This Side of Paradise

F. Scott FitzgeraldΓÇÖs cherished debut novel announced the arrival of a brilliant young writer and anticipated his masterpiece,The Great Gatsby. Published in 1920when the author was just twenty-threeThis Side of Paradise recounts the education of young Amory BlaineΓÇöegoisticversatilecallowimaginative. As Amory makes his way among debutantes and Princeton undergraduateswe enter an environment heady with the promise of everything that was new in the vigorousrestless America after World War I. We experience AmoryΓÇÖs sailing hopescrushing defeatsdeep loves and stubborn losses. His growth from self-absorption to sexual awareness and personhood unfolds with continuous improvisatory energy and delight. FitzgeraldΓÇÖs remarkable formal inventiveness couches AmoryΓÇÖs narrative among songspoemsdramatic dialoguequestions and answers. The novelΓÇÖs freshness and verveΓÇöpraised upon publicationnow renowned by historyΓÇöonly heighten the sense that the world being described is our ownmodern world.