f. scott fitzgerald

Although my favorite author is J.D. Salinger, I must say that I have a thing for F. Scott Fitzgerald. I of course appreciate the themes and topics about which he wrote--the jazz age, the superficiality of life, disillusionment, the lost generation of youth after World War I, etc.--but I also simply love him for his beautifully written prose. His words are so intricately combined--flowery (in a good way), evocative and mysterious. He is also responsible for my love of semicolons.

I'm currently re-reading Tender is the Night and recently re-read The Great Gatsby, and just look at these snippets of his writing:

For Daisy was young and her artificial world was redolent of orchids and pleasant, cheerful snobbery and orchestras which set the rhythm of the year, summing up the sadness and suggestiveness of life in new tunes. (Gatsby)

She smiled at him, making sure that the smile gathered up everything inside her, and directed it toward him, making him a profound promise of herself for so little, for the beat of a response, the assurance of a complementary vibration in him. (Tender)


Fifty yards away the Mediterranean yielded up its pigments, moment by moment, to the brutal sunshine; below the balustrade a faded Buick cooked on the hotel drive (Tender)




Who uses the word redolent anymore? I wish we did. I remember I learned the word in 10th grade English class. Yielded up its pigments...Buicks cooking...Semicolons!