The Great Gatsby and F. Scott Fitzgerald

By Vaughan

Marking 100 years since the publication of Fitzgerald's classic novel of the Jazz Age.

2025 marks 100 years since the publication of F. Scott Fitzgerald's classic novel of Jazz Age America, The Great Gatsby. To mark the occasion, here is a look at Wellington City Libraries' holdings; both the novel, its adaptions and the turbulent life and times it emerged from.

Books

An exquisitely crafted tale of America in the 1920s, this is the story of the fabulously wealthy Jay Gatsby and his love for the beautiful Daisy Buchanan.

Fitzgerald's original novel is held by Wellington Libraries in numerous print editions and eBooks and eAudiobooks through Libby.

From the green light across the bay to the billboard with spectacled eyes, F. Scott Fitzgerald’s 1925 American masterpiece roars to life in K. Woodman-Maynard’s exquisite graphic novel - among the first adaptations of the book in this genre. Painted in lush watercolours, the inventive interpretation emphasizes both the extravagance and mystery of the characters, as well as the fluidity of Nick Carraway’s unreliable narration.

A gorgeously illustrated, first-ever graphic novel adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald's beloved American classic. Jay Gatsby, Nick Carraway, Daisy Buchanan, and the rest of the cast are captured in vivid and evocative illustrations by artist Aya Morton. The iconic text has been artfully distilled by Fred Fordham, who also adapted the graphic novel edition of To Kill a Mockingbird. Blake Hazard, F. Scott Fitzgerald's great-granddaughter, contributes a personal introduction. -- Provided by publisher.

A powerful reimagining of The Great Gatsby from the perspective of the three women whose lives are unravelled by one man's romantic obsession. On a sultry August day in 1922, Jay Gatsby is shot dead in his West Egg swimming pool. To the police, it appears to be an open-and-shut case of murder/suicide when the body of George Wilson, a local mechanic, is found in the woods nearby. Then a diamond hairpin is discovered in the bushes by the pool, and three women fall under suspicion. Their stories unfold in the years leading up to that fateful summer of 1922, when all three of their lives are on the brink of unravelling.

"Immigrant. Socialite. Magician. Jordan Baker grows up in the most rarefied circles of 1920s American society-she has money, education, a killer golf handicap, and invitations to some of the most exclusive parties of the Jazz Age. She's also queer and Asian, a Vietnamese adoptee treated as an exotic attraction by her peers, while the most important doors remain closed to her. Nghi Vo's debut novel The Chosen and the Beautiful reinvents this classic of the American canon as a coming-of-age story full of magic, mystery, and glittering excess, and introduces a major new literary voice"-- Provided by publisher.

Movies

  • The Great Gatsby
    Cast: Leonardo Dicaprio, Tobey Maguire, Carey Mulligan, Joel Edgerton, Isla Fisher, Jason Clarke.

Further Reading

Since its publication in the spring of 1925, The Great Gatsby has become one of the recognized masterpieces of the twentieth century, beloved by readers across the world and regularly named one of the greatest novels ever written in English. Now comes a book which tells of the mayhem, and the surprising story behind the novel, exploring in newly rich detail the relation of Fitzgerald's masterpiece to the chaotic world he in which he lived. Careless People is a fascinating reconstruction of the crucial months during which Fitzgerald returned to New York in the autumn of 1922 - the parties, the drunken weekends at Great Neck, Long Island, the drives back into the city to the jazz clubs and speakeasies, the casual intersection of high society and organized crime and the growth of celebrity culture of which the Fitzgeralds themselves were the epitome.

"F. Scott Fitzgerald was a man of many aspects, a writer whose complexity and multitudes this composite biography finally aptly portrays. Bringing together twenty-three leading writers and scholars on Fitzgerald, each focusing on two years of his life, this volume presents a new way of grouping together biographical material and perspectives, considering from various angles the author's best-known works as well as understudied writings, personal experiences, and literary relationships"-- Provided by publisher.