Book Notes: "The Last Tycoon" by F. Scott Fitzgerald

The Last Tycoon by F. Scott Fitzgerald

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


If only I had read this work years ago... There is much to be learnt by reading an unfinished book, especially this with the author's chapter plan, character sketches, unedited rants and revisions. I expected Fitzgerald's colleagues to have attempted to finish the novel. Instead, however, the rawness of "The Last Tycoon" provides a window into the mind of an author in full swing. Yet if it were finished I doubt it would have had the same impact. On finishing reading the book I was at once melancholy - for the author, for the characters, for the friendship/comradeship/competition between Fitzgerald and Hemingway, for the thought processes that we would like to think are far too human, too prosaic for those who have written and written well. The scholarly care for the development of the piece is amplified precisely because of the scaffolding Fitzgerald left behind at his death, much like seeing the inner workings of a precision timepiece normally hidden from view. Fitzgerald's plot does the same to Hollywood. So much so that he couldn't have planned it better, or written truer at all, had he finished the story. "The Last Tycoon" immortalises Fitzgerald as a glorious death in battle for a warrior king. Only we are much the poorer for his early demise.



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Love in the Time of Hollywood

Zelda and Scott Fitzgerald 1921. Photo: Smithsonian Institution via Flickr CC BY-NC 2.0

Magnetism by F. Scott Fitzgerald

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This collection of short stories is #12 of Penguin's "Great Loves" series. It includes three I have not read before: The Sensible Thing, The Bridal Party, and Magnetism, along with the classic early flapper story, Bernice Bobs Her Hair. Published in 1928, these were the very early days of Hollywood, yet Magnetism captures the celebrity spirit in a way that is all too familiar today. One can imagine, however, the low-tech environment where famous actors still roamed the suburbs, startling elevator boys with their good looks and charm. Although Hemingway chastised Fitzgerald for writing short stories for money, instead of focusing on masterpieces like Tender is the Night, Fitzgerald's short stories are far from commercial ephemera that have lost their meaning in the present. It strikes me that the only difference is, back then, only the wealthy could experience such dramas as being considered dull and trying to project oneself as desirable, witty, and fun, whereas now almost any average consumer strives for the same thing. This is a very quick read, but Fitzgerald's work doesn't disappoint. It is only a shame that his short stories are scattered far and wide - as he would have delivered them to individual magazines in an effort to earn money - that a devoted Fitzgerald fan must constantly search for ever-more Fitzgerald stories to read. Nonetheless, part of the fun is discovering, from time to time, what seems to be an bottomless well of Fitzgerald ephemera still waiting to be discovered.

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Book Notes: "Tender is the Night" by F. Scott Fitzgerald

Tender Is the Night by F. Scott Fitzgerald

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


It's pretty clear why FSF is one of the literary greats. However, I find it difficult not to experience his work without feeling the darkness of the Robert Redford movie-version of The Great Gatsby. Tender is the Night keeps the excesses of the Jazz Age alive but with a sense of the impending doom. The ordinariness that culminates in the conclusion made me feel sad for the extraordinariness of the story in Book I, and worry about where my own future will lead. I also find it difficult to read FSF without thinking about Hemingway, even though FSF established himself sometime before the latter. Nonetheless, FSF's characters are more highly developed than Hemingway's, and in many ways FSF's work is much more academic while being somewhat less self-indulgent. At the same time, self-indulgence is not lacking in Tender is the Night. Rather, I think that FSF forces the reader to appear self-indulgent, rather than Hemingway's self-indulgence experienced through the low-visibility narrator who masks the author's modus operandi. Regardless, there is nothing better than alternating between Fitzgerald and Hemingway while getting caught up in the "Lost Generation" set amidst the "Jazz Age". I can't help thinking, too, how much FSF and Hemingway influenced Woody Allen's work, although that is another story. Tender is the Night was a difficult read and well worth the effort, though I doubt I could have understood it had I had less experience with living. Self-indulgent, to be sure, but the experience alone was the highlight of the novel. By way of confirmation, now I must return to Veblen to see how much his Theory of the Leisure Class impacted upon Fitzgerald.



