This Side of Paradise

No writer portrayed America’s roaring twenties as vividly as Francis Scott Fitzgerald. In his sparkling stories about elegant ingénues searching for husbands, or the heirs of the Ivy League and their path toward a future tied to idle living, endless dance parties in upscale country clubs, he depicted a culture full of excesses—every bit as reckless as it was refined. “This Side of Paradise” tells the story of the life of ambitious young Emory Blaine. He is extraordinarily handsome and talented, but no less vain and self-centered. After entering Princeton, the young man begins to move within so-called high society—until he discovers that his youthful enthusiasm for life’s indulgences gives way to fatigue and disappointment. Fitzgerald’s first novel—a critical report on his era—won instant acclaim from critics and readers alike and made the author a literary celebrity.