The Last Tycoon (Penguin Modern Classics)
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Product Description
Product Description
A mysterious woman stands and smiles at Monroe Stahr, the last of the great Hollywood princes. Enchanted by one another, they begin a passionate but hopeless love affair.
About the Author
F Scott Fitzgerald (1896-1940) left Princeton University in 1917 to join the army. He is said to have epitomized the Jazz Age, which he himself defined as 'a generation grown up to find all Gods dead, all wars fought, all faiths in man shaken'. In 1920 he entered a traumatic marriage which was to influence much of his writing.
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First Sentence
Though I haven't ever been on the screen I was brought up in pictures. Read the first page Browse Sample Pages
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
Though I haven't ever been on the screen I was brought up in pictures. Read the first page Browse Sample Pages
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
The Last Tycoon is what we have of F. Scott Fitzgerald's final novel, tentatively titled The Love of the Last Tycoon, which was uncompleted on his death, of a heart attack, in 1940. Fitzgerald had been working in Hollywood for some years at this point, and his familiarity with the milieu makes for an outsider's view informed by an insider's knowledge of the studio system on the eve of of the Second World War. The central character, Monroe Stahr, is modelled loosely on Irving Thalberg, the 'Boy Wonder' producer who had died in 1936 at the age of only 37. However, much of the story as it exists is narrated or 'reconstructed' by Cecilia Brady, the daughter of one of Stahr's partners and rivals and herself a member of the studio aristocracy.
Unfinished novels are necessarily a minority taste, but anyone who likes Fitzgerald will have to read this. In addition to the surviving novella-length text, this edition presents a very full section of notes which compiles all the surviving material of relevance, allowing the reader to assemble a view of what the completed book might have been like. Even without this additional material, the completed chapters hold the interest continuously. Fitzgerald's view of how films are really made is revelatory, the minor characters are memorable, and the romantic triangle between Stahr, Cecilia and the mysterious Kathleen Moore is beautifully developed.
It's worth pointing out that even in its fragmentary state The Last Tycoon is regularly cited as one of the best novels of Hollywood ever written. It certainly gives the lie to the notion that Fitzgerald had by this point laid waste to his talent with alcohol. We can only wonder what he might have given us had he survived a little longer: the surviving draft text suggests that the completed novel might have rivalled Gatsby.
Unfinished novels are necessarily a minority taste, but anyone who likes Fitzgerald will have to read this. In addition to the surviving novella-length text, this edition presents a very full section of notes which compiles all the surviving material of relevance, allowing the reader to assemble a view of what the completed book might have been like. Even without this additional material, the completed chapters hold the interest continuously. Fitzgerald's view of how films are really made is revelatory, the minor characters are memorable, and the romantic triangle between Stahr, Cecilia and the mysterious Kathleen Moore is beautifully developed.
It's worth pointing out that even in its fragmentary state The Last Tycoon is regularly cited as one of the best novels of Hollywood ever written. It certainly gives the lie to the notion that Fitzgerald had by this point laid waste to his talent with alcohol. We can only wonder what he might have given us had he survived a little longer: the surviving draft text suggests that the completed novel might have rivalled Gatsby.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I enjoyed also the notes at the end of the book regarding the development of the characters.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This was Fitzgerald's ultimate book as he died whilst writing it. It contains the unfinished script as it stood as well as notes on what would have come, and the changes from the original vision.
The script is a tale of the conflict between two men at the heart of Hollywood and the battle over the soul and direction of the movie business. It is a tale that mixes love, lust, business and the struggle between boss and workers.
Without the notes, this feels much like a book half finished; lots of threads have been started but none of them have woven together. The notes confirm the direction to come and provide satisfaction at least that this book truly could have been great. Without the unwritten chapters, it shows glimpses of what could have been.
The script is a tale of the conflict between two men at the heart of Hollywood and the battle over the soul and direction of the movie business. It is a tale that mixes love, lust, business and the struggle between boss and workers.
Without the notes, this feels much like a book half finished; lots of threads have been started but none of them have woven together. The notes confirm the direction to come and provide satisfaction at least that this book truly could have been great. Without the unwritten chapters, it shows glimpses of what could have been.
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