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Book Notes: "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and Tales of the Jazz Age" by F. Scott Fitzgerald

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and Tales of the Jazz Age by F. Scott Fitzgerald

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


The more I learn about Fitzgerald the more I am sad that he did not realise his impact during his own lifetime. I guess that those who contribute the most never do. I enjoyed the author's little introductions to each story which give a nice little preface. Every story in this is a gem, even if some of them are repeats from other FSF collations. I am still unable to comprehend how FSF could fathom, in his early twenties, what it was like to be an age he never reached. Overall, brilliant.



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Book Notes: "The Diamond as Big as the Ritz, and Other Stories" by F. Scott Fitzgerald

The Diamond as Big as the Ritz, and Other Stories by F. Scott Fitzgerald

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Fitzgerald's ability to present a theme based on stories that are almost pedestrian constantly amazes me. Each story leaves me to ponder the meaning of the mundane and his ability to moralise, empathise, sympathise and then switch to humour and back again makes me wonder how much was packed into his relatively short life. Certainly makes me a fan of the short story.



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Book Notes: "On Booze" by F. Scott Fitzgerald

On Booze by F. Scott Fitzgerald

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


I have read several of these short stories before in other collected stories and on the Esquire "Classics" website. Just brilliant. If ever an author was able to capture a moment in time, even whilst living in that time, then Fitzgerald is the one. It would seem that the self-destructive genius could only be this way in order to display his genius. Such a shame that it takes the destruction of a genius for the rest of us to know that brilliance.



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Book Notes: "Flappers and Philosophers" by F. Scott Fitzgerald

Flappers and Philosophers by F. Scott Fitzgerald

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I am still amazed at the intense life experience at such a young age. Even though the themes are often about "coming-of-age", FSF's depth of maturity and comprehension of the deeper side of social relations is evident in each short story. "Benediction" was particularly haunting and seems to pre-empt Hemingway's "iceberg" principle. Certainly worth a read and I must say I am now a convert to the short story...



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Book Notes: "The Great Gatsby" by F. Scott Fitzgerald

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


What can I really say about a classic? Better than the 1971 movie, but wish I'd read the book first. I'd rather Luhrmann had let it be... couldn't finish his movie.



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Book Notes: "The Beautiful and Damned" by F. Scott Fitzgerald

The Beautiful and Damned by F. Scott Fitzgerald

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


It makes sense that it was like this in the 20s. No need to feel sorry for the protagonists, but to see the folly of being spoilt - maybe this is the message? Or maybe there is no message at all, just a reflection of the beautiful and the damned. Not sure you can find any solace in being honest and poor, though. FSF always leaves me navel-gazing. I believe his work is much more than a simple depiction of the Jazz Age.



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Book Notes: "This Side of Paradise" by F. Scott Fitzgerald

This Side of Paradise by F. Scott Fitzgerald

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I was somewhat struck by the use of a play format for heavy dialogue, and the various long poems, interspersed with a two-book structure (and interlude) and a complex structure of interwoven characters and time-shifts. Well worth the read and I can only imagine the stir it would have caused in 1920. I can only wonder what the original drat of this novel would have been line and I remain bewildered by the life experience FSF had at such a very young age.



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You were in a Big City and there were Bright Lights

West 42nd Street between 7th and 8th Avenues (1984). Photo by TedQuackenbush [CC BY SA 3.0] via Wikimedia.

Bright Lights, Big City by Jay McInerney

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I "discovered" Jay McInerney when I watched the BBC2 documentary Sincerely, F. Scott Fitzgerald. McInerney's first novel remains a winner. 

Set in Mahattan in 1984, the story covers how almost everyone felt in the 1980s. That time when you were done with nightclubs, but there was nothing else to do. You kept going back, but all you wanted to do was something else. 

This is the first novel I have ever read in the second person. McInerney makes it work. Apparently it was turned into a film starring Michael J. Fox (I never saw it) and also an Off-Broadway rock musical from 1999. 

