The Rich Boy (Hesperus Classics) - Tapa blanda

What F Scott Fitzgerald calls 'the country of the rich' he explores here in three stories, 'The Rich Boy', 'The Bridal Party' and 'The Last of the Belles'. Written in 1926 and 1929, the timescale of the stories ranges from the end of the First World War, as young men wait to go overseas, through the Twenties with socialites weary from their wild and reckless lives, to the ominous period of the Wall Street Crash and the start of the Depression. Anson Hunter is the rich boy brought up surrounded by wealth and privilege, imbued with a sense of his own superiority, yet his character and excessive drinking affect his relationships with Paula and Dolly, and damage his career on Wall Street. Fitzgerald effectively communicates the failed promise of Hunter's life: liked by everyone, he is essentially lonely. This emptiness lies at the heart of many wealthy lives, yet in 'The Bridal Party' Hamilton Rutherford is one of those 'at home in his richness'. Rich, assured, superior and above all successful, he wins over the love of Michael's life and thus dashes his hopes of romantic happiness. In the third story, Andy looks back 15 years to a 'time of youth and war' in Georgia, when he falls for Ailie Calhoun, 'the Southern type in all its purity'; the romantic setting, however, is no guarantee of happiness. In his introduction, John Updike underlines Fitzgerald's dilemma as a writer: the shallow and meaningless lifestyle that enmeshed him and his tragic wife Zelda inevitably distracted him from his writing, and these stories cannot match the brilliance of The Great Gatsby. Nevertheless, Fitzgerald is always compelling: his skill and the poignancy and underlying despair of his characters' lives cannot fail to move and impress his readers. (Kirkus UK) --x

Undisputed king of jazz-age writing, F. Scott Fitzgerald perfectly encapsulated all the glamour and despair of 1920s' society. These three short stories are supreme examples of his craft. With wealth and privileges beyond measure, 'rich boy' Anson Hunter had every reason to expect life to be a breeze. Yet one by one his dreams fade away, leaving him with nothing. Slowly, painfully he realises that beneath the sparkle and fizz of his glittering life lies only failure and disillusionment - the self-same emptiness that pervades the beautiful people of The Last of the Belles and The Bridal Party.