The Short Stories of F. Scott Fitzgerald: New Approaches in Criticism

F. Scott Fitzgerald produced 179 short stories in his prolific literary career. Although consistently popular with the reading public and widely anthologized, these works have suffered a strangely stony critical reception. Disparaged by some as mere potboilers and dismissed by others as a listless footnote to the novelist’s oeuvre, they remain the most seriously neglected aspect of Fitzgerald scholarship. It is in response to this absence of worthwhile commentary that editor Jackson R. Bryer sets forth here to redress what he calls a deplorable imbalance. Gathering together a variety of insightful essays on Fitzgerald’s short stories in a volume sure to excite students of American and contemporary literature, Bryer and his distinguished contributors begin to fill an unjustifiable critical void. The result is a unique collection, one that focuses attention on an unexplored body of work and becomes, in the process, eloquent witness to the depth, artistry, and resonant beauty of Fitzgerald’s short fiction.