Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

The Great Gatsby is the most misunderstood novel (2021)

bbc.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

171–180 of 182 posts

Re: The Great Gatsby is the most misunderstood novel (2021)

#171

Post by mexicocitinluez »

noname123 wrote: post #161
mexicocitinluez wrote: post #160

Earlier quoted context omitted.

/ My reading of On the Road is Jack Kerouac’s ultimate realization that their restless wandering is really a narcissistic chase—sex, jazz, drugs—to fill an inner void. I don’t think the novel supports “narcissism” as a central answer that explains everything. The book is much more about restless hunger for experience and living in the moment. And jazz in particular isn’t framed as a symptom of emptiness; it functions…

Thank you for your response. My last word is one of my favorite film is "Y tu mamá También" where my favorite character de la película es Mexico, life is like foam, so give yourself away like the sea. Puedes vivir el momento, pero tu posición social es para siempre. Hope you have a great day/year.

Likewise.

If you like that style, check out Renaldo Arenas. Watch the movie "Before Night Falls".

Re: The Great Gatsby is the most misunderstood novel (2021)

#172

Post by Izkata »

tbrownaw wrote: post #17
hutao wrote: post #6

Today, we tend to see The Great Gatsby as a work of historical literature, as it gives a window into the Roaring Twenties. However, F. Scott Fitzgerald did not set out to depict the past; he was depicting his own present. Similarly, Proust's literature is seen as a window into the French high-society of the Belle Epoque, a society in which Proust lived. Which works today do you think future generations will see as th…

> Which works today do you think future generations will see as the classics of the 2010s and 2020s? South Park? Maybe collectively those "actually the villain is just misunderstood" movies I hear are becoming a thing recently? They seem like a decent candidate for the "window into the culture of the time" thing. Some of those wide-audience computer games like Candy Crush and Farmville?

> Maybe collectively those "actually the villain is just misunderstood" movies I hear are becoming a thing recently?

This trend is a good decade or more old. First one I can think of offhand was the 2013 movie Maleficent.

Re: The Great Gatsby is the most misunderstood novel (2021)

#173

Post by Izkata »

tayo42 wrote: post #54
KPGv2 wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No one even talks about GOT anymore bc the ending was so bad. > No ending was going to be good Why do you say that? Plenty amazing shows have great endings. And GOT isn't some uniquely incredible story. Killing MCs is not new to GOT, either, and you give that show too much credit. Lost did it long before GOT. 24. Grey's Anatomy is SUPER famous for it. They killed off like half the original cast in a single helicopter…

None of those shows were a pop culture phenomenon like got was when it was on. It only ended a few years ago. The office took over 10 years to have a popularity resurgence.

Lost was for its first season or two. It just got steadily worse instead of suddenly worse like Game of Thrones.

Re: The Great Gatsby is the most misunderstood novel (2021)

#174

Post by hackeraccount »

thijson wrote: post #164
takoid wrote: post #21

I always enjoyed D’Angelo Barksdale’s interpretation from The Wire: > D’Angelo: "He’s saying that the past is always with us. Where we come from, what we go through, how we go through it—all that shit matters. Like at the end of the book, you know, boats and tides and all. It’s like you can change up, right? You can say you’re somebody new, you can give yourself a whole new story. But, what came first is who you real…

The show itself was pretty good too.

My favorite scene in the show was two kids talking about Baltimore.

Don't you ever just want to get out?

Get out of what?

Re: The Great Gatsby is the most misunderstood novel (2021)

#175

Post by ErroneousBosh »

reassess_blind wrote: post #168
ErroneousBosh wrote: post #120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I never really understood Infinite Jest, and I've tried to read it several times over the past couple of decades. I don't really get on with the "wacky wacky wacky" nonsense humour, and the constant sesquipedalian polysyllablism in every incongruent sentence makes it read like it was written by a smartarse 14-year-old who has just found they can look up long words in a thesaurus and thinks it makes them sound clever.…

“sesquipedalian polysyllablism”. One might have the same critiques about your word choice.

