary “Fourteen Points” addressing international conflict resolution. Nevertheless, the embittered Allied Powers chose to sign harsh treaties with Germany, Austro-Hungary, and the Ottoman Empire by 1919, leaving these nations divided and heavily indebted. The 1919 Treaty of Versailles also established the League of Nations to mediate international disputes, but American entry into the organization was blocked by opposition in the U.S. Senate.
The Dawn of the Jazz Age
Following World War I, the United States began to experience the optimism and economic growth typical of the 1920s. Mass-produced goods and household technologies became widely accessible, and people were investing in the flourishing stock market. In the final days before the Eighteenth Amendment, which prohibited alcohol, took effect in early 1920, jazz music was in vogue, and the social scene was famously extravagant, especially in major cities like New York. This period also marked significant progress for women's rights: women were increasingly active in social circles, had a greater presence in the workforce, and gained the right to vote with the Nineteenth Amendment, enacted in August 1920.
American Modernism
The modernist literary movement is generally associated with the period of World War I, an event that radically altered many worldviews. Feeling that traditional forms were no longer adequate, writers and artists across the Western world experimented with new techniques, drawing from various movements. Most notably, they took inspiration from post-impressionism, which emphasized the simplification of form in visual arts, and naturalism, which often depicted a deterministic universe characterized by a harsh struggle for survival.
Modernism is often linked with Europe, particularly centered around Paris, where many modernist writers, including Fitzgerald, eventually relocated. Another hub was the Bloomsbury group in London. James Joyce, an Irish author, was arguably the most influential modernist writer. He gained fame for exploring multiple perspectives that culminate in an "epiphany," a sudden moment of truth, and for his later adoption of the stream-of-consciousness style. However, there was also a group of American modernist writers, such as Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, and John Dos Passos, who were part of the "lost generation" that experienced World War I. While many of these American writers spent time in Paris, their literary work often focused on American social and political issues, distinguishing them from European modernism.
An American modernist identity is evident in This Side of Paradise. For instance, Amory expresses his indifference towards Joyce’s A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man . Amory tends to lump all European authors together and dismisses them, from the patriotic English poet of World War I, Rupert Brooke, to the traditionalist English writer H. G. Wells,...
(This entire section contains 636 words.)
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and the visionary Victorian poet Algernon Charles Swinburne, known for his radical views. Although it is unclear if Fitzgerald intended to reject all European traditions, his debut novel shows a clear ambition to be innovative and to cultivate a distinct American literary identity.
Ideas for Group Discussions
Many readers perceive Fitzgerald's early work as an exploration of his abilities, experimenting to see which storytelling techniques succeed and which do not. Discussions might explore the methods the author employs as he experiments with crafting a compelling narrative. For instance, he includes a quote from "Casey Jones," utilizes subheadings like "The Philosophy of the Slicker," and incorporates "poetic" passages in italics at the end of chapters.
Given the book's clearly "experimental" nature, it's worth considering its length. Compared to the concise nature of The Great Gatsby (1925), readers might question whether This Side of Paradise is excessively lengthy, being more than twice the size of Gatsby. If it's deemed too long, which sections could be trimmed without compromising the thematic impact?
In terms of characterization, readers often evaluate whether a character is genuinely "round" or merely "flat," as described by E. M. Forster. For example, are the female characters fully "developed," or are they simply convenient tools for shaping Amory's personality and experiences?
1. Is Amory's pursuit of "personage" similar to the contemporary quest of many people for "self-actualization" or a comparable advanced stage of personal development?
2. Can the book be considered a true bildungsroman? Is the "quest" theme sufficiently explored?
3. Do the digressive "asides" in the form of verse and drama detract from a clear understanding of the text? Is the storyline overly episodic?
4. Is the depiction of college life in the 1920s overly romanticized? Has the concept of a genuine "liberal education" become so outdated that Fitzgerald’s vision feels historic, or does it retain relevance today?
5. How can Amory's relationships with Rosalind and Eleanor be compared? Do their last names, Connage and Savage, imply any symbolic intent from the author, such as "to connote, or mean" and "untamed"?
6. Does the portrayal of Catholicism in the novel appear genuinely sincere, especially considering Fitzgerald's own wavering commitment to his faith? Does this element add a layer of moral significance to the story?
Style and Technique
Dramatic, Poetic, and Epistolary Forms
This Side of Paradise is primarily narrated by an omniscient third-person voice. However, it also employs a diverse range of forms, including poems, songs, lists, letters, short notes, and even a dramatic play format to depict the start and end of Amory's relationship with Rosalind. These unconventional methods use a unique style of text and layout, adapting to the specific context Fitzgerald aims to convey. They are significant for two reasons. First, they underscore the inadequacy of a traditional narrative for modernist authors of the new generation, with the dramatic form being particularly innovative. Second, they offer a reading experience that is slightly unsettling, encouraging readers to envision the events and characters in a more vivid and imaginative manner.
