Under the Red, White and Blue

An Idiot Flaps Odyssey - Part 3

Here we go again. My brain has absorbed some ideas through an inky intermediary.

Intro

Part 1

Part 2


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F Scott Fitzgerald - The Great Gatsby



I read half of this a while ago and stopped. I can't work out why. It's readable, intriguing, and above all: short. But I should never underestimate my ability to not see things through to their conclu.

This is one of those books that have become defined as an A Level Important Book (a bit like To Kill a Mockingbird), so I'm glad I wasn't forced to read it as a student.

I wrote some of the below in Word, which seems to have screwed up the formatting here, so apologies if this is all higgledy-piggledy. Hmm. I've never had to write that before... It looks weird.

These entries seem to be more about reading than they are about the books themselves. If you want an informed analysis of these works, I’m sure there are many essays and pompous blogs at the touch of a Google search.

Whereas, I have a unique insight into what it’s been like to read these particular books. Even if it’s only about the crease factor of the spine, anatomical doodles, or which pages have been folded to mark something that’s worth coming back to (but will be immediately forgotten).

I should apologise for the constant use of Penguin editions of these books. I’d prefer to be representing my home team with some OUP editions. But these are the book cards I’ve been dealt, so there’s nothing to be done about it.

Plus, the only difference in editions is probably introductions and footnotes. And the covers – but in any event, as the old saying goes: “The worth of an Idiot Flaps tome cannot be determined even by a thorough examination of its casing.”

I try not to read the footnotes in fiction. Especially if they refer you to a ‘notes’ section at the back. I know they’re supposed to be helpful, but I always end up flicking backwards and forwards, ruining the flow of the story. And mostly, I don’t need to have a specific place name or piece of slang explained to me.

It was only last summer, when I found myself groobling¹ on the lawn.

With this edition of Gatsby though, one of the early notes ends with an exclamation mark! That seems to suggest that the editor is excited by the whole thing, and makes me want to hear what he has to say.

It’s less a dry glossary of obscure terms, and more an excitable nerd offering up interesting nuggets of information – the equivalent of me watching Back to the Future II with friends. I’ll excitedly point out the small roles for Jason Scott Lee, Elijah Wood and Billy Zane, whilst my friends get progressively annoyed at my interruptions.

Maybe I should write a set of notes for BTTF2 that they could refer to at their leisure. When George McFly appears in 2015, I can shout “Note 17!”. If they want to, they can ignore it. But if they pause the DVD and say “17”, I can say: “Of course, Crispin Glover asked for too much money to appear in the sequel, so they used a double instead – that’s why he’s upside down: to help disguise the fact.”

By which point everyone will have left (possibly punching me on the way out) and I can resume watching the film; freeze-framing and zooming in at my leisure.

Where was I? Ah yes: Gatsby! This edition was bought second-hand at Blackwell's by Lucy. It’s full of notes made by the previous reader.

I like finding things written in books. It suggests an appealing chain of ownership, and adds some kind of supra-story to the book itself.

Of course, the notes are sometimes a bit obtrusive. You don’t want important things underlined or themes discussed. It’s better to stumble into understanding a salient plot point, rather than have it underlined in blue biro (IMPORTANT). A Level students don’t have much consideration for spoilers.

But I still like it. You can ignore them generally, and it adds a warmth and personalness (yes, I imagine that IS a word) to proceedings. Even though I remember writing notes in my books, it wasn’t due to warmth, but rather a desperate grasping at good sentences to use as evidence in an essay. A good quote can get you a paragraph’s worth of bullshit. And that’s how my essay-writing worked. A slow struggle to reach the minimum word count. Obviously, as you can tell from this entry so far, brevity is only my burden when I’m forced into writing. If I start of my own volition, the word count goes out the window.

As for the book itself - I liked it. Pretty insightful, eh?

There was something that stopped me from becoming totally absorbed, however. (I was absorbed in Tender is the Night, the only other Fitzgerald work I've read). I don't know what it was. I think it might have been that every time I felt like I was getting close to a character, the narrator would pull back, not wanting to reveal too much. The narration at times felt cold, and possibly unreliable (as has been suggested by a friend of mine who shall remain shameless).

I won't talk about themes or imagery or anything like that (sorry, Alice), as I don't want to simply be copying the pencilled notes in the book. Except for the page where the word 'gay' in 'gay, exciting things' is underlined, and they've written happy underneath. That's a pretty great note.

I will say that despite interesting characters and beautiful descriptions of beautiful places, the story never really got under my skin. It might just have been my mindset - I'll reread it sometime, then reread this entry, and see if I think I'm an idiot.

Hint: I'm an idiot.


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I'm not quite sure what these Idiot Flaps Odyssey posts are supposed to be. Maybe some people will skip over them. If you haven't read the books, they're probably boring. At the same time, I don't go into much detail about them, and never take the chance to show off my critical theory chops. If anyone wants to engage me in conversation about the underlying message of the book as an analogue of the American Dream's futility, or as playing with narrative form, or as apocalyptic Freudian meta-psycho-fable, I'm happy to give it a go.

If you find these boring, pretentious and at the same time half-arsed: you are correct.

Never mind. The only real reason for writing these is to spur me on to keep reading. Anything else is a bonus!

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¹ groobling (v) – 1980s Hampshire slang: to grooble = to conduct a court-martial for ants