Thursday 7 February 2013

The Last Tycoon by F. Scott Fitzgerald

THE LAST TYCOON

http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00B9PCMT2

http://www.amazon.com//dp/B00B9PCMT2

THE LAST TYCOON
Also known as ‘The Love of the Last Tycoon’
Fitzgerald’s unfinished final novel with period photos

‘It would have been Fitzgerald's best novel…it is the best piece of creative writing that we have about one phase of American life - Hollywood and the movies’ New York Times

‘Reading this book will remind you of Fitzgerald's genius and make you mourn the novels he might have written.’ Literary Lindsey

‘His talent was as natural as the pattern that was made by the dust on a butterfly’s wings’ Ernest Hemingway

F. SCOTT FITZGERALD died before he could complete THE LAST TYCOON, also known as ‘The Love of the Last Tycoon’. Even unfinished it is one of the great pieces of writing on Hollywood, and magically condenses Fitzgerald’s experiences as a screenwriter.

This is the original published version of ‘The Last Tycoon’ in a stylishly presented edition with ten carefully selected pictures of the period. The images put the text in context as well as illustrate the story. It also includes a linked table of contents so you can quickly go to the part you want.

Synopsis


The character of Monroe Stahr was inspired by the life of film producer Irving Thalberg. Stahr is a Hollywood tycoon who has conquered the silver screen. The narrator of ‘The Last Tycoon’ is Cecelia, daughter of a Hollywood movie producer. Her father’s business partner is Stahr. Cecelia falls is in love with him, but her rival is an Englishwoman, Kathleen, who reminds Stahr of his dead wife Minna.

F. Scott Fitzgerald


Fitzgerald named an age- the Jazz Age, which he defined as ’a generation grown up to find all Gods dead, all wars fought, all faiths in man shaken.’
Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald was born in 1896 in St Paul, Minnesota, and studied at Princeton which he left in his senior year (1917) to join the army. At one of his army postings near Montgomery, Massachusetts he met Zelda Sayre. His first novel was ‘This Side of Paradise.’ published in 1920, which made the twenty-four-year-old Fitzgerald famous almost overnight, and a week later he married Zelda in New York. Their tumultuous marriage became an inspiration for much of his work. They were young celebrities of the roaring 20s but Fitzgerald wanted to be a great writer though his reputation as a playboy meant some people didn’t take him seriously.

In 1922 Scribners published ‘The Beautiful and Damned’, of which The New York Times reviewer said that the ‘general atmosphere of the book is an atmosphere of futility, waste and the avoidance of effort, into which the fumes of whisky penetrate more and more, until at last it fairly reeks with them.’

The Fitzgeralds went to France in the spring of 1924 to get away from all the hubbub, and he wrote his masterpiece ‘The Great Gatsby’ during the summer and autumn in Valescure near St. Raphael, France.

His fourth novel ‘Tender is the Night’ received a poor critical reaction when it came out in 1934. Fitzgerald was eventually forced to try to earn a living as a screenwriter.

He died in December 1940 in Hollywood while working on ‘The Last Tycoon.’ Since then he has been granted his wish to be considered one of the leading writers of the twentieth century.

His novels in chronological order are: ‘This Side of Paradise’, ‘The Beautiful and Damned’, ‘The Great Gatsby’, ‘Tender is the Night’, ‘The Last Tycoon’ (unfinished).

Other books by F. Scott Fitzgerald available in the Classic Books Editions featuring period photographs


THE GREAT GATSBY
http://www.amazon.co.uk/THE-GREAT-GATSBY-ebook/dp/B00AY4OM74/
http://www.amazon.com/THE-GREAT-GATSBY-ebook/dp /B00AY4OM74/

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