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The Great American ~~Novel~~ Blog

by DL Tolleson

JANUARY 19, 2010—23 YEARS IN THE MAKING

In the 1980s I started toward an understanding of Jay Gatsby.

I write of the Gatsby, as in the novel The Great Gatsby. (For movie lovers I recommend the Robert Redford version of the character.) Of course neither Gatsby nor my understanding of him would be complete without the woman. I'll come back to this in a moment.

I first read the novel in the early to mid-70s but it wasn’t until the late 80s that I attempted to emulate that magnificent work of literary art. The delay was necessary. You see, The Great Gatsby is a matter of art imitating life and that usually occurs only when life serves up tragic source material. In other words, up until then I was completely tragedy-free.