Disillusionment And Sublimation Of American Dream In The Great Gatsby: A New Historical Reading

F. Scott. Fitzgerald is generally acknowledged as the spokesman of the 1920s Jazz Age and of flaming youth. T. S. Eliot considered him as the same influential in the development of modern American fiction as Gertude Stein, and Earnest Hemingway. The Great Gatsby, published in 1925, is regarded as Fitzgerald's greatest novel. It was classified as "a book about the Roaring Twenties" for a long time. It evokes the texture of its time so richly that it becomes a supplementary or even substitute form of history. Since its publication, it has received a lot of comments from critical circle. The articles on The Great Gatsby could be divided into three kinds: discussion of the narrative skills and style in it; the social-historical study based on the image of Gatsby and symbols in this novel; to study the theme and its practical significance of this work from a philosophical political perspective. Based on these researches, this thesis aims to read this work under a New Historical perspective, particularly by applying its important concepts-Textuality of History and Historicity of Texts.The introduction briefly introduces Fitzgerald and his major works, and also literature review of The Great Gatsby. Chapter 1 gives a very short introduction of New Historicism and its core concepts of Textuality of History and Historicity of Texts so as to make a good theoretical preparation for the text analysis in the next part. Chapter 2 interprets some real historic events recorded in The Great Gatsby in guidance of the concept of Textuality of History. With the study on the historic events under this perspective, readers are brought back to the authentic historic context in which Fitzgerald was living in. By alluding to the corruptions in that society, Fitzgerald expressed a heart quaking theme through his treatment of the failure of Gatsby's, Daisy's, Nick's and Myrtle's dream. Chapter 3, with consideration of the background of the novel and the writer, works on the theme of the sublimation of the American dream in this work. From the analysis of Fitzgerald's growing and creating background, we can see that"duality"in his personality structured Fitzgerald himself and his works. As the best illustration of the deep ambivalence in his nature, Fitzgerald intertwined, conflicted two kinds of American dream - Franklinian and Emersonian - and sublimed the former to the latter in dealing with the interpersonal relationship among the leading characters in The Great Gatsby. The Conclusion summarizes the work from the analysis carried out under the guide of Textuality of History and History of Texts. Fitzgerald not only intends to present readers a disillusioned American Dream in his work, but also appeals a sublimed American Dream. It is this conflicts embodied in this work that deserves further studies.