I often listen to music while reading and writing, usually minimalism and John Adams in particular. The trouble is I have been listening to the same music over and over for more than ten years and sometimes I have to change. 

Lately I have been in the habit of listening to music from the time the book was written or from the country of origin of the author. Most of the books I read tend to be older, so listening to 1984 was never going to happen. 

I typed "bright lights big city" into Spotify, and hey presto! There was the rock musical version of the book. This was the funniest experience I have had with music and reading. 

Many of the songs use the exact words from the book and I had to change the music when I found myself reading the exact words of the book while listening to them at the same time in the musical's soundtrack. 

The song "Coma Baby" had me cacking myself. 

Part of the story reminds me of Guy de Maupassant's Bel Ami sans the cocaine. But it finishes a bit like Tom Cruise's Risky Business or Matthew Broderick's Ferris Bueller's Day Off. It reads like a young person's novel but there is certainly genius there. 

I am yet to read another McInerney, but it is worth exploring more of his work. But the most memorable thing for me was the incident with the music and the book. Not to take away from the book, but the experience fitted right in with the tone of the novel. 

What it must have been like to be so young and write so well.

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Albo’s flight upgrade saga reflects self-entitlement culture

I am constantly reminded how the 2020s recall F. Scott Fitzgerald's 1920s Jazz Age.

Airport lounges are excluded from Fringe Benefits Tax legislation, and the Chairman’s Lounge is an elite perk that most Australians will never get to experience. Flight upgrades that are gifted to politicians, under current rules, are not an issue if these are declared. But soliciting for benefits such as upgrades for private travel is clearly in breach of the Ministerial Code of Conduct established by the Prime Minister in 2022.

My latest in The Spectator Australia, Albo’s flight upgrade saga reflects self-entitlement culture.

Albo’s flight upgrade saga reflects self-entitlement culture | Michael de Percy
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Mr Dutton previously called for Mr Albanese to refer himself to the National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) for his alleged solicitation of flight upgrades.https://t.co/fQwkary4kp

— The Spectator Australia (@SpectatorOz) November 1, 2024

How I Journal Now...

 

My current journalling regimen incorporates two key approaches from Ryan Holiday and Benjamin Franklin [Photo by Dr Michael de Percy].

After much reflection, a little therapy, and much deliberation, I have arrived at a new journalling regimen that has given new life to my daily reflective habit. I document my current journalling process below.

It is almost three years ago since I blogged here about my daily journalling regimen. At the time, I had been journalling on a daily basis for over a year, and, despite some major life interruptions, I continue to journal on a daily basis. 

My daily habit has not always been efficacious; not because of my journalling, but because my process became stagnant and the challenges I faced had changed over time.

Originally, I took the opportunity to journal using Ryan Holiday's The Daily Stoic as a prompt but also to develop a routine that reinforced Stoic logic, in particular Epictetus's Enchiridion, which can be summed up in the first three sentences of his work:

Some things are in our control and others not. Things in our control are opinion, pursuit, desire, aversion, and, in a word, whatever are our own actions. Things not in our control are body, property, reputation, command, and, in one word, whatever are not our own actions.

Like the ritualised practices found in organised religions, journalling is a constant reminder to defer to the source: my sense of reason, and, in particular, to continually assess what is in my control and what is not. There is power in the daily reminder which I find similar to the concept of daily (or regular) prayer or meditation found in Christianity, Islam, and Buddhism. 

Interestingly, my reading of many theologically inspired works confirms the ubiquity of Stoic philosophy's basic premises in many major religions and ancient philosophies.

My previous process began with free writing, followed by reflection on the daily meditations in The Daily Stoic, The Daily Stoic Journal, and the three-monthly program in Benjamin Franklin's Virtues Journal. I also added the morning and evening reflections from James Allen's As A Man Thinketh. 

(These days I generally journal only once per day whereas from the end of 2016 to the beginning of 2019 I journalled each morning and each evening.)