Do you think there might have been a reason why I wrote that way?

Hint: this question is easy if you passed high school English.

Re: The Great Gatsby is the most misunderstood novel (2021)

#176

Post by Stargirl1 »

I just found your website, and I am fascinated by the discussion. Most who comment are rational and serious about literature. Such a plus these days. Anyway, it caught my eye because I'm writing, well trying to write, about Gatsby. I have mixed feelings about the book, but I have mixed feelings about most things. I don't think Fitzgerald necessarily set out to write a commentary on the 1920's. Like most writers he just set out to write the story in his head, and the story in his head turned out to be relatable to the culture in many ways. And he didn't even know that "...sometimes a great notion."

Re: The Great Gatsby is the most misunderstood novel (2021)

#177

Post by pyuser583 »

noname123 wrote: post #80
yanhangyhy wrote: post #67

Personally, aside from Russian literature, I now prefer American literature, which I think is underestimated in China. I really like that film adaptation, but what the film expresses is something else, not the same as the novel’s core theme. My own understanding is that American literature has at least three themes that are very distinctive and different from Europe(or other countries). One is the depiction of desola…

As a Chinese-American, in my humble opinion the Great Gatsby is the 1920's version of "On the Road", "American Psycho" and "Liar's Poker". In another words, it is about the American spirit to chase money/success/glamour in spite of the protagonist's preconceived understanding that doing so would end up ultimately futile and empty. "Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgasmic future that year by year recedes befo…

"Orgiastic future" - Fitzgerald simply assumed the word "orgiastic" existed, as a more clinical word for "orgasmic". His editors pointed out it did not, but he liked it more and insisted it be used.

Re: The Great Gatsby is the most misunderstood novel (2021)

#178

Post by pyuser583 »

sometimes_all wrote: post #72

While I'm not an American, I read a bit of American literature, and sometimes I feel that many American children/teenagers are exposed to the classics slightly early, before they can accurately pick up nuances, understand the social structure of the setting, and are able to grasp the different strengths and foibles of human beings, both real and fictional. This tends to make them either misunderstand the text, read i…

Americans are often shocked when they reread the classics in their 40s. But that's one of the nice parts of the classics - you get something very different from them depending on where you are in life.

Re: The Great Gatsby is the most misunderstood novel (2021)

#179

Post by themeiguoren »

sometimes_all wrote: post #72

While I'm not an American, I read a bit of American literature, and sometimes I feel that many American children/teenagers are exposed to the classics slightly early, before they can accurately pick up nuances, understand the social structure of the setting, and are able to grasp the different strengths and foibles of human beings, both real and fictional. This tends to make them either misunderstand the text, read i…

I completely agree. Even if I was able to understand the story and appreciate the prose in middle school, I can see looking back that I lacked the life experience to appreciate a lot of the undertones and unspoken themes.

I distinctly remember being completely bewildered when we read "Hills Like White Elephants" [1] and our teacher told us it was about an abortion, and ultimately about commitment and relationships and the ungraspable decision points that define a life. I remember rereading the text, not finding those words anywhere, and being confused about how a man and woman having a halting conversation at a train stop might have possibly given her that takeaway. But now of course it's achingly obvious.

Jane Austen similarly passed me by in high school. I needed to understand women a lot better before Pride & Prejudice started to make sense.

Even still when I read the classics, there are some where I can appreciate the themes but which are too abstract to me for them to resonate. The difference from when I was young is that now I can tell that there's more story waiting to be told once I've lived more life. Maybe in another 20 years.

[1] https://jerrywbrown.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/Hills-Lik...

Re: The Great Gatsby is the most misunderstood novel (2021)

#180

Post by reassess_blind »

ErroneousBosh wrote: post #175
reassess_blind wrote: post #168

Earlier quoted context omitted.

“sesquipedalian polysyllablism”. One might have the same critiques about your word choice.

Do you think there might have been a reason why I wrote that way? Hint: this question is easy if you passed high school English.

Ah. I’ve never read it, but if it’s really as bad as your example then I’ll make sure to avoid it.
Post reply on HN