Showing results by author "Des Fitzgerald" in All Categories

One of F. Scott Fitzgerald's earliest short stories, "The Ice Palace" is about Sally Carrol Happer, a young Southern woman who is bored with her conventional life. She's engaged to Harry Bellamy, a young man from the North. Despite concern from her family and friends, Sally travels to Harry's hometown to meet his family. Hoping for an exciting adventure, she instead finds herself in a cold, unfamiliar place. There, in the dead of winter, she begins to question everything.

She was an impulsive, fashionable, and carefree 1920's woman who embodied the essence of the Gatsby Girl, F. Scott Fitzgerald's wife, Zelda. As Fitzgerald said, "I married the heroine of my stories." All of the eight short stories contained in this collection were inspired by Zelda. Fitzgerald, one of the foremost writers of American fiction, found early success as a short story writer for the most widely read magazine of the early 20th century - The Saturday Evening Post.

After the smashing success of his first novel, This Side of Paradise, written when he was 23, F. Scott Fitzgerald rocked the literary world with his masterpiece, The Great Gatsby, in l925 - a passionate love story about a poor young man's unwavering love for the lovely Daisy, belle of Louisville. Told with extraordinarily beautiful language, Fitzgerald's characters sizzle with vitality and life as Gatsby pursues the love of his life amid the splendor of his Long Island estate by throwing truly amazing parties set to the music of the Jazz Age.

Brian Dalrymple returns home after three weeks of pursuing the retreating Germans at the end of World War I. His hometown considers him a hero, and gives him a hero’s welcome. After basking in his quickly disappearing notoriety, he goes looking for job. Seems all those wonderful offers have gone away, and Brian takes a job as a stock clerk in Mr. Macy’s wholesale grocery. It doesn’t take Brian long to find that advancement is going to be difficult, and he is stuck in a no-win job with few prospects.

Lois, a beautiful 19-year-old young woman travels to Baltimore to meet Harold, her love interest, as they consider a breakup. We never meet Harold; instead, the short story becomes more about Catholicism and the priesthood, as Lois first spends an afternoon with Keith, her 36-year-old brother, a seminarian in a Jesuit monastery. Lois and Keith have not seen one another for 16 years, so it is an extremely interesting reunion.

We meet Evelyn as she is dumping a "male" friend who, in today's world, would be considered her lover. He probably was, but in 1920, they just did not say that in polite literature. Meet the bowl. It was a wedding gift to Evelyn from another suitor she dumped when she married Mr. Porter. As you might guess Evelyn is a beautiful yet rather shallow person. The male friend was about to leave but, unfortunately, Mr. Porter is walking up the drive. Evelyn hides her friend in the closet, but when he decides to leave he bumps into the bowl and it gives off a resounding alarm.

Based on actual letters Fitzgerald sent to his sister to help her on how to be more attractive for men, Bernice Bobs Her Hair is the story of a socially hopeless girl being changed into a socially attractive girl to end up attracting the boy of her helper. The story is a depiction of the changing face of youth during Fitzgerald's time and has been adapted into several movies as it remains a story that impressed all readers over the years.

In the 1920s, life in the South was far different from life in the North, as Sally Carol Happer finds out when she travels north, toward St. Paul, Minnesota, to visit her fiancé and attend the annual Ice Festival. Talk about a clash of cultures! There may not be enough money in the cold and not-so-hospitable North to keep Sally Carol there.

It's the 1920s, and Bernice, a teenager, visits her cousin, also a teenager, but far more wise in the ways of the world. It's summer, with dances at the country club, and Bernice is a bit of a burden to her cousin Marjorie, until Marjorie shares a few secrets with Bernice. With Bernice as the belle of the ball, Marjorie takes a few steps of her own.

F. Scott Fitzgerald's classic short story of a man born in his 70s who ages backward as those around him age in the normal direction. Both humorous and heartbreaking at times, "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" was the basis for the David Fincher movie of the same name, though the movie differs in several key ways from Fitzgerald's original story.

Narración del ajetreado viaje de F.S. Fitzgerald y su mujer Zelda, en un viejo Marmon de 1917 de segunda mano, desde Westport Connecticut a Montgomery (Alabama).

Knowing she could never be happy in Iran, Tamila Soroush took her mother’s advice to “Go and wake up your luck” and joined her sister in the United States, where amazing freedoms awaited her. Now, after a spur-of-the-moment exchange of “I do’s” with her true love, Ike Hanson, Tami is eager to start her new life. But not everyone is pleased with their marriage, and Tami’s happily-ever-after is no sure thing.

Here is the classic story of Benjamin Button, who is born with the physical appearance of a 70-year-old man and ages backwards through his life. Recently adapted for the film starring Brad Pitt.

In this second classic novel, published in 1922, F. Scott Fitzgerald tells us the story of Anthony Patch, a 1920s socialite and presumptive heir to a tycoon's fortune; his relationship with his wife, Gloria; his service in the Army; and his alcoholism. The novel provides an excellent portrait of the Eastern elite as the Jazz Age began its ascent.

La vida de Scott Fitzgerald, el autor de El Gran Gatsby daria para una novela casi igual a las que escribio. Bohemio, exitoso, con una vida conyugal accidentada, Scott Fitzgerald supo plasmar en sus pocas obras a esos personajes cinicos y brutales que surgieron despues de la primera guerra mundial.

The man who aged backwards!

This story, a whimsical "fantasy" by F. Scott Fitzgerald, first published in 1921, became (in December 2008) a major motion picture starring Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett. This audiobook is not associated with the Hollywood movie, however; it is entirely faithful to Fitzgerald's original short story.

The debut novel of F. Scott Fitzgerald, This Side of Paradise takes its title from a line of the Rupert Brooke poem 'Tiare Tahiti'. The book examines the lives and morality of post-World War I youth. Its protagonist, Amory Blaine, is an attractive Princeton University student who dabbles in literature and conveys the book's theme of love warped by greed and status-seeking.

At the urging of his darling Ms. Harmon, Talbot finds himself on a Christmas Eve mission to give away all the money in his pockets. Not quite as easy to do as one might think, Talbot soon realizes, as his generosity is rebuffed with scorn and a punch in the nose. The wry, touching ending is filled with charity and optimism as Talbot returns home sans money, but with two new acquaintances.

Meg Clark believes in the “hokey pokey” theory of life, Love comes to Meg in the form of Ahmed Bourhani, an exotically handsome Iranian-American who befriends her over a game of chess in a coffee shop. Meg knows that second chances require a leap of faith, and the result is more often a complicated mixed bag than a neatly packaged happily-ever-after. Sometimes in order to heal you have to hurt, but most of all you have to live your life and put your whole self in.

In these four semi-autobiographical stories Fitzgerald highlights some of the absurdities of Hollywood. They feature Pat Hobby, a down-on-his-luck scriptwriter. In the course of his adventures neither the stars, producers nor, least of all, the writers are spared from Fitzgerald's demolishing wit. These superb examples of short fiction succeed in mocking both success and failure as they deliver their sting with deadly humour.