Americans are flocking to a Broadway play and awaiting a new film version of F Scott Fitzgerald's novel about the golden age before the Great Depression It is a perfect fit for America's modern gilded, doomed age: a tale of thwarted ambition to live the good life where the American dream disappears from the grasp of those who want it the most. Just as recession-weary Britons have flocked to Downton Abbey, perhaps seeking escape into a past of social certainties and national might, so Americans have reached back in time to one of the country's literary masterpieces: The Great Gatsby. F Scott Fitzgerald's landmark novel tells the story of the mysterious Jay Gatsby who sets the louche social scene of Long Island on fire with his style, parties and enigmatic persona. It was hailed as emblematic of the Jazz Age of the 1920s; a portrait of decadent fun and impossible dreams complete with a poignant message of exclusion and fraud that presaged the coming Great Depression of the 1930s. Given the spirit of the novel, it is perhaps no surprise that The Great Gatsby is rising again in America's cultural landscape of 2010. Across the continent, Gatsby is back. In New York the great Broadway hit of the summer was the epic Public Theater production Gatz, where the entire book is read out in an eight-hour marathon. The show, which begins at 3pm and ends at 11pm, is so long that exhausted patrons get a dinner break halfway through. "It is an event show. People are flocking to it, and it has got such great reviews," said Dan Bacalzo of Broadway website Theatermania. "All normal rules for measuring time are suspended in that beautiful twilight zone that exists between words on paper and the mind's eye," gushed a New York Times review. Others dubbed it "mesmerising" and "extraordinary". At the same time Hollywood is abuzz about director Baz Luhrmann's decision to shoot a new film version of the book, starring Leonardo DiCaprio as the title character. Indeed, the hottest casting decision of the summer in Tinseltown concerned the identity of the actress chosen to play the role of Daisy Buchanan. A-list names such as Keira Knightley, Scarlett Johansson and Natalie Portman were all named as in the running. But the winner of the Great Gatsby prize was English actress Carey Mulligan, who broke down in tears on the red carpet of a fashion show when she heard the news last week. Earlier this year the Washington Ballet performed its own adaptation of the novel. The Gatsby revival is not just limited to America's East and West coasts. It is happening in the heartland, too. In Madison, Wisconsin, the Madison Symphony Orchestra has become only the third orchestra to perform theGreat Gatsby Suite, a difficult work based on a 1999 opera of the book. The piece's music reflects the arc of the book with an energetic start steadily progressing into a much darker mood as Gatsby's carefully constructed, but unreal, world falls apart. It received glowing reviews. Literary experts believe that many of the themes associated with the book will resonate in a country coming to terms with the end of a great economic boom and experiencing unemployment and hardship: they look back with longing to the Roaring Twenties and a time when the boom seemed to suggest that outrageous wealth was a possibility for everyone. It is something that many Americans facing mass unemployment and the economic wreckage left by a burst property bubble can relate to. "The 1920s were the first fetishised decade. That is part of the legacy ofThe Great Gatsby. In that sense it describes a moment of prosperity just before a crash," said Keith Gandal, a literature lecturer at City University of New York, who is teaching Gatsby to his students this year. Of course, what Gatsby is actually about has always been hotly debated since it was published in 1925. Gandal argues that the book is in many ways dealing with the subject of a greater opening up of American society in the wake of the first world war as non-Wasp Americans – as Gatsby turns out to be – are striving successfully to enter high society and take over the pillars of the American establishment. "In fact this is set in a society where everything is opening up and the Wasp elite is pushing back. It is not necessarily a story of exclusivity," Gandal said. But in most popular culture the book has been interpreted the other way around: as depicting the illusory nature of the American dream. It seems likely that Luhrmann's project will follow that route, sticking to the spirit of previous film adaptations, such as the 1974 version starring Robert Redford and Mia Farrow in the roles of Gatsby and Daisy. The Australian director has said he sees parallels between the rise and fall of Gatsby and the tragedy of our modern economic hard times. In an interview with the Hollywood Reporter he said: "If you wanted to show a mirror to people that says, 'You've been drunk on money', they're not going to want to see it. But if you reflected that mirror on another time, they'd be willing to. People will need an explanation of where we are and where we've been – and The Great Gatsby can provide that explanation." America seems to be very much agreeing with him. A poll taken by ABC News and Yahoo in September asked Americans if they thought the American dream was dead. A remarkable 43% of those surveyed replied that it was. Not surprisingly, those already rich were likely to be more receptive to the idea that it still existed than those with less money, implying the dream has become a preserve of the wealthier classes. Yet that goes against its core ideal, according to which wealth and status are open to anyone provided they work hard enough. Like Gatsby himself, a country known for its cheery optimism is coming to terms with a brutal reality check. The lessons taught by The Great Gatsby are living on. DEATH OF A SALESMAN The salesman has been a literary archetype in this most capitalist society. Arthur Miller's play and lead character, Willie Loman, turned the ideal on its head with Loman's realisation that his pursuit of a career has not led to greatness. THE CATCHER IN THE RYE This 1951 novel by JD Salinger became a symbol of youthful rebellion. Its teenage antihero Holden Caulfield rejects the American Dream, believing innocence only exists in childhood. BONFIRE OF THE VANITIES Tom Wolfe's 1987 novel depicts the gulf between Wall Street's "Masters of the Universe" and the deprivation in New York. These worlds collide when a bond trader is involved in a hit-and-run. THE GRAPES OF WRATH John Steinbeck's tale of a family fleeing the Oklahoma dust bowl (starring Henry Fonda, pictured) was intended as an attack on the Depression and the "greedy bastards" responsible for it.The Great Gatsby grips US again as a classic tale of decadence and decline
THE DECLINE OF THE AMERICAN DREAM
Monday, 22 November 2010
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