The Great Gatsby captures the frenetic activity of the Gilded Age as characters search for personal and national identity through sources popularized after World War I: advertising, films, magazines, books of social criticism, and jazz.  Through a thematic kaleidoscope of motifs, allusion, figurative language, and multiple points of view, F. Scott Fitzgerald creates patterns of meaning that support numerous interpretations.  Hauntingly familiar themes of racism, immigration, anti-Semitism, family values, and the disparity in the distribution of wealth emerge and provide insight into where we were in 1925 and where we are in 2025. 

Participants should anticipate reading 30 pages per week and watching an occasional video. The format of the class will be a discussion and a brief lecture. 

Required Reading: F. Scott Fitzgerald.  The Great Gatsby, ed. By James L.W. West III.  ISBN 978 0 7432 7356 5 

For the first class: 

1. Read the introduction and foreword to the Great Gatsby (ISBN 978-0-7432-7356-5. The Author Edition with an introduction by Jesmyn Ward and foreword by Eleanor Lanahan (Fitzgerald’s granddaughter). 

2. Read Fitzgerald’s short story, “Winter Dreams” https://gutenberg.net.au/fsf/WINTER-DREAMS.html. Please have an electronic or printed copy available for the first class session. 

Nancy Walters holds an MA in English from Trinity College (Hartford) and an MA in English (ESL) from Southern Illinois University (Edwardsville).  After teaching for forty-five years at Webster Groves High School (St. Louis), St. Louis University, and Lindenwood University, she moved to the Berkshires and became active in OLLI at BCC.  This is the seventh course she has taught for OLLI. 

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