Putting on the Fitz: Finding Information on Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby
A Carolina Day School Library Resource Guide
Reference Books:
Best Bet Novels for Students . REF 809 TEL v.2
23-page article on Gatsby , including sections on theme, style, characters, historical context, critical overview, bibliography, and criticism reprinted from various writers.
Best Bet Critical Survey of Long Fiction . REF 809.3 Cri 2000 v.3
F section (11 pgs) discusses his life and literature.
Best Bet American Writers: Selected Authors . REF 810.9 AME v.2 1998
20-page article on F surveys his life and works.
Best Bet Oxford Encyclopedia of American Literature . REF 810.3 Oxf 2003
Vol. 2 has articles on Gatsby and F (the Gatsby article immediately follows the F article). Check the index in the last volume for other subjects. Be sure and check the index under “Fitzgerald” as there are many mentions of his life and works in other articles.
Magill's Survey of American Literature . REF 810.9 Mag 2007 v2
Biographical material, analysis of his career, and a section on Gatsby .
Backgrounds to American Literature: American Modernism (1910-1945). REF 810.9 Bac 2006 v4
"The Lost Generation" chapter has a a section on F and Gatsby.
Reader's Encyclopedia of American Literature . REF 810.3 Har 2002
Article on F and his works. Separate short article on Gatsby . Article on “History of American Literature: 1920-1940.” Short article on Modernism.
Continuum Encyclopedia of American Literature . REF 810.3 Enc 2001
Good article on F and his works. Check the index for others.
Thematic Guide to the American Novel . Ref 813.009 Ada 2002
The chapter on "American Dream" discusses three novels: Gatsby, The Rise of David Levinsky , and Ragtime .
Chronology of American Literature . REF 810.9 Chr 2004
What happened year by year. A short essay on "The Birth of Modernism" begins on page 335.
Reference Guide to American Literature . REF 810.0 Ref 2000
Article on F with a good discussion of Gatsby as well as a separate article just on Gatsby .
Encyclopedia of World Literature in the 20 th Century . REF 803 Enc 1999 v. 2
F article from a world literature point of view.
Encyclopedia Britannica . REF 031 Bri v13
The 20 th Century section of the American Literature article has a very good overview and helps to clarify how F fit into the context of the period.
American Decades: 1920-1929 . REF 973.92 Ame 1996
This history book has a good short article on "Literary Modernism" in the "Arts" chapter that helps put the movement in a larger historical context. There's a short article on F (p. 58). Check the index for “Jazz Age” and Fitzgerald occurrences in other articles.
So What on Earth Does That Mean, Exactly ?:
A Handbook to Literature . REF 803 Har 1999
Great place to find explanations of literary terms. Check F in the index—he's listed in quite a few articles, such as “American Dream.”
Literary Terms: A Dictionary . REF 803 BEC
Another good dictionary of literary terms. Look under "Modernism."
Circulating Books on Fitzgerald and American Literature in the 1920s
Bloom's Modern Critical Interpretations: The Great Gatsby . 813.09 Fit 2004
Understanding The Great Gatsby . 813.09 Fit 2002
Twentieth-Century Interpretations of The Great Gatsby . 813.09 FIT
F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby . 813.09 FIT
Several books are titled F. Scott Fitzgerald . 813.09 FIT
Bobbed Hair and Bathtub Gin: Writers Running Wild in the 20s . 810.9 Mea 2004
Expatriates and Patriots : American Artists, Scholars, and Writers in Europe . 813.09 EAR
The following reserve books have at least one essay on Fitgerald or Gatsby article
Literature in America : An Anthology of Literary Criticism . 810.9 RAH
Forms of Modern Fiction: Essays . 809.304 FOR
Modern American Fiction . 813.09 LIT
Finding Books of Criticism in Another Library's Catalogue
You may want to look at books at UNC- A or the public library. Remember that you can find the books owned by those libraries right here at CDS by checking their online catalogues--there are links on the CDS Library's web site.
There are many books, called literary criticism , that analyze certain writers' works. Some deal with characters, scenes, or themes commonly found in a particular writer's work. Other books may deal with only one work, especially if it is well known or influential.
To find these books in a library catalogue, look up your author as a subject (you want books about the author and his/her work, not by the author). In a large library, you may have to look at the subheading under the author's name called “Criticism and interpretation” (example: Welty, Eudora – Criticism and interpretation ) to differentiate from the books dealing mostly with the author's life. There may even be subheadings for particularly well-known works.
Online Databases
The Student Resource Center
Access from the library's main web page or from here -- be sure to take a slip with the passwords so you can get to this database from home 24/7).
After yuo log in, you will have a choice between several Gale databases. Chose The Student Resource Center.
Articles on Gatsby :
To find articles on Gatsby : Scroll down the main page and find The Great Gatsby listed on the Popular Topics list and click on it. You should have 20 or so reference articles come up first. After you're through with those, click on the tab marked Magazines. There are over 100 articles, but, beware, not all are literary criticism! Try the Academic Journals tab for over 50 articles. Remember that you can email these articles to yourself, or print them as you see them--be sure to use the Print icon to get a cleaner copy.
Articles on Fitzgerald :
After logging in, click on the Literature icon and choose the Author search. Click on Fitzgerald's name. There are loads of magazine and newspaper articles and reference book entries on F's work and his life.
Other :
Use the Search Box and type in “Modernism” (then click on Modernism, Literary in the subject list on the left ) , “The Lost Generation”, or whatever!
NCLive Databases ( http://www.nclive.org )
NCLive is a host of databases brought to you by your local public (or academic) library. You must have a library card and a password to access these databases. You can access NCLive from the CDS Library webpage.
• Connect to NCLive from the CDS Library's webpage or type nclive.org into your browser's address bar.
• Choose your own public library . Type in the password that you will obtain by calling your library and asking the reference department.
• Choose "Browse Resources."
• Choose "Alphabetic List."
• Choose "Academic Search Premiere." You will be taken to The EBSCO database provider site.
• Choose the "Choose Databases" tab to search several databases at the same time. Note that "Academic Search Premiere" is already checked.
• Check the boxes in front of "MAS Ultra" and " Masterfile Premiere".
• Choose "Continue."
• Choose "Advanced Search."
• In the Search Box, type in great gatsby (or your book's title).
• In the box next to the search box, choose the SU Subject Terms option.
• In the second search box, type in another term (such as american dream) if you wish to find only Gatsby articles containing this term.
• Check the box next to Full Text on the Limiters below the search box.
• Click on the Search button.
Biographical Information
Need a little info on F. Scott and his friends to put it all in perspective? Try these fine resources:
Web sites:
Has articles, biographical information, copies of some of F's short stories, and more. Brought to you by the University of South Carolina . http://www.sc.edu/fitzgerald/index.html
Voice of the Shuttle: Modern British and American Literature
Find a host of Modernism and 1920s' links at the top. The Fitzgerald listing in the American authors section links only to the F. Scott Fitzgerald Centenary listed above. The U of California hosts this site. http://vos.ucsb.edu/browse.asp?id=2747
rev. 4-08, K. St. Clair