F. Scott Fitzgerald
The Great Gatsby
Read by William Hope
CLASSIC
FICTION
MODERN
CLASSICS
NA205112D
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No more privileged glimpses
Fashionable East Egg and the Tom Buchanans
Daisy and Miss Baker
In the shadow of my neighbour’s mansion
A party in the apartment
A party at Gatsby’s
Gatsby himself
The embers of the party
Partying at Gatsby’s again
Gatsby tells his story
‘My friend, Mr Wolfshiem’
Jordan Baker elaborates
The Meeting
Illusions – a tour of Gatsby’s home
James Gatz – the early years
The Buchanans at West Egg
The lights go out at Gatsby’s
Tom and Gatsby at conflict
Information from the subsequent inquest
Memories, alive and present
‘Goodbye Gatsby’
Wilson probes
A thin red circle in the water
More different memories
‘Boats against the current’
5:18
6:03
5:19
6:17
9:08
6:29
6:33
9:18
3:01
9:02
5:20
7:21
6:23
8:30
6:19
4:55
8:15
5:34
9:45
6:29
3:50
2:38
5:17
8:13
2:44
Total time: 2:38:12
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F. Scott Fitzgerald
The Great Gatsby
At the time of his death not one of his
books was in print.
His books include Flappers and
Philosophers (short stories), The Beautiful
and Damned, Tender is the Night and Taps
at Reveille (short stories).
The Great Gatsby was published in
1925. Like Nick Carraway, the novel’s
narrator, Fitzgerald was born in the MidWest and was fascinated by the leisured
classes of the East Coast. At first glance
these are people with money and exquisite
taste, but the cool airiness of the
Buchanan’s mansion is matched by the
oppressive, stifling heat in the suite of the
Plaza Hotel, the grotesque barren ash
heaps, and the fecklessness of the
freeloading guests who throng to Gatsby’s
parties. The novel then is a portrait of a
world of wealth, promise and dream which,
in the end, is undermined by the absence of
a moral framework. But the novel also
reflects America in the Twenties – the
euphoria of the post-War years and the
underlying consciousness of the impending
slump and the devastation which followed
in its wake.
Gatsby in this context is an enigma, and
Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald was born in
1896 in St. Paul, Minnesota. Educated at
St. Paul Academy, Newman School, New
Jersey, and Princeton University, he served as
2nd lieutenant in the US Army and was
about to be posted to Europe when the
Armistice was signed. He worked first as a
copywriter for an advertising agency in New
York, and began novel-writing in order to
earn enough money to marry Zelda Sayre, a
glamorous Southern belle. In 1920 he
married Zelda and achieved instant fame
with his first novel, This Side of Paradise. In
1924 they moved to Europe where they
lived on and off until 1931. During these
years, Zelda suffered a nervous breakdown
and Fitzgerald developed a drinking
problem. His extravagant lifestyle, Zelda’s
dementia and his own alcoholism, which in
many ways mirrored the wild and
destructive Twenties culminating in the
Crash of 1929, meant that he became
known more as a symbol of the ‘Jazz Age’
than for the quality of his writing. He
turned to Hollywood for a job as a
screenwriter and set his last novel, The Last
Tycoon, there. The book was never finished,
as Fitzgerald died of a heart attack in 1940.
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it is perhaps a mistake to try to reduce him
to a symbolic figure. He has all the charm
and money required by the set he moves in.
There is no doubt he is morally suspect –
where exactly does all his money come
from? And yet he stands apart. He, unlike
the others, has a dream which, if realised,
will take him out of the historical
framework, will take him back to a time of
wonder and enchantment. Of course this
dream is unrealistic and Gatsby is robbed of
it by the carelessness of others, but we
know that this is the dream that will
endure, perhaps in a way it is the American
dream.
Notes by Heather Godwin
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The music on this recording is taken from the NAXOS catalogue
GERSHWIN PIANO CONCERTO IN F
RHAPSODY IN BLUE/AN AMERICAN IN PARIS
Kathryn Selby/Slovak Philharmonic Orchestra/Hayman
8.550295
Music programming by Sarah Butcher
Cover picture: Gazette du Bon: Esperez, evening dress by Worth c. 1920
By courtesy of The Bridgeman Art Library, London.
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The Great Gatsby
Read by William Hope
Set in the America of the Roaring Twenties, The Great Gatsby depicts a
society obsessed by wealth, status and background. Gatsby, famous for
his prodigious wealth, glittering parties and murky background, harbours
a poignant dream. As his dream is realised, the sordid underbelly of a
society devoid of morality is revealed.
CD ISBN:
978-962-634-051-6
View our catalogue online at
www.naxosaudiobooks.com
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. UNAUTHORISED PUBLIC PERFORMANCE,
BROADCASTING AND COPYING OF THESE COMPACT DISCS PROHIBITED.
p1995 NAXOS AudioBooks Ltd. ©1995 NAXOS AudioBooks Ltd.
Made in Germany.
Though American by birth, William Hope trained at
RADA and has appeared in the theatre on both sides of
the Atlantic throughout his career. His TV and film work
have been similarly extensive and have included roles in
Aliens (Gorman) and The Lords of Discipline. A former
member of the BBC Radio Drama Company, he is
regularly heard on radio in both plays and books. He also
reads Henry David Thoreau’s Walden and James Fenimore Cooper’s The
Last of the Mohicans for Naxos AudioBooks.
Abridged by Heather Godwin. Produced by Nicolas Soames
Post-production: Simon Weir, The Classical Recording
Company
Engineer (speech): Alan Smyth, Bucks Audio Cassettes
F. Scott Fitzgerald
Total time
2:38:12