It's pertinent that the comment quoted below (by Edmund Wilson) was written before THE GREAT GATSBY. Even though he was talking only about THIS SIDE OF PARADISE and THE BEAUTIFUL AND DAMNED, his intuition told him there was a marvelous talent here.
Wilson himself was very young when he wrote this review, rendered stupid by his own callowness. Consider this line from later in that review: "Like a woman, Fitzgeerald is not much given to abstract or impersonal thought." In a message dated 9/8/12 1:43:45 AM, [email protected] writes: > On Mon, Jun 11, 2012 at 8:14 AM, joseph berg <[email protected]> wrote: > > > > > > http://books.google.com/books?id=bfn4q_xVaMIC&pg=PA157&; > dq=%22ability+to+hold+ > two+opposed+ideas%22&hl=en&sa=X&ei=puLUT8XRGKfO2gXF6tWEDw& > ved=0CDsQ6AEwAQ#v=o > nepage&q=%22ability%20to%20hold%20two%20opposed%20ideas%22&f=false > > > > > > > The following on Fitzgerald may be of interest: > > - ...It is true that Fitzgerald has been left with a jewel which he > doesnt > know quite what to do with. For he has been given imagination without > intellectual control of it; he has been given the desire for beauty > without > an aesthetic ideal; and he has been given a gift for expression without > very many ideas to express. > > http://fitzgerald.narod.ru/critics-eng/wilson-fsf.html
