The Great Gatsby
Subtitle: An Edition of the Manuscript
Series: The Cambridge Edition of the Works of F. Scott Fitzgerald
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Published: 2018
Place of publication: Cambridge, UK
Language: eng
Format: Hardcover
Number of pages: 258
ISBN-13: 9781108426800
Copyright date: 2018
Description: This edition presents the manuscript of F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby, the earliest full version of the novel that survives. Study of this manuscript reveals much about the composition of the novel - about the development of its characters and themes and the revision of its language. Fitzgerald reworked the manuscript, putting it through several drafts and continuing to edit until a few weeks before publication. The period of its creation was an amalgamation of his talent, inspiration, and self-discipline which resulted in a masterpiece. An introduction by James L. W. West, III, the general editor of the series, gives the compositional history of the novel; a bibliographical commentary by Don C. Skemer, Curator of Manuscripts at Princeton University Library, describes the manuscript and gives the story of its preservation, acquisition, and restoration. The reading text is presented without emendation and with a minimum of editorial apparatus. This edition will allow critics, teachers, and students to study The Great Gatsby as a fluid text, evolving and progressing toward its final form from its very earliest incarnation.

Presents The Great Gatsby in its earliest surviving format
Highlights include an introduction written by Professor James L. W. West, III and spanning the compositional history of the novel
Includes a commentary which reflects upon the novel's preservation, acquisition and restoration
Source: https://www.cambridge.org/nl/academic/subjects/literature/american-literature/great-gatsby-manuscript-text?format=HB&isbn=9781108426800
Table of contents: title: Acknowledgments vii; title: List of illustrations viii; title: Introduction: Composition of the novel ix; title: 1. Composition and ur-text x; title: 2. Holograph text xvi; title: 3. Deletions and relocations xviii; title: 4. Additions and revisions xxi; title: Commentary: Holograph of The Great Gatsby xxvii; title: 1. Bibliographical and physical description xxvii; title: 2. Paper, watermarks, chronology of composition xxxv; title: 3. Survival and acquisition of the holograph and other papers xliii; title: A note on the text lvi; title: TEXT OF THE MANUSCRIPT 3; title: Explanatory notes 161; title: Illustrations 173