Critics Debate: The Great Gatsby

Part 1 Survey: "The Great Gatsby" and myth - the American myth, the non-American myth; the formalist approach - "The Great Gatsby" as craft, point of view, narrative, symbolism; the authorial perspective - "winter dreams" and "the sensible thing", "the diamond as big as the Ritz" and "the rich boy", "absolution"; the socio-historical approach, "the withering of the American dream", the discredited dream, East and West; character - Gatsby, Nick Carraway, Tom Buchanan, Daisy Buchanan, Jordan Baker. Part 2 Appraisal: the clock and the moon; a man's book - "The Great Gatsby" and women; "The Great Gatsby" and social class; "The Great Gatsby" and history.