Essay on The Dust Jacket of The Great Gatsby - 723 Words

The Dust Jacket of The Great Gatsby The dust jacket of The Great Gatsby has an extremely complex yet influential relationship to its text as well as its author. Francis Cugat, the artist of the cover, developed the painting through a series of ten sketches[1]. In each sketch he develops a new element of the painting which indicates the level of complexity in the final work. Interestingly, Fitzgerald never mentions the artist’s name in his correspondents with his editor Maxwell Perkins[2]. However, he does admit that it has a direct influence on the novel. In a correspondence written from France (estimated to have been written around august 17, 1924) Fitzgerald implores, â€Å"for Christ sake don’t give anyone that jacket†¦show more content†¦Unfortunately, these connections between the text and the painting can only be speculated due to the lack of specificity in Fitzgerald’s letters. In any event, the cover lends itself to a central theme in the novel. The image captures Fitzgerald†™s idea of a society that is constantly watching and judging. Cugat’s painting contributes to Fitzgerald’s effort to change his image as writer for the Flapper. In one correspondence to Perkins he claims The Great Gatsby will be â€Å"a consciously artistic achievement and must depend on that as the first book did not†[6]. The dust jacket in Gatsby exemplifies this desired departure in image. Cugat’s painting on the cover is truly compelling and filled with artistic merit. On the other hand, the original dust jackets for the five previous publications are childish and simplistic (http://www.sc.edu/fitzgerald/collection.html). In terms of artistic style, this painting has all the general characteristics of modernism. Cugat plays with perception and social context to create an intellectual painting. The painting evokes similar issues as the novel itself. The tear, in combination with the contorted women in her eyes, hints at a modernists theme Fitzgerald explores in many of his works. The painting seems to question the validity of the social constructs and interactions taking place in the carnival. On a purely practical level, the painting captures how many people perceived New York, and in particularShow MoreRelated F. Scott Fitzgerald’s All the Sad Young Men Essay1271 Words   |  6 Pageswas his sixth book. The work was composed of nine short stories that had been published in magazines such as the Saturday Evening Post over the course of the previous year. The work was Fitzgerald’s third short story collection and followed the Great Gatsby in publication on the 26th of February 1926. To most, this book signaled Fitzgerald’s staying power as many of his seniors had believed that his initial success as a writer was lucky. They did not take Fitzgerald seriously as an author. On theRead MoreFeminist/Marxist Analysis of the Hunger Games Essay examples4753 Words   |  20 Pagesliving lives of luxury and ease while the hard-working and impoverished citizens o f the other districts struggle to get by. These are â€Å"men and women with hunched shoulders, swollen knuckles, many who have long since stopped trying to scrub the coal dust out of their broken nails, the lines of their sunken faces† (Collins 4). They are the perfect representation of the Marxist proletariat, â€Å"the majority of the global population who live in substandard conditions and who have always performed the manual