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HarperCollins is proud to present its new range of best-loved, essential classics. ´I believe that on the first night I went to Gatsby´s house I was one of the few guests who had actually been invited. People were not invited - they went there´. Considered one of the all-time great American works of fiction, Fitzgerald´s glorious yet ultimately tragic social satire on the Jazz Age encapsulates the exuberance, energy and decadence of an era. After the war, the mysterious Jay Gatsby, a self-made millionaire pursues wealth, riches and the lady he lost to another man with stoic determination. He buys a mansion across from her house and throws lavish parties to try and entice her. When Gatsby finally does reunite with Daisy Buchanan, tragic events are set in motion. Told through the eyes of his detached and omnipresent neighbour and friend, Nick Carraway, Fitzgerald´s succinct and powerful prose hints at the destruction and tragedy that awaits.

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F. Scott Fitzgerald, 1896 in St. Paul (Minnesota) geboren, hatte nach den Studienjahren in Princeton mit 24 Jahren sein Ziel erreicht: Sein erster Roman ´Diesseits vom Paradies´ machte ihn auf einen Schlag berühmt und reich, mit seiner Frau Zelda stand Fitzgerald im Mittelpunkt von Glanz und Glimmer. ´Der große Gatsby´, sein heute meistgelesenes Buch, war jedoch ein finanzieller Flop. Alles endete im schrecklichen Kater der Wirtschaftskrise. Alkohol, Zank und Geldprobleme zerstörten die Ehe mit Zelda. Um Geld zu verdienen, ging Fitzgerald 1937 als Drehbuchautor nach Hollywood, wo er 1940 starb.

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