An X-ray of the 1920s in the US. It was made into a film, a play and continues to fascinate. Women with glitter in their hair and fringes hanging from their dresses, music, dancing, prohibition, decadence, underworld and social changes. With “The Great Gatsby” Francis Scott Fitzgerald sketched a multi-layered portrait of the 1920s in the USA. Of an era that is often described as “wild” and “golden”.

The novel published in 1925 is exactly 100 years old today and yet it continues to fascinate people all over the world. For this anniversary year, exhibitions, parties, events and special editions of the book are planned in many countries.

The subject of the book concerns the mysterious millionaire Jay Gatsby, who throws wild parties in a luxurious mansion near New York in order to see his childhood sweetheart, Daisy Buchanan, again. Fitzgerald himself frequented similar parties, which inspired him to write the book. For about three years he worked on the text but reviews after the book’s release in April 1925 were rather lukewarm and sales were moderate in the first few months. Only in the 1940s – after Fitzgerald’s death – did interest in the novel slowly rekindle.

It is taught in schools and universities

Meanwhile, however, The Great Gatsby is now one of the most important works of modern American literature and is still read worldwide, more than sixty years after Fitzgerald’s death. The book is taught and analyzed in schools and universities because it is much more than just a novel.

In addition, it has been transferred as a musical to Broadway in New York, while it has been transcribed for theater, opera and dance around the world. The work has also been transferred to the cinema. In 1974 with Robert Redford and Mia Farrow and in 2013 with Leonardo DiCaprio, Carey Mulligan and Tobey Maguire. It even opened the Cannes Film Festival, won two Oscars and once again ignited interest in Gatsby around the world.

So many people travel to Long Island every year to admire the luxurious villa-like mansions in the book’s fictional town of West Egg. The carefree life and wild parties came to an abrupt end in 1929, however, due to the Great Stock Market Crash.

The dedication to… the real Gasby

Today the climate of that time seems very distant but nevertheless it remains particularly charming. Nostalgia for 1920s style parties continues with undiminished interest and is reflected in art as well as design and fashion. Finally, a signed original edition of the book was auctioned in 2012 for nearly $200,000.

The edition was dedicated to his fellow author, Harold Goldman, who inspired him to write the novel. The dedication read: “To Harold Goldman, the original ‘Gatsby’ of this story, with thanks for letting me know these secrets of the past.”

Edited by: Maria Rigoutsou