Latest news with #GreatAmericanNovel
Belfast Telegraph
17-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Belfast Telegraph
Themed cocktails and escape rooms… 100 years on, we've lost sight of the real Great Gatsby
Something of F Scott Fitzgerald's 1925 book has been lost in the fog of its own mystique, commercialised by endless business endeavours that seem to contradict its core message. Nick Hilton revisits the classic on its milestone anniversary and hears warning bells for today's billionaire oligarchs In my house, there are two copies of F Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby, which turns 100 this year. The first is my schoolboy edition, rendered almost illegible by the quantity of doodles in the margins: old-fashioned motorcars, champagne flutes, looming pairs of eyes. On the second, a gormless stock photo flapper girl – feathers in her hair, lace gloves covering her hands – stares back at me, insisting, seemingly, on a glamorous vision of interwar America. On the inside of the jacket, a glued-on advert tells me this edition was distributed as part of a scheme to promote laser eye surgery. The Great Gatsby is a slippery text. It means different things to different people. To some it is a monolith of American literature – a key contender in the Great American Novel sweepstakes – whereas, to others, it has become a cartoonish portrait of a bygone era. Some read it as an excoriation of materialism, others as a vindication of excess. For some it is sibylline, for others, passé.
Sydney Morning Herald
29-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Sydney Morning Herald
A century on, this Great American Novel still captivates readers
In 1923, when Scott Fitzgerald was 27, he wrote to his editor, Maxwell Perkins, about his ambitions for his third novel. 'I want to write something new – something extraordinary and beautiful and simple and intricately patterned,' he wrote. Two years later, that third novel was published, to mostly positive reviews. One-hundred years later, The Great Gatsby is still inspiring, delighting, obsessing and occasionally infuriating its readers. It's a small book, but nonetheless a leading contender for the role of Great American Novel. It's said to contain some of the most perfect sentences ever written about America. And perhaps the most astonishing thing is that it's still extraordinary, beautiful, simple, intricately patterned – and feels new. We nearly missed it. After those initial reviews, the novel failed to sell and drifted into obscurity, dismissed as a minor nostalgic tale about rich people living it up in the Jazz Age. Fitzgerald died in poverty in 1940, convinced his work was forgotten. Two things saved Gatsby after the author's death. The novel was championed by two influential critics, Edmund Wilson and Malcolm Cowley. And during World War II, 155,000 paperback copies of The Great Gatsby were distributed to combat troops, who liked what they read. Tragic as the story is, it must still have been a grand antidote to the grim reality of war. Today, it's difficult to think of any other novel with the same impact on both literature and the popular imagination. At the last count, it had sold about 30 million copies worldwide, has been translated into 42 languages, and continues to sell about half-a-million copies a year. It's been adapted into at least four films (notably Baz Luhrmann's 2013 version with Leonardo DiCaprio as Jay Gatsby), as well as plays, television shows, musicals and video games, and it's a perennial on high-school book lists. Since the book came out of copyright, it has inspired a bevy of novels extending the story into the past and the future, focusing on various characters. Camille Aubrey, author of The Grand Hotel (which features Fitzgerald as a character), lists 10 of them, including a spy novel and a tale of vampires.
The Age
29-04-2025
- Entertainment
- The Age
A century on, this Great American Novel still captivates readers
In 1923, when Scott Fitzgerald was 27, he wrote to his editor, Maxwell Perkins, about his ambitions for his third novel. 'I want to write something new – something extraordinary and beautiful and simple and intricately patterned,' he wrote. Two years later, that third novel was published, to mostly positive reviews. One-hundred years later, The Great Gatsby is still inspiring, delighting, obsessing and occasionally infuriating its readers. It's a small book, but nonetheless a leading contender for the role of Great American Novel. It's said to contain some of the most perfect sentences ever written about America. And perhaps the most astonishing thing is that it's still extraordinary, beautiful, simple, intricately patterned – and feels new. We nearly missed it. After those initial reviews, the novel failed to sell and drifted into obscurity, dismissed as a minor nostalgic tale about rich people living it up in the Jazz Age. Fitzgerald died in poverty in 1940, convinced his work was forgotten. Two things saved Gatsby after the author's death. The novel was championed by two influential critics, Edmund Wilson and Malcolm Cowley. And during World War II, 155,000 paperback copies of The Great Gatsby were distributed to combat troops, who liked what they read. Tragic as the story is, it must still have been a grand antidote to the grim reality of war. Today, it's difficult to think of any other novel with the same impact on both literature and the popular imagination. At the last count, it had sold about 30 million copies worldwide, has been translated into 42 languages, and continues to sell about half-a-million copies a year. It's been adapted into at least four films (notably Baz Luhrmann's 2013 version with Leonardo DiCaprio as Jay Gatsby), as well as plays, television shows, musicals and video games, and it's a perennial on high-school book lists. Since the book came out of copyright, it has inspired a bevy of novels extending the story into the past and the future, focusing on various characters. Camille Aubrey, author of The Grand Hotel (which features Fitzgerald as a character), lists 10 of them, including a spy novel and a tale of vampires.
