Celebrate a Century of The Great Gatsby With a Professor Who鈥檚 Read It 100 Times
In April, Georgetown professor celebrated the 100th anniversary of The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald the best way she knows how 鈥� by rereading the novel.
鈥淛ust to freshen my grasp on it, because it is kind of an elusive novel,鈥� Corrigan says. 鈥淎nd I don鈥檛 get tired of rereading it. I always feel like I鈥檓 rewarded by rereading it. It鈥檚 not just this kind of mechanical exercise. It鈥檚 a pleasure.鈥�
Corrigan would know.
She is the Nicky and Jamie Grant Distinguished Professor of the Practice in Literary Criticism in the Department of English and an expert on Fitzgerald鈥檚 work. She鈥檚 lost count of the number of times she鈥檚 read the book, but it is well over a hundred. Corrigan is also and author of So We Read On: How The Great Gatsby Came to Be and Why It Endures.
Maureen Corrigan is the author of So We Read On: How The Great Gatsby Came to Be and Why It Endures.
For Corrigan, who teaches about Gatsby and Fitzgerald鈥檚 writing in her Fitzgerald & His Circle class, the novel is freshly topical. In an , she wrote that 鈥済reat works of art are great, in part, because they continue to have something to say to the present.鈥�
Gatsby, Corrigan says, is 鈥渂oth timeless and time-bound.鈥�
The novel is set in New York City after a large wave of immigrants arrived to the city from Europe between 1880 and 1920. During that period, Corrigan says, there was a sentiment shared among some residents that the city should not accommodate the immigrants. There was also, she adds, a nervousness about the internal migration of African Americans from Southern rural areas into the city.
鈥淵ou see that in the novel, and that feels very much of our time, where you’ve got this nativist sentiment,鈥� Corrigan says.
In short, we鈥檙e living in the age of Tom Buchanan and the bullying that he embodies, she explains, referring to a character in Gatsby who espouses racist views and eugenics.
Corrigan calls Gatsby the 鈥渇irst modern great American novel鈥� because of the book鈥檚 accessibility and its use of ordinary language. She also says Fitzgerald鈥檚 classic is 鈥渙ur great American novel that foregrounds class鈥� for the way it poignantly illuminates truths about human aspiration.
It celebrates the American Dream of meritocracy, that everybody has a shot at making it in America. And at the same time it really shines a light on the deadly undertow of that American Dream.
Maureen Corrigan
Each year, countless students read Gatsby as part of their schools’ curriculum. More than 30 million copies have been sold, , and there have been several film and theater adaptations of the novel. Corrigan is a literary consultant on the musical production, .听
But when The Great Gatsby was published on April 10, 1925, the novel was considered a commercial disappointment, and Fitzgerald died in 1940 believing that the book was unpopular.
The author would be stunned at the reception on the book鈥檚 100th anniversary.
鈥淚 think he would be so overwhelmed and touched and speechless. I mean, when he died, the last royalty check was for $13.13. If that isn鈥檛 a warning about becoming a writer, I don鈥檛 know what is,鈥� Corrigan says. 鈥淗e knew he had written something great, and he knew nobody was reading it, and that was heartbreaking.鈥�
Corrigan teaches about Gatsby and F. Scott Fitzgerald’s writing in her Fitzgerald & His Circle class.
Gatsby endures because it tackles still relevant questions about how Americans see and define themselves. In many ways, Corrigan says, the title character of Jay Gatsby exemplifies the striving and yearning for something beyond ourselves.
鈥淲hat is this yearning that maybe we can imagine is distinct to America? This yearning for something more,鈥� she says.
Many anniversary celebrations around Gatsby center around the Roaring Twenties and flapper outfits. But those events misinterpret the novel, Corrigan says. It鈥檚 not about the parties.
Instead, those wishing to honor Gatsby and Fitzgerald should pick up a copy of the novel and read it 鈥� for the first or 100th time. Read some of Fitzgerald鈥檚 letters, Corrigan recommends.
鈥淗e’s one of the best letter writers ever in American literature,鈥� she says. 鈥淗e’s so present on the page in his letters.鈥�
Corrigan also suggests reading Fitzgerald鈥檚 essays published posthumously in The Crack-Up.
And for those in the DC area, Fitzgerald has a local connection. He and his wife, Zelda Sayre, are both buried at the cemetery next to St. Mary鈥檚 Church in Rockville.
Corrigan still learns something new from Gatsby each time she reads it. She hopes that in some way, Fitzgerald knows of the impact the book has made.
鈥淎t the end of the novel, we hear about man’s yearning for something commensurate with his capacity for wonder,鈥� Corrigan says. 鈥淲e all want to find something like that, don’t we?鈥�
鈥�Kelyn Soong
(Photos by Joshua Rodriguez)