With this first novel the author of The Great Gatsby established himself
as an important American novelist and launched a celebrated literary
career that was to produce many classics of 20th-century fiction. The
semi-autobiographical story of Amory Blaine traces the coming of age of
a young man who typifies the "lost generation" of America's Jazz Age.
Fitzgerald's descriptions of his protagonist's pampered childhood,
experiences at Princeton, love affairs, and sobering confrontations with
the harsh realities of World War I reflect much of the author's own path
to maturity. Reviewers took notice of Fitzgerald's elegant and poignant
style, and the book opened up financial and social opportunities that
allowed him to pursue a career as a novelist.
At the same time, the book provided Fitzgerald and his new wife, Zelda,
with the means of pursuing their tumultuous relationship, the ups and
downs of which became almost as famous as his novels. Mingling with the
glitterati of the day on the French Riviera, the Fitzgeralds became
popular celebrities of the social scene, and their bouts with alcohol
and depression, which eventually led to Zelda's insanity, achieved
legendary status.
This Side of Paradise is the brilliant debut of a great novelist, who,
perhaps better than any other American writer, captured the fragile,
illusory, and tragic aspects of the American dream.
