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To celebrate the ninetieth anniversary of the publication of The Great Gatsby, we [at Scribner] collected comments from writers on how Gatsby has influenced their work. Here Scribner authors share their favorite lines from the American classic.
"When I was eighteen and newly in love with The Great Gatsby, I could quote from memory the novel’s last words, starting with this clause: 'for a transitory enchanted moment man must have held his breath in the presence of this continent, compelled into an aesthetic contemplation he neither understood nor desired, face to face for the last time in history with something commensurate to his capacity for wonder.' Fitzgerald’s rhetoric was major, magnificent. And a few pages earlier, the peroration that begins 'That’s my Middle West' struck me as profound and valedictory, with a subtle ironic thrust achieved in a subordinate phrase a few paragraphs later: 'On the last night, with my trunk packed and my car sold to the grocer . . . ' Years have gone by, and now, after many rereadings, I think I favor the paternal advice that opens the book ('just remember that all the people in the world haven’t had the advantages that you’ve had'), governing the point of view of a narrator capable of saying, as the occasion requires, 'I am one of the few honest people that I have ever known,' 'I’m five years too old to lie to myself and call it honor,' and, quoting the man with owl-eyed glasses, 'The poor son of a bitch.'
—David Lehman, editor of The Best American Poetry series
Favorite lines from The Great Gatsby: “There was music from my neighbor’s house through the summer nights. In his blue gardens men and girls came and went like moths among the whisperings and the champagne and the stars.”
Growing up in Connecticut I spent summers sailing on Long Island Sound and, romantic that I was, I liked to imagine you could actually see Gatsby’s mansion with its ivy-covered tower and Christmas tree lights on the other shore . . . and there was always a party.
—Ellen Crosby, author of Ghost Image
Favorite lines from The Great Gatsby: “There was music from my neighbor’s house through the summer nights. In his blue gardens men and girls came and went like moths among the whisperings and the champagne and the stars.”
Growing up in Connecticut I spent summers sailing on Long Island Sound and, romantic that I was, I liked to imagine you could actually see Gatsby’s mansion with its ivy-covered tower and Christmas tree lights on the other shore . . . and there was always a party.
—Ellen Crosby, author of Ghost Image
- See more at: http://www.scribnermagazine.com/2015/04/favorite-lines-from-the-great-gatsby/#sthash.k57EfxRU.dpufFavorite lines from The Great Gatsby: “There was music from my neighbor’s house through the summer nights. In his blue gardens men and girls came and went like moths among the whisperings and the champagne and the stars.”
Growing up in Connecticut I spent summers sailing on Long Island Sound and, romantic that I was, I liked to imagine you could actually see Gatsby’s mansion with its ivy-covered tower and Christmas tree lights on the other shore . . . and there was always a party.
—Ellen Crosby, author of Ghost Image
- See more at: http://www.scribnermagazine.com/2015/04/favorite-lines-from-the-great-gatsby/#sthash.k57EfxRU.dpufFavorite lines from The Great Gatsby: “There was music from my neighbor’s house through the summer nights. In his blue gardens men and girls came and went like moths among the whisperings and the champagne and the stars.”
Growing up in Connecticut I spent summers sailing on Long Island Sound and, romantic that I was, I liked to imagine you could actually see Gatsby’s mansion with its ivy-covered tower and Christmas tree lights on the other shore . . . and there was always a party.
—Ellen Crosby, author of Ghost Image
- See more at: http://www.scribnermagazine.com/2015/04/favorite-lines-from-the-great-gatsby/#sthash.k57EfxRU.dpuf-- See more at: http://www.scribnermagazine.com/2015/04/favorite-lines-from-the-great-gatsby/#sthash.k57EfxRU.dpuf
o celebrate the ninetieth anniversary of the publication of The Great Gatsby, we collected comments from writers on how Gatsby has influenced their work. Here, Scribner authors share their favorite lines from the American classic.
When I was eighteen and newly in love with The Great Gatsby, I could quote from memory the novel’s last words, starting with this clause: “for a transitory enchanted moment man must have held his breath in the presence of this continent, compelled into an aesthetic contemplation he neither understood nor desired, face to face for the last time in history with something commensurate to his capacity for wonder.” Fitzgerald’s rhetoric was major, magnificent. And a few pages earlier, the peroration that begins “That’s my Middle West” struck me as profound and valedictory, with a subtle ironic thrust achieved in a subordinate phrase a few paragraphs later: “On the last night, with my trunk packed and my car sold to the grocer . . . ” Years have gone by, and now, after many rereadings, I think I favor the paternal advice that opens the book (“just remember that all the people in the world haven’t had the advantages that you’ve had”), governing the point of view of a narrator capable of saying, as the occasion requires, “I am one of the few honest people that I have ever known,” “I’m five years too old to lie to myself and call it honor,” and, quoting the man with owl-eyed glasses, “The poor son of a bitch.”
—David Lehman, editor of The Best American Poetry series
- See more at: http://www.scribnermagazine.com/2015/04/favorite-lines-from-the-great-gatsby/#sthash.k57EfxRU.dpufo celebrate the ninetieth anniversary of the publication of The Great Gatsby, we collected comments from writers on how Gatsby has influenced their work. Here, Scribner authors share their favorite lines from the American classic.
When I was eighteen and newly in love with The Great Gatsby, I could quote from memory the novel’s last words, starting with this clause: “for a transitory enchanted moment man must have held his breath in the presence of this continent, compelled into an aesthetic contemplation he neither understood nor desired, face to face for the last time in history with something commensurate to his capacity for wonder.” Fitzgerald’s rhetoric was major, magnificent. And a few pages earlier, the peroration that begins “That’s my Middle West” struck me as profound and valedictory, with a subtle ironic thrust achieved in a subordinate phrase a few paragraphs later: “On the last night, with my trunk packed and my car sold to the grocer . . . ” Years have gone by, and now, after many rereadings, I think I favor the paternal advice that opens the book (“just remember that all the people in the world haven’t had the advantages that you’ve had”), governing the point of view of a narrator capable of saying, as the occasion requires, “I am one of the few honest people that I have ever known,” “I’m five years too old to lie to myself and call it honor,” and, quoting the man with owl-eyed glasses, “The poor son of a bitch.”
—David Lehman, editor of The Best American Poetry series
- See more at: http://www.scribnermagazine.com/2015/04/favorite-lines-from-the-great-gatsby/#sthash.k57EfxRU.dpuf
My favorite line is when Gatsby says of Daisy, "Her voice is full of money."
Posted by: Laura Orem | April 15, 2015 at 02:17 PM