Maureen Corrigan, who has inspired many book-group selections over her 25-year career as book critic on the Peabody Award-winning NPR program, “Fresh Air,” wants you to be fascinated by and rethink Jay Gatsby, Nick Carraway and all of characters of “The Great Gatsby.”
She’ll bring new insights to “Gatsby” and author F. Scott Fitzgerald when she discusses “So We Read On: How The Great Gatsby Came to Be and Why It Endures,” at 10 a.m. Saturday, March 12.
“In an effort to delve deeper into Fitzgerald’s masterpiece, I take readers deep into the sources of the book in Fitzgerald’s life and American culture of the early 20th century, but I also take my readers on rollicking ‘road trips’ with me,” she says.
“I want readers to become as fascinated with this deceptively simple masterpiece as I am — which isn’t hard because there are so many fascinating stories surrounding Gatsby.”
What to expect at the festival: “To be moved by Fitzgerald’s life and work, as well as enlightened and entertained by incredible stories,” Corrigan says.
“For instance, I’ll talk about the fact that a patriotic paperback distribution program during World War II helped rescue ‘The Great Gatsby’ from near oblivion. (At the time of Fitzgerald’s death, copies of the second printing of ‘Gatsby’ from 1925 were still moldering in Scribner’s warehouse. The novel didn’t sell well when it first appeared.)
“Imagine: Fitzgerald’s last royalty check when he died in Hollywood in 1940 was $13.13. These days, ‘Gatsby’ has conquered the globe. My own book is being translated into Russian and Korean because people around the world are so fascinated by Jay Gatsby and his story as an epitome of ‘Americaness.’”
What she’d like people to know: “‘Gatsby’ is out and out funny! The first third of the novel contains scenes that read like clips from a screwball comedy. Fitzgerald liked a good laugh and, like the best American writing. … ”
—Maureen Corrigan will speak at 10 a.m. on Saturday
