Project: American or Canadian literature

1. Project: American or Canadian literature The Great Gatsby by Francis Scott Fitzgerald Tereza Fričová Kateřina Petrásková

2. Genres and authors in American or Canadian literature • E. Hemingway – The Old Man and the Sea – a novel • W. Faulkner – Absolom, Absolom! – a novel • T.S. Eliot – The Waste Land - a poem • John Steinbeck - The Grapes of Wrath – a novel • Sinclair Lewis – Arrowsmith – a novel • Sherwood Anderson – Poor White- a novel

3. Our choice The Great Gatsby by F.S. Fitzgerald Publisher: Heineman ELT Published: 1992 , Oxford Reasons: We have chosen this book, because it was recommended to us. We knew the name of the author, but we haven‘t read any books by him yet. We were very curiousto read this book.

4. Author • Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald was born on 24 September 1896 in St Paul, Minnesota. • He started studying at St. Paul Academy, where he showed love of the theatre and writing, in 1917 he left Princeton and joined the army. • The turning point in his life was when he met Zelda Sayre in 1918 and he married her in 1920. • He frequently worked on his novels and wrote short stories. • They (he and his wife) enjoyed the free-thinking, hedonistic pursuits of the roaring twenties. • Fitzgerald was increasingly turning to alcohol,sometimes becoming abusive. • They travelled a lot in Europe and America. • His wife had a nervous breakdown, after that she lived with her mother. • He fell in love with a writer and movie critic Sheilah Graham, he died of a second heart attack at Sheilah‘s apartment in Hollywood.

5. Language I got from the reading – key words and phrases • Annoy – to make someone rather angry or impatient • Be glad - be pleased or happy • Bootlegger– illegally makes, copies or sells something • Crowded – having or containing a lot of people or things • Honeymoon – a holiday spent immediately after the wedding • Lawn – a green areaof grass around a house • Porch – a covered entrance to a house, where people can have a barbecue • Mistress- a woman who is the lover of a man to whom she is not married

6. Quotation • ,,He wasn‘t Jay Gatsby at all first. His name was James Gatz, and he lived in North Dakota. His parents were poor and unsuccessful farm people – in his imagination he had never really accepted them as his parents at all. In his own mind he was a completely different person. Every night as he lay in bed he was troubled by strange thoughts, dreams of an extraordinary and beautiful world which was quite beyond his experience.“ page 41 Translation „On vůbec zprvu nebyl Jay Gatsby. Jeho jméno bylo James Gatz a žil v Severní Dakotě. Jeho rodiče byli chudí a neúspěšní farmáři – v jeho představě je opravdu nikdy nepřijal jako své rodiče. V jeho mysli on byl úplně jiný člověk. Každou noc, když ležel v posteli, byl znepokojený zvláštními myšlenkami, sny o mimořádném a krásném světě, který byl trochu mimo jeho zkušenost.“ Reason: We have chosen this quotation, because it describesthe main hero of the book and shows his young life, his characterand how he differsfrom other people.

7. What we did not know before reading the book • We are glad because the author described in details the time of the twenties when the plot of the book took place. It was very surprising for us. We didn‘t know that a lot of men had mistresses and it was „normal“ for that time. • We have learned something new from geography, because we didn‘t know that the Long Island is so near to New York. • We expected that somebody will die in the plot of the book, but we didn‘t suppose that finally Gatsby will be shot by Mr. Wilson. It was a tragedy for us! • To our big surprise the book was very readable.

8. A main hero and us • The main hero of the book is Jay Gatsby. He is a man, dreamer, romantic and perfectionist. He is mysterious, rich, ambitious, hard-working, independent, careful, not causing any conflicts. He doesn‘t care about gossiping about him, he likes solitude. He cares about himself, he likes wearing a pink suit. • Similar qualities: Terka – ambitious, quite romantic, independent, hard-working Káťa – hard-working, independent, ambitious, smart, she also has got a pink suit • Different qualities: Terka –awoman, realistic, extrovert, she cares about opinions of other people and she doesn‘t like pink colour Káťa – a woman, she cares about opinions of other people, extrovert, not rich, she isn‘t a perfectionist

9. If we were …we would/would not We have got the same opinion about main hero‘s behaviour. From our „women point of view“ we can see his behaviour in some situations differently. • 1.If we were Jay Gatsby and whether our darling knocked somebody down by car we would not stay at home like Jay and would not let her escape with her husband. If we were Jay, we would not care about the husband and we would go away with our lover. • 2.If we were Jay Gatsby, we wouldn‘t have enough courage to return back after many years. And we wouldn‘t agree with his behaviour, because he wanted his darling back and didn‘t care about her family.We don‘t like ruined family by a greedy lover.

10. Recommendation • We recommend this book to everybody! The book is very readable, engaging, with a powerful story. • If you want to know something about the time of twenties, READ THIS BOOK!You will be surprised, what you will find out! • There are interesting heroes in this story and you can‘tguess what will happen next. The book has got a very unpredictable plot! • Soooo……Enjoy your reading!

11. Thank you for attention!

12. Resources • http://kirjasto.sci.fi/fsfitzg.htm • http://www.online-literature.com/fitzgerald/ • http://www.gradesaver.com/author/sherwood-anderson/ • http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/literature/laureates/1930/lewis-autobio.html • http://www.steinbeck.org/Bio.html • FITZGERALD, F.Scott. The Great Gatsby. John Milne; Matilda Harrison. Oxford : Heinemann ELT Guided Readers, 1992. 79 s. ISBN 0 435 27234 9. • http://students.ithaca.edu/~sdowlin1/story/LI-00063-C~Greetings-from-Long-Island-New-York-Map-Posters.jpg • http://www.projectwedding.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/great-gatsby.jpg • http://www.projectwedding.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/great-gatsby.jpg • http://www.theage