Random F. Scott Fitzgerald Podcasts

A life lived backwards, with events happening in reverse order forms the strange and unexpected framework of one of F Scott Fitzgerald’s rare short stories. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button was published in Collier’s in 1927 and the idea came to Fitzgerald apparently from a quote of Mark Twain’s in which he regretted that the best part of life came at the beginning and the worst at the end. Fitzgerald’s concept of using this notion and turning the normal sequence of life on its head resulted in this delightful, thought provoking fantasy tale. The story was later incorporated in a Fitzgerald anthology, Tales of the Jazz Age. The story opens with a young, high society couple who are shocked beyond belief when they discover that their much awaited first born child resembles an elderly gent of seventy, complete with a white beard and whiskers, sitting up and querulously demanding to know, “Are you my father?” Their young son is born to live out a peculiar destiny. And so begins a grotesque journey through life, with the child, Benjamin “growing down” instead of up. Set in the Baltimore of the 1860s the story is also a satire of contemporary American society of the time. Though Fitzgerald maintains a cool and light tone throughout the story, it is in fact, deeply reflective and a very interesting take on the human condition. For contemporary readers who are familiar with the problems of aging and “second childhood” Benjamin Button’s difficulties with dealing with the demands of his chronological age vs his mental age are extremely interesting. As we find more and more older people succumbing to Alzheimer’s disease and dementia, requiring the kind of care that an infant does, the story is strangely prophetic of the condition of geriatric care in our century. The plot is not exactly new to literature, with several stories and novels being written on a similar theme by many other writers. However, Fitzgerald’s take on growing old and how we humans deal with it is what sets The Curious Case of Benjamin Button apart. The style is extremely readable, the premise is intriguing and refreshingly different and appeals to readers of all ages. The story was adapted into a film in 2008 and continues to fascinate Fitzgerald fans the world over. More great books at LoyalBooks.com

Categories: Arts, Comedy

Tags: audio books, audiobook, Comedy, Dramatic Works, ebooks, F. Scott Fitzgerald, fiction, free audio books, humor, Literature, Loyal Books, loyalbooks.com, Short stories, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

An idle, extravagant young man is the heir presumptive of his wealthy grandfather, an industrial tycoon. His wife, divinely beautiful and utterly selfish, believes that nothing is more powerful than her own beauty. Together, this couple represents what Fitzgerald famously portrayed as the lost generation of the Jazz Age in several of his novels. In The Beautiful and The Damned, F Scott Fitzgerald explores the trivial and shallow lives of the well-heeled inheritors of the American Dream the second or third generation that can afford to live on the fortunes that their forbears worked so hard to accumulate. The book traces the life of Anthony Patch between the ages of 25 and 33 and focuses intensely on his almost obsessive love for the gorgeous looking Gloria Gilbert. Their meeting, courtship, marriage, the endless social whirl of parties, the sudden financial troubles that hit them, the long awaited inheritance that comes to their rescue and the totally unexpected final conclusion make the book a bittersweet saga. Fitzgerald’s own life and his marriage to the beautiful Zelda are supposedly the inspiration for this 1925 book, which was his second novel. It follows one of Fitzgerald’s favorite themes that great wealth destroys greatly. However, here the irony in the whole situation is that Patch is not wealthy at all; he only nurses “great expectations!” He refuses to work believing that one day he would be a gentleman of leisure. However, his grandfather, an old-school reformist thinker, believes in the credo of hard work and plain living. When the old man turns up unexpectedly at one of the couple’s flashy parties, he rewrites his will, leaving Patch devastated and with no recourse other than to explore legal options. Fitzgerald was famous for his uncanny ability to select the perfect title for his books. The Beautiful and The Damned is no exception. It describes a group of people whose looks are indeed their damnation. Their outward appearance hides their avarice, lust, self indulgence and utter degeneration of moral values. Though these characters are totally unworthy of our sympathy, they manage to capture the imagination simply because of the author’s vivid portrayal. Fitzgerald’s eye for detail, his brilliant and luminous prose, the authentic recreation of the garish and gaudy side of America in the 1920s are all wonderfully showcased in the book. His first novel, This Side of Paradise had just been published and received with almost universal admiration. Though The Beautiful and The Damned is considered by critics to be less brilliant, it is nevertheless a dazzling picture of a vanished era. More great books at LoyalBooks.com

Categories: Arts

Tags: audio books, audiobook, ebooks, F. Scott Fitzgerald, fiction, free audio books, Literature, Loyal Books, loyalbooks.com, The Beautiful and Damned

A romantic and witty novel that has weathered time to remain one of America’s classic pieces. In the shadows of the great Gatsby is another brilliant novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald. This book is evidence to Fitzgerald’s literal genius because it was written by the author in his twenties to mirror his experiences at the time. It paints a picture of what it was like to be a young man or woman in the 20th century and in the wake of the First World War. The book is set on a foundation of socialist principles. The protagonist is a young man in his twenties and his emotions and intellectual ideas are affected by the issues of social class. Fitzgerald’s style of writing is sharp, clever and funny. The book is episodic in structure and the plot is set into motion by Amory’s thoughts and ideas about his progression in his emotional and intellectual faculties. The story narrates the chronicles of one Amory Blaine in his journey to self discovery, we see him develop from a young boy born with a silver spoon through to adulthood. It narrates his enrollment in the prestigious Princeton University and how he leaves the institution to pursue other things. He leaves campus to enlist in the army to fight for his country during the First World War. Upon his return, Amory goes through a series of difficulties, both financially and personally. This Side of Paradise is a wonderful read for anyone regardless of age or social class. Readers will empathize with the characters in this book because nearly everyone has at one time in their lives felt as they did at one point in the novel. Once you start reading this book you can’t stop and you’ll enjoy every minute you spend reading it.

Categories: Arts, Kids & Family

Tags: audio books, audiobook, ebooks, F. Scott Fitzgerald, fiction, free audio books, Kids, Literature, Loyal Books, loyalbooks.com, romance, This Side of Paradise, War stories