(1920), Scott Fitzgerald's first novel, launched him to instant fame at the age of twenty-three and seemed to catch the spirit of a generation of privileged young Americans growing up in the fast-changing world of the early twentieth century. The novel, whose title comes from the penultimate line of “Tiare Tahiti” (1914) by the English poet Rupert Brooke (1887-1915), is a semi-autobiographical work which presents episodes from the boyhood, adolescence and young manhood of its protagonist, Amory Blaine, taking in his relationship with his mother, his schooldays, his student years, his eclectic reading, his ventures into verse and fiction, his love affairs, his service in World War One, his philosophical and political notions, and his changing ideas of himself, of…
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Citation: Tredell, Nicolas. "This Side of Paradise". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 14 January 2008 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=8294, accessed 27 November 2024.]