Self-Conscious Narration
A key aspect of Fitzgerald's style is the narrative voice's pronounced self-awareness. This is evident in the "Young Irony" chapter of Book Two, where the narrator begins recounting Amory and Eleanor's story by reflecting on how they later remembered the affair. When he interrupts this description with, “I see I am starting wrong. Let me begin again,” it surprises readers and makes them question the purpose of this apparent false start, if it truly is "wrong."
Fitzgerald's flamboyant style, which includes his romantic, intricate descriptions and numerous epigrams or witty remarks, is another way he draws attention to himself as an author. Like Amory, the narrative voice often exudes vanity and superficial charm, showcasing Fitzgerald as a bold, debut writer. This technique partly explains the significant critical focus on This Side of Paradise concerning Fitzgerald's personal life. Many characters closely mirror real-life counterparts: Amory resembles Fitzgerald himself; several of Amory's Princeton friends are modeled after Fitzgerald's own friends from Princeton; Isabelle and Rosalind draw inspiration from Fitzgerald's college infatuation, Ginevra King (although Rosalind also shares traits with Fitzgerald's wife, Zelda); and Monsignor Darcy is based on Fitzgerald's friend, Father Sigourney Fay, to whom the novel is dedicated. These parallels enhance the novel's intrigue, making the technique of self-consciousness a crucial element of the period's aesthetic innovations.
Compare and Contrast
1920: Numerous young soldiers have returned to the United States from a devastating overseas war, encountering a national sentiment of growing isolationism and a strong desire to relish a thriving economy.
Today: American troops continue to be stationed in Iraq and Afghanistan, with the U.S. military still involved in international efforts, albeit not on the scale of World War I.
1920: The younger generation in America surprises their parents with behavior considered quite liberal at the time, such as kissing and flirting, as depicted in Fitzgerald’s novel.
Today: While the United States has the highest teen pregnancy rate among western industrialized nations, teens in the early 2000s might not find the romance in This Side of Paradise particularly shocking. The younger generation is likely not more sexually liberal than their parents were at the same age.
1920: Prestigious Ivy League schools like Princeton are elitist institutions, primarily serving and controlled by the upper class.
Today: Financial aid and diversity programs have made Ivy League universities somewhat more accessible to talented students from lower and middle-income backgrounds.
1920: Women constitute one-fourth of the workforce—a significant increase since before World War I—and begin exercising their right to vote for the first time.
Today: Women represent nearly half of the workforce and are increasingly occupying managerial and professional roles.
Adaptations
An unabridged audio version of This Side of Paradise is offered by Bookcassette Sales, released in 1997.
Bibliography
Sources
Broun, Heywood, “Paradise and Princeton,” in F. Scott Fitzgerald: The Critical Reception, edited by Jackson R.
Bryer, Burt Franklin & Co., 1978, p. 9. This work was initially published in the New York Tribune on April 11, 1920, Sec. 7, pp. 9–11.
Fitzgerald, F. Scott, This Side of Paradise, edited by James L. W. West III, Cambridge University Press, 1995. The original publication was by Scribner’s in 1920.
Wilson, Edmund, “F. Scott Fitzgerald,” in F. Scott Fitzgerald: A Collection of Critical Essays, edited by Arthur Mizener, Prentice-Hall, 1963, pp. 80–85.
“With College Men,” in F. Scott Fitzgerald: The Critical Reception, edited by Jackson R. Bryer, Burt Franklin & Co., 1978, p. 21, originally appeared in the New York Times Book Review on May 9, 1920, p. 240.
Further Reading
Bryer, Jackson, Ruth Prigozy, and Milton R. Stern, eds., F. Scott Fitzgerald in the Twenty-First Century, University of Alabama Press, 2003. This anthology of critical essays, shared at the F. Scott Fitzgerald conference at Princeton University in 1996, offers diverse new perspectives on Fitzgerald’s writings.
Eble, Kenneth E., ed., F. Scott Fitzgerald: A Collection of Criticism, McGraw-Hill, 1973. Eble compiles a valuable assortment of critiques on Fitzgerald, featuring key essays from the 1960s and early 1970s.
Miller, James E., Jr., The Fictional Technique of F. Scott Fitzgerald, Nijhoff, 1957. Miller delivers an in-depth analysis of Fitzgerald’s writing style and career trajectory.
Mizener, Arthur, The Far Side of Paradise, revised edition, Houghton Mifflin, 1965. This biographical and critical exploration of Fitzgerald, which won the National Book Award, is both highly influential and well-regarded.