Miami Herald
21-04-2025
- Business
- Miami Herald
Walmart makes bold move to take down Starbucks
Starbucks has a bit of an elitist reputation. The chain has always been true to its Seattle roots and its coffeehouse tradition. Coffeehouses aren't bars. They're places famous for being filled with wannabe writers typing away at their take on the Great American Novel while sipping espresso-based beverages. Related: Amazon makes urgent move to avoid US-China trade war impact The classic coffeehouse hosts poetry slams and acoustic guitar players. They might offer a book club, backgammon boards, and chess sets along with other semi-elitists airs. Starbucks (SBUX) comes from that tradition even if it has generally stopped short of offering poetry slams, live readings, or acoustic music. The chain still charges top-tier prices, and offers plenty of fancy drinks that draw on its Italian inspiration. That's not to say Starbucks doesn't court every customer. The chain sells a lot of Frappuccinos. which are essentially milkshakes, as well as lots of other nothing-to-do with coffee beverages, but it's still largely seen as a higher-end chain that courts upscale customers. Don't miss the move: Subscribe to TheStreet's free daily newsletter In theory, that leave Starbucks vulnerable to competitors which use more of a blue collar model. In reality, though, efforts from both McDonald's and Dunkin' to bring fancier coffee to the masses may have increase their sales, but not done much to market share from Starbucks. Similarly, chains like 7 Brew which embraces a wide-range of sweeter and non-coffee drinks, lack the scale to threaten Starbucks' thrown. A new deal, however, could be the first step toward changing that. Walmart has always had a few stores-within-its-stores. It used to have hundreds of McDonald's locations, but that partnership has been scaled back as has a similar deal with Subway. The chain has experimented with adding sushi in same locations as well as fast-food chains like Taco Bell and Domino's. Now, however, it may have stumbled upon the perfect partner. 7 Brew takes the coffee model and modifies it. The chain offers drive-through-only locations with its 7 Originals - coffee drinks that are all sweet concoctions - along with a changing array of beverages including everything from energy drinks and Italian sodas to smoothies, teas, and lemonades. Retail Tariffs: Mark Cuban sounds alarm on how consumers should handle tariffsTarget makes controversial move to dodge high tariff costs Walmart doubles down on harsh tactic to shrink threat of tariffs The company, which now has over 375 locations, grew out of a simple idea. "7 Brew was born from a desire to change drive-thru coffee into a fun, mind-blowing experience for everyone. We dreamed of serving premium coffee in record time and making new friends while we're at it. The dream came alive with our first 'stand' in Rogers, AR and our 7 original coffees," the company shared on its website. 7 Brew has grown quickly using a very simple model and very low-tech. It does not offer an app, but does have a loyalty program tied to customers' phone numbers. The chain does not even detail that program on its website, but every now and again customers earn a free drink. 7 Brew does not even offer a full menu at its stores. You can see signs promoting seasonal and specialty drinks, but need to scan a QR code in order to bring the menu up. Lines can get quite long at the dual-drive-thrus, but workers take orders up and down the line via tablets and everything moves quickly. Now 7 Brew has a new model, a walk-thru model in the Springdale, Arkansas Walmart. That may seem like a small thing, but Walmart and 7 Brew may be the perfect operating partners at just the right time. The coffee chain offers an affordable indulgence that's more accessible than the Starbucks menu. It's "7 Originals" offer choices for people who are not traditional coffee drinkers. Related: Amazon makes harsh move amid major customer concern It's very easy to see Walmart, customers, embracing the idea of having a drink from the chain to either start or end their shopping journey. And, while it's a reach to think that these sales could someday impact Starbucks, Walmart is one of the few brands that could offer that scale. This is a single coffee shop in a single Walmart, for now, but the potential for this to be a disruptive partnership is very clear. The Arena Media Brands, LLC THESTREET is a registered trademark of TheStreet, Inc.
