The Great Gatsby

F. Scott Fitzgerald is considered one of the pre-eminent authors in the history of American literature, due largely to the enormous posthumous success of his third book, The Great Gatsby. Perhaps the quintessential American novel, as well as a definitive social history of the Jazz Age, The Great Gatsby has become required reading for virtually every American high school student and has enchanted and awakened generation after generation of readers. In his latter years, Fitzgerald moved to Hollywood and became a scriptwriter, struggling with alcoholism and failure to fulfill his limitless promise. He died of a heart attack in 1940, at age 44, his fifth and final novel only half completed. Italian twins Anna and Elena Balbusso are an award-winning art team. Together they have illustrated over forty books and garnered more than eighty international awards for art and design, including three Gold medals, a Silver medal and the Stevan Dohanos Award from the Society of Illustrators; two Joseph Morgan Henninger Awards; and the Victoria and Albert Museum Illustration Awards Best Book Prize. You can find more of their work at www.balbusso.com. William Cain is the Mary Jewett Gaiser Professor of English at Wellesley College specializing in nineteenth and early twentieth century American literature.