INTRO TO CHOPIN, FITZGERALD, AND THE

GREAT GATSBY

Background Information

KATE CHOPIN

American author of short stories and novels (1850-1904)

Most famous for The Awakening: WAY ahead of it’s time and highly criticized (made her turn to short stories)

Writer of feminist literature

WHY ARE WE TALKING AB OUT HER?

Many themes in Gatsby regarding women

Daisy and Myrtle

Author of A Pair of Silk Stockings, which we will be reading

F. SCOTT FITZGERALD

American author of novels and short stories (The Great Gatsby)

Came from a family with little money

Married a woman named Zelda Sayre • Hated by Hemingway• Inspiration for novels/ stories• Later diagnosed as a schizophrenic

Late became a raging alcoholic

GREAT FITZGERALD QUOTES

“Show me a hero and I’ll write you a tragedy”

“Genius is the ability to put into effect what’s in your mind”

“A great social success is a pretty girl who plays her cards as carefully as if she were plain.”

THE GREAT GATSBY

Written in 1925

Fitzgerald’s masterpiece

Took passages from his other short stories to write it

It was a “flop” when first published

Daisy= Zelda

THE GREAT GATSBY (FILM)

Adapted a total of FOUR times

We will be watching snippets from the 2013 version

Baz Luhrmann

Leonardo DiCaprio, Carey Mulligan, Tobey Maguire