New York Times
13-04-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Times
He Can Get the Details Right, Except in His Own Messy Life
Hollywood aspirants had the William Morris mailroom. Junior literati long vied to join The New Yorker's fact-checking department (or, for the gals, the typing pool). They hoped to breathe the magic vapors of E.B. White while cooking up the Great American Novel. In the age of 'truthiness' and 'fake news,' and with ChatGPT hovering like a mockingbird, the role of fact checker has been newly narrowed and consecrated. Or so suggests 'The Fact Checker,' the first novel by Austin Kelley, a former New Yorker fact checker. It's a sprightly hyperlocal caper that is also, intentionally or not, a Notes and Comment on the fragile state of urban intellectual masculinity. We've come a long way from 'Bright Lights, Big City,' which jump-started the career of Jay McInerney, another former New Yorker fact checker, in 1984 … or have we? Both books have unnamed young male protagonists. Both lampoon entrenched procedures and starchy characters at the New Yorkerish magazines where they toil: In 'The Fact Checker,' which is set in 2004, there's a veteran checker named Mr. Lancaster, 'a frail old ghost of a man' who stocks the house library with multiple volumes on Civil War artillery and is comically conscripted to check a piece on the rapper 50 Cent. Both narrators bop around downtown and go on benders, though the preferred poison of Kelley's is whiskey, not Bolivian marching powder. Both pine for their exes; then, a fashion model named Amanda; now, a graduate student, Magdalena. Our 21st-century fact checker used to be a graduate student, too, specializing in 19th-century utopianism, until he realized 'no one really wanted to read academic history.' He worships the Fonz and looks like Tony Shalhoub, the actor. He loves watching baseball and hates playing. 'There was that painful slow time when the ball arced through the air. It was excruciating. Was I under it? Yes. No. Yes. No. Too late.' Since Magda ran off with a professor, he has struggled with romance in New York, where — and this was before the apps — dates and meetings are oft confused and 'everyone was tentative and ambiguous.' He is, he comes to realize with some consternation, 'a meat eater who's never killed anything.' One of the things he's compulsive about checking is the fly of his pants. Kelley's hero doesn't long to escape his duties, as McInerney's dissolute alter ego did, but takes pride in his variegated beta role. He's been assigned to check a story about the Union Square Greenmarket, by a debonair but careless restaurant critic named John Mandeville, one of whose sources is a farmer, Sylvia. Mandeville neglected to get her surname, and so the checker — encouraged by the promise that she's 'interesting' — goes to interview her. Who is Sylvia? Cryptic, lanky and scarred, she feeds him a life-changing heirloom tomato. She herself is something of a hot tomato. One of the novel's charms is uncovering the vulnerable ornaments — wacky statues, call girls on 11th Avenue, subterranean oyster restaurants — of an increasingly 'Big Box Manhattan.' Sylvia and the 'blank man,' as a friend of hers calls him, visit a graveyard in the financial district on an ambiguous date, then an illegal farm-to-table supper club called Heads and Tails, consuming tongue, offal pie and pork served five ways. They hook up. And then, lacking a cellphone, as some did then — 'trying to maintain some freedom' — she disappears. Is there something more, something sinister, to Mandeville's story? To Mandeville himself? Especially in one chapter so gruesome I had to read it through reluctantly parted fingers, 'The Fact Checker' argues for a heightened sensitivity to the brutality of the food chain. (In this it reminded me of 'The Vegan,' Andrew Lipstein's 2023 novel about a financier who starts hearing the animals.) But it's also about the looming gig economy, the division of labor in the field of writing as well as potatoes. Not for nothing do we now refer to 'content farms.' Planning a story about the Swift Boat smear campaign, the magazine's staffers can't quite see yet that they're in a changing ecosystem, where supply is soon to outpace demand and alternative facts are hopping onto the conveyor belt of public record. In one Don Draper moment, Kelley's fact checker considers 'how strange it is to stand inside a giant building held up so high in the air, with other people standing inside a giant building on other floors, each in their own world, and how hard it is, at any minute, to know exactly where you are and what caused you to be there, and what you should do next.' He's researching the collapse of the twin towers, which were so boldly featured on the original cover of 'Bright Lights, Big City.'
