F. Scott Fitzgerald's T̲e̲n̲d̲e̲r̲ i̲s̲ t̲h̲e̲ N̲i̲g̲h̲t̲: the idea as morality

Abstract

Professor R. P. Blackraur has said that "Fitzgerald made of his morality a screen for his self-love." This may well be true. But I do not think that such a habit was distinct only to Fitzgerald. Indeed, to some degree, I find that the practice obtains in the work of most relevant creative artists. Among the critics, I find that the "screen for self-love" is projected with surprising frequency when the subject at hand is the work of Fitzgerald himself. I know of no American writer about whose work the critical words have been so diffuse, nor about whose literary intentions the critical revival meetings, introspective analyses, and soul-satisfying obituaries have been so rhetorically misleading. For Fitzgerald is a writer whose work seems to demand to be talked about. Ironically enough, Fitzgerald1s major victory over those who comment, with impressive bravado toward the point, is that Fitzgerald, himself, was the best critic of his own work.