May 9, 2009

"Three O'Clock in the Morning"

The Great Gatsby original cover art by Francis Cugat

“Good night, Nick,” said Daisy.

Her glance left me and sought the lighted top of the steps where "Three O'Clock in the Morning," a neat, sad little waltz of the year, was drifting out of the open door. After all, in the very casualness of Gatsby’s party there were romantic possibilities totally absent from her world. What was it up there in the song that seemed to be calling her back inside? What would happen now in the dim incalculable hours? Perhaps some unbelievable guest would arrive, a person infinitely rare and to be marveled at, some authentically radiant young girl who with one fresh glance at Gatsby, one moment of magical encounter, would blot out those five years of devotion.
(p. 115)


F. Scott Fitzgerald

4 comments:

  1. Nick's got a twitter.

    thanks.

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  2. I'm still of the opinion that The Great Gatsby is the Great American Novel.

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  3. You gotta love that, Peteski. It somehow makes sense.

    I agree, Leigh. There within Jay Gatsby lies the "American Dream" -- reinvention of self, coming from nowhere and ending up wealthy, etc. If it isn't The Great Gatsby, it would have to be The Grapes of Wrath, the "American Nightmare," perhaps.

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  4. I also thought of The Grapes of Wrath. Your description of it as "the American nightmare", in contrast to the American dream in Gatsby, is apt.

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