For the final parts of my journalling I referred to various texts and reflected on a number of short passages of these texts on a daily basis. These included (among other works) La Rochefoucauld's Maxims, the Qur'an, the Tanakh, the Holy Bible (yet again!), Patience and Gratitude: An abridged translation of ʿUddat as-Sabirin wa dhakhirat ash-shakirin, and the Shiva Sutras, and soon I will finish the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali.

Slowly digesting classic texts this way is useful as it allows time for each morsel to make its mark, rather than racing through a book and forgetting soon after.

Ryan Holiday advocates reading slowly. And the point is that we should give ourselves time to do things for ourselves. Emerson¹ said it best:

Eminently thoughtful men, from the time of Pythagoras down, have insisted on an hour of solitude every day, to meet their own mind and learn what oracle it has to impart.

While the paragraph by paragraph approach to reading worked over the last few years, I have started to lose interest in my old journalling process. Brett McKay from the Art of Manliness wrote about how he lost the journalling habit over time once his life settled down. I suspect this is part of what is happening for me, too.

But there is still this other part of me that needs to journal so that my monkey mind gets out of my way. Tim Ferriss says it best:

I’m just caging my monkey mind on paper so I can get on with my fucking day.

This is key for me and if my journalling process requires too much effort I tend to only get to it piecemeal during the day rather than using it for its monkey-caging benefits.

I also found that my recent experience with EMDR was great but "checking-in" with my different "parts" and getting them to communicate (rather than running off when my adult self is on autopilot) stopped happening when I wasn't regularly checking in with the therapist.

EMDR, parts therapy, and internal family systems are really interesting and it is best to work with qualified practitioners. But for my personal record, and drawing on Rolf Potts' travel journal philosophy of my journal being for me, "an author and audience of one", here is my own "parts map" from September last year:

Dr Michael de Percy, personal "parts map" developed during EMDR therapy

Once I would have been afraid of exposing my vulnerability, but fuck it, I am over 50 now and I will do whatever I want with my own stuff, just as I did recently. And if Alain de Botton advocates psychotherapy, then who the hell is anyone else to judge?

Now to my most recent process. Once a day, I do the following:

1. Daily Stoic reflections. I wanted to make sure I reinforced the logic of Stoic philosophy as the first thing, so I have moved the Daily Stoic and the Daily Stoic Journal as a combined first item. I have hand-written the questions from the Daily Stoic Journal into the pages of my copy of the Daily Stoic.
2. Benjamin Franklin's Virtues Journal reflections.
3. Reflections on a "Quote of the Day" (that I like or I look to one of my Cabinet of Invisible Counsellors).²
4. Check-in with my "parts" (or what I am grateful for if I have nothing to discuss). 
5. Free writing to clear my monkey mind. This can be long or short depending on how I am feeling. Speaking of which, Mark Manson provides some helpful questions in this regard: What the hell am I doing? What the hell am I feeling? What the hell are my blind spots?

So that is my latest attempt to reignite my journalling. It is still a big part of my day but it allows me to spend less time thinking and more time doing. It reminds me of part of a Hemingway story that Fitzgerald told him to leave out because it was too clever:

Benny is an awfully smart boxer. All the time he’s boxing, he’s thinking. All the time he was thinking, I was hitting him.

 I hope this article is useful for anyone keeping a Stoic journal.

Notes

1. Emerson, Ralph Waldo; Conrad, Charles; Books, Best Success. We Are the Builders of Our Fortunes: Success through Self-Reliance (p. 58). www.SuccessBooks.net. Kindle Edition.

2. I am still developing my "cabinet" but here is my go-to list for now:

• Work practices: Cal Newport
• Literature: Harold Bloom
• Political Science: Charles E. Merriam
• Teaching: Ryan Holiday
• Scholarly Tradition: John Wanna
• Virtues: Benjamin Franklin
• Individuality: Jean-Jacques Rousseau
• Existence: Albert Camus
• Blogging: Walter Benjamin
• Motivation: Kyle Eschenroeder
• Music: John Adams
• Writing: Ernest Hemingway and F. Scott Fitzgerald
• House and Garden: Dirk Bogarde
• Travel: Rolf Potts