핏제럴드의 미국사회 비판

Abstract

Im-SooOut of the three big modern American novelists of the earlier 20th century, Fitzgerald is not regarded to enjoy similar evaluation as his two other contemporaries-Hemingway and Faulkner. Unlike the two nobel prize winners of universal recognition, Fitzgerald has not been considered a serious writer. Instead, he has been simply labelled as "a speaker for young people and society of the 20s. But, if we read his novels and short stories more attentively and carefully, we will find in his works sharp criticism on American society in every aspects. He has left four novels and an unfinished one. But it is generally neglected that he has published great amounts of short stories and some of them are still among the most-frequently quoted ones.His writing career culminated in his early 20's. Stories of this period presented young people following the fashionable American life styles of the most prosperous period. As American economy was stepping backward in the '30s, his short stories also revealed the gloomy atmosphere of the period. It can be summarized that his criticism on American society is directed to the following features: wayward and unprepared attitude for the future, overflowing optimism, lack of responsibility, moral corruption, blind worship of money, emotional incongruity between the South and the North, and the irrational order and moral corruption in Hollywood etc. However, Fitzgerald must have been confident of American superiority to Europeans in the sense of moral resurrection. ＜Kwandong University＞