This Side of Paradise..

It's been a while since I posted last. School and other recent activities have taken up my time, and motivation to write has settled at relatively low. However, after about a week and a half of reading (I think? Maybe less), I finally finished Fitzgerald's dazzling debut, "This Side of Paradise." Although far from his best or most complete work, the thought that this book was written by a 23 year old (which is an age I'm personally only a few months away from) utterly boggles my mind and really helps me to understand his realm of genius, and how distant and intimate that realm can be at the same time. One feels Fitzgerald has the ability to capture a sense of universality, but is also almost incapable of understanding the mechanisms at work behind his writing. For example, take this passage:

"Long after midnight the towers and spires of Princeton were visible, with here and there a late-burning light--and suddenly out of the clear darkness the sound of bells. As an endless dream it went on; the spirit of the past brooding over a new generation, the chosen youth from the muddled, unchastened world, still fed romantically on the mistakes and half-forgotten dreams of dead statesmen and poets. Here was a new generation, shouting the old cries, learning the old creeds, through a revery of long days and nights; destined finally to go out into that dirty gray turmoil to follow love and pride; a new generation dedicated more than te last to the fear of poverty and the worship of success; grown up to find all dead, all wars fought, all faiths in man shaken..."

What a remarkable passage! Granted, it might be the single best in the book, but can you honestly believe that a 23 year old wrote this? Where in his short 23 years did he gain the experience to interpret so lucidly and see so translucently the predicament of his generation, the group that later became known as the "Lost Generation." You can't teach this kind of writing; it has to be in (within?) you, which makes it clear why Fitzgerald is a true genius of the first caliber. In the passage, one may also begin to see the larvae of Gatsby; the cohesiveness of theme and narrative, the perfectly controlled pacing, the beautiful yet not overblown (as in other parts of the book) poetic language, and even the singular voice. It's all there.

There are many other beautiful passages in the book, but how is the book itself, as a whole? Honestly, it's not even close to either Gatsby or "Tender is the Night." Not even close. It's much too inconsistent and even a little (dare I say?) fake. Who is honestly convinced by the way Gatsby and Rosalind fall in love? Even Nicholas Sparks writes attraction more believable than that. Also, the pacing of the overall book is much too inconsistent; it doesn't really hook one's interest, unless one's interest is purely literary, in which case you'll almost always find some clever turn of phrase or concrete metaphor when it comes to Fitzgerald. However, I don't think that's enough to carry the book. The plot and pacing are just too inconsistent. Indeed, the inconsistencies, unfortunately, even fall on Amory himself. He often acts contrary to his nature, whatever his nature seems to be. Sure, the character himself doesn't know, but the reader is equally confused because his innate personality seems to change from place to place: sometimes he's immature and snotty, and then at other times, completely knowing and conscious of it. Annoying stuff.

Oh, and there is the other problem of Amory being a generally difficult character to like. He's completely selfish, a little vapid, and totally whiny. Sometimes I felt like telling him to just suck it up, and get over Rosalind. I mean, their love didn't even seem that strong in the first place, but I guess that could be considered Fitzgerald's fault.

Complaints aside, this is still, honestly, a very good book. It might be a juvenile one, but its still very good. Fitzgerald is such a good writer that its difficult for him to write something that's truly bad. From one perspective, "This Side of Paradise" is actually very experimentally interesting, forging a moving narrative out of bits and pieces from the timeline of Amory's life. Not only that, but the writing is almost never written in the same style either. You'll get letters, poetry, traditional narrative, extremely poetic prose, and even a short one-act play. This, in itself, is quite interesting, although, once again, more from a literary perspective than a dramatic one. Now, despite the flaws, this is a book that still needs to be read simply because it is the debut novel of, arguably, the greatest novelist of the twentieth century (though some might argue Joyce, Proust, etc.). I personally like him best among all writers because his romantic notion of life appeals greatly with my (fading?) tendencies. Just remember to not stop with this book. One has to at least read "Gatsby," which, as far as I'm concerned, might be the most perfect novel ever created, and "Tender is the Night," a spellbinding book about one of the greatest love stories in the history of literature.