After our adventures on Long Island we set off today to see Baz Luhrmann’s ‘The Great Gatsby’. My friends at Wikipedia tell me that: “The Great Gatsby is a 1925 novel written by American author F. Scott Fitzgerald that follows a cast of characters living in the fictional town of West Egg on prosperous Long Island in the summer of 1922.
The story primarily concerns the young and mysterious millionaire Jay Gatsby and his quixotic passion for the beautiful Daisy Buchanan. Considered to be Fitzgerald's magnum opus, The Great Gatsby explores themes of decadence, idealism, resistance to change, social upheaval, and excess, creating a portrait of the Jazz Age. It has been described as a cautionary tale regarding the American Dream.”
Fitzgerald, inspired by the parties he had attended while visiting Long Island's north shore, began planning the novel in 1923 desiring to produce, in his words, "something new—something extraordinary and beautiful and simple and intricately patterned." Progress was slow with Fitzgerald completing his first draft following a move to the French Riviera in 1924. His editor, Maxwell Perkins, felt the book was too vague and convinced the author to revise it over the next winter. Fitzgerald was ambivalent about the book's title, at various times wishing to re-title the novel. In the end his preferred title was said to have been: “Trimalchio in West Egg”.
Somehow I don’t think that title would have worked at all, so he is lucky his publisher refused to make the change, claiming that the production of galley proofs was too far advanced to do.
First published by Scribner's in April 1925, The Great Gatsby received mixed reviews and sold poorly; in its first year, the book only sold 20,000 copies. Fitzgerald died in 1940, believing himself and all his works to be failures that would soon be forgotten. But his work, spearheaded by ‘The Great Gatsby’, experienced a revival during World War II and, after the war, ‘Gatsby’ became a standard part of high school curricula around the English speaking world. 
The book has remained popular ever since, leading to numerous stage and film adaptations. It is now widely considered to be a literary classic and a leading contender for the title of "The Great American Novel". It is consistently ranked among the greatest works of American literature.
Set in the prosperous Long Island of 1922, The Great Gatsby provides a critical social history of America during the Roaring Twenties within its narrative. That era, known for unprecedented economic prosperity, the evolution of jazz music, flapper culture, bootlegging and other criminal activity, is plausibly depicted in Fitzgerald's novel.
Fitzgerald utilizes these societal developments to build Gatsby's stories, from simple details like automobiles to broader themes like the novel's discreet allusions to the organized crime culture which was the source of Gatsby's fortune. Fitzgerald educates his readers about the garish society of the Roaring Twenties by placing a timeless, relatable plotline within the historical context of the era.
Visiting Long Island's north shore and attending parties at mansions is what inspired Fitzgerald's setting for the Great Gatsby. Today there are a number of theories as to which mansion was the inspiration for the book. One possibility is Land's End, a notable Gold Coast Mansion where F. Scott Fitzgerald may have attended a party.
So, what did we think of Baz Luhrmann’s latest cinematic version of Fitzgerald’s masterpiece? Despite the wickedness of Daisy being under-portrayed, we liked it. As in the novel, Luhrmann effectively and tragically portrayed the power of the rich (and therefore powerful) at the expense of the poor (and therefore vulnerable). It was good to see it in the place of its conception and it will be another happy memory for us.
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