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/lit/ - Literature

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File: 77 KB, 534x800, THE-GREAT-GATSBY.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
1323454 No.1323454 [Reply] [Original]

I'm curious as to what non-Americans think about The Great Gatsby.

It's a very distinctly American book, and it makes me wonder how readers who are not American feel about it.

>> No.1323477

I haven't read it. But I know my sister did study it during highschool (France here).

>> No.1323484

>>1323454
>very distinctly American book

How?

>> No.1323489

>>1323484
Well, he's Great. That's an inherently American trait, right?

>> No.1323492

>>1323489
Not really.

>> No.1323493

Yeah, I really don't see how it's particularly American.

>> No.1323502

what did you make your last quiz?

>> No.1323504

It's not distinctly American at all. I do know it is considered to be one of the greatest novels ever written in Britain.

>> No.1323507

It was ok, I guess I liked it. I probably wont read it again

>> No.1323518

>>1323489
>Well, he's Great. That's an inherently American trait, right?
Ahhhahaha. No matter how many seppos I come across in my travels, they all seem to think of themselves as a gift to the world. I seriously dont know how America operates with everyone thinking they're king shit.

>> No.1323523

>>1323493
Well as far as I'm concerned it's about the American Dream, set against the a backdrop of the new vs old money culture conflict in the roaring 20s. How is it NOT American?

I'm Australian and I loved it, but I think (like any good book) it required a reasonable amount of background reading to appreciate it in it's context. I'm not the cockgobbling Yankophile kind of Australian either, so it's not like I was particularly predisposed to liking it just for being an American novel.

>> No.1323526

I thought it was mind-numbingly boring (and I live on Long Island!), and I've never really understood why it's so highly regarded in the American Literature community.

>> No.1323543

>>1323523
>backdrop of the new vs old money culture conflict

That was happening in Europe decades earlier and was still happening then. The same kind of attitudes found in The Great Gatsby. It is American, but not exactly distinctly American.

>> No.1323547

>>1323523
>implying the American Dream isn't just a trite, tighter-defined version of common human aspirations
>implying conflicts between "younger" and "older" money, or between any social class, or within a social class, are strictly American
>this entire thread implying that "national literatures" is an idea embraced by anyone outside of back-patting Americans

>> No.1323555

>>1323518
>implying America's operation depends on its citizens
>even America's businessmen, for which the nation is supposed to be renowned, have to be bailed out by their government
I ask you to define "operate," in the context you use it.

>> No.1323560

>>1323526
this.

>> No.1323562
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1323562

Wow, /lit/ hates Americans. Can't really be much of a surprise, considering this whole illiteracy problem Oprah keeps warning me about.

>mfw I am Oprah

>> No.1323564

>>1323526
>>1323560
because it's real well-written, brilliant in its evocation of the time in which it was written, and it's also really 'important' in a literary studies sense

>> No.1323574

>>1323547
>>1323555

Man, bashing America is so trendy, man.

>> No.1323575
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1323575

>>1323564
>real well written
>mfw you use a noun as an adjective

>> No.1323576

>>1323575
shut up you pedantic whore

>> No.1323579
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1323579

>>1323564
>mfw "real well written"

>> No.1323581
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1323581

>>1323579
>>1323575

>> No.1323584
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1323584

>>1323574
It's a pretty serious hobby of mine.
mfw I'm a spoiled middle class American who is just mad because his country is changing

>> No.1323587

>>1323555
By operate I mean functioning as a country.
>>1323574
I thought thats how it was before I went abroad and met countless seppos. Im dating one, she's a cool girl, but damn is her head so far up her ass sometimes.

>> No.1323589
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1323589

>>1323584
>mfw you live in Europe

>> No.1323591

>>1323547
>>1323543
It's the context of the story that matters. Couldn't you trivialize any supposedly distinctly national text into general themes? Books aren't written in a fucking historical and cultural vacuum.

Regardless of the fact that the American Dream is a "trite, tighter-defined version of common human aspirations", Americans (or "American" literature, at the very least) have ingrained it as a defining piece of America's historical and cultural identity. In my opinion it is more than the sum of it's ideals; a book specifically about the American Dream IS a distinctly American book because it carries America's cultural and historical baggage along with those simple human aspirations.

Same goes for the new vs old money culture clash - it was very topical for the roaring 20s in the States. Furthermore, I think that Fitzgerald used the conflict as an analogy for the emergence of the "new" American onto the then predominantly "old" European world stage.

It's been years and years since I read it so I'm the last person who should be defending the book in this regard, save for someone who hasn't read it at all. Nonetheless I hope you find my post worthy of attention and I respectfully await your thoughtful reply.

My kind regards,
Anon.

>> No.1323594

>>1323587
america is a complicated and confusing place and yeah a lot of us are dumbasses BUT we are no different from any other nation in that regard

oh fuck it, who am i kidding, america is screwed, the vast majority of our populace is chronically underinformed, our political system is breaking down, and we're going to be a third world plutocracy in 50 years. i should get out while i still can. god dammit.

>> No.1323599
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1323599

>>1323587
>functioning as a country
>government trillions of dollars in debt to other nations for bailing out its own banks
>and the entire automotive industry
>fuck don't make me go on

>> No.1323600

>>1323587

>implying that there isn't a fair share of Europeans and Australians with their heads up their asses.

>> No.1323608

>>1323594
That's why I'm learning French, my friend.
I have been to every single continental U.S. state, save for Washington state (people who have been around /lit/ for a while might know me as the travelling salesman).
And anyways, let me tell you, it's not good. The situation is dire.

>> No.1323618

>>1323599
So I guess US isnt really functioning all that well
>>1323600
Im not implying that at all. Im Australian, we definitely have our fair share of people with heads up their ass. But I know probably more that are more chilled out and level headed, but maybe thats just where I grew up and the people I chose to associate with. And Id say Europe is the same, but I can't think of one Euro I've met who were completely up themselves

>> No.1323635

>>1323608

I recommend trying Washington state. It's very nice here, if you don't mind shitty weather 9 months a year. It's pretty literate, too.

>> No.1323643

Belgian here, I read it, wouldn't say it's distinctly american. I'd rather say to eastern people it would be distinctly western.

>> No.1323645

my Lit teacher recommended this book, its interesting, im half-way through..

but i just really dont understand it. nothings really happening.. people are just talking.

have you guys read this?
what do you think?

>> No.1323648
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1323648

my Lit teacher recommended this book, its interesting, im half-way through..

but i just really dont understand it, nothings really happening.. people are just talking.

have you guys read this?
what do you think?

>> No.1323650

>>1323635
Sounds like Vermont.

I heard that Mon Pelier has the most book stores per square mile of any city in the US. It's a really awesome place for... people like us.
Also, the downtown district of Mon Pelier has a ban on corporate franchises. No Burger Kings, Subways, etc.
It's probably my favorite place in the US - next to Burlington, Vermont. Which is pretty much a bigger version, but with a college, and therefore, a bunch of pretentious douches.
But I don't live there.
Anyways. Sorry to derail the thread.

>> No.1323666

>>1323526
this so fucking much. Other than the Long Island part.

>> No.1323670

>>1323650
pretty sure that at one point san francisco had both the most book stores and the most bars per capita of any city in the us

>> No.1323678

my Lit teacher recommended this book, its interesting, im half-way through..

but i just really dont understand it, nothings really happening.. people are just talking.

have you guys read this?
what do you think?

>> No.1323682

>>1323678
sorry there's no explosions (yeah, most of the book is just people talking, but that is pretty interesting in its own right)

>> No.1323686

>>1323666
It's consecutively considered one of the greatest novels ever written for many reason. I can't understand how you were bored, I sure as hell wasn't. And it's not just popular among Americans, it's popular in all of the Anglosphere. outside that I have no idea how it is received.