The Annotated Great Gatsby: 100th Anniversary Deluxe Edition

An American classic in a richly illustrated 100th anniversary hardcover edition with illuminating commentary by Fitzgerald scholar James L. W. West III

Newly edited Library of America text corrects numerous errors and restores Fitzgerald's original spelling, bringing readers the most authrotitative Gatsby ever published

Boats against the current, we are borne back ceaselessly to The Great Gatsby. Its unforgettable characters—the conflicted narrator Nick Carraway, the golden girl Daisy Buchanan, and the mysterious Jay Gatsby—its indelible symbols and soaring prose, and its large themes of money, class, and American optimism have an enduring fascination and make The Great Gatsby a frequent candidate for “the Great American novel.”

Now, in this deluxe annotated anniversary edition, James L. W. West provides running commentary on The Great Gatsby, glossing contexts, language, literary allusions, and contemporary references. Dozens of illustrations and photographs throughout the volume vividly recreate the Jazz Age world of Fitzgerald’s most famous novel and chronicle the novel’s rich cultural afterlife, encouraging readers to linger in the margins of this deluxe annotated edition.

Drawn from the authoritative Library of America volume of Fitzgerald’s writings from 1920 to 1926, this deluxe edition presents a new, corrected text of The Great Gatsby by Fitzgerald scholar James W. West based on extensive study of Fitzgerald’s composite manuscript, his working galleys, and his personal reading copy of the novel as all printings of the novel in the author’s lifetime. The Library of America text corrects errors, reinstates Fitzgerald’s preferred American spellings, and incorporates emendations he made on working galley proofs and in his personal copy of the book.

Rounding out the volume is a selection of thirteen letters—also annotated—between Fitzgerald and Maxwell Perkins that concern the composition, editing, and publication of The Great Gatsby and offer a fascinating glimpse into the working relationship between Fitzgerald and his enterprising star editor. Other special features especially useful to readers and students are a preface by James W. West and a detailed chronology of Fitzgerald’s life and career.