Flappers and Philosophers - F. Scott Fitzgerald

The last Fitzgerald book I shall be reviewing for a while, due largely in part to having finished them all, the Penguin edition of Flappers and Philosophers is a collection of forty-five short stories cherry picked from various compilations. These include Flappers and Philosophers (1920), Tales of the Jazz Age (1922), All the Sad Young Men (1926), Taps at Reveille (1935) and some uncollected stories (1937-40). As Sarah Churchwell astutely points out in her introduction to the volume, the prevalent themes range from 'ambition, hope, illusion and romance; through sexual and professional jealousy, extravagance, waste and 'dissipation'; to 'crack-up', disintegration, failure, madness and death.' Whilst many of the tales deal with similar motifs, they were entertaining enough to sustain my interest, even if it did sometimes feel like I was reading the same story with different characters. In terms of quality, the stories present a very mixed bag. Some of Fitzgerald's more famous ones, such as 'The Cut Glass Bowl' and 'The Diamond as Big as the Ritz' were instant classics, whilst others, 'The Curious Case of Benjamin Button' for example, were real stinkers.

Overall, I preferred the earlier stories, not so much for their lighter tone but for the more fanciful, romantic and imaginative fantasy worlds they portrayed. The difficulty with reviewing a collection of short stories lies principally in not being able to adequately address each one. As such, they must be lumped into crude categories. Section one contains the fresher, more hopeful tales, some of which would be republished in later years. These were the ones I most enjoyed reading and which left the greatest impressions in my mind. The more sombre second batch centres on disappointed opportunities and the collapse of relationships. Favourites from these included 'Gretchen's Forty Winks', 'The Baby Party' and 'The Rough Crossing.' The last section follows the exploits of the shabby Pat Hobby, a Hollywood script writer down on his luck in a money hungry industry. Despite the ready humour and sly satire, I found these tales tedious to get through, particularly given the large number of them. As has been mentioned in previous reviews, Fitzgerald writes at his best when focusing on the recklessness of gilded youth and the consequences which follow.

In an umbrella analysis of Fitzgerald's work, I would be so bold as to suggest that his shorter pieces are substantially more powerful than his longer novels. Nowhere is this seen better than in The Great Gatsby, which for all its brevity and hype remains my personal favourite. Fitzgerald's stories are best interpreted as an encapsulation of the moral and social zeitgeist in which they're set. Location and more importantly time, are in my opinion, inseparable to his works. It is with a sense of exhaustion that I reach the temporary end (there may very well be another collection in the works) of my Fitzgerald marathon. It has kept me occupied for some seven months and as a result, much of the writer's vernacular must no doubt have crept into my own. A fun and riotous ride, one on which I am bound to re-embark after sobering up. With the taste of hiballs on my lips and disillusionment in my heart, I turn my eyes to old favourites. I recommend Flappers and Philosophers to those interested in reading fun, powerful and provocative stories, without the commitment of taking on a whole novel. For further recommendations on which stories in the collection to read and which to avoid, please do not hesitate to ask.

Rating: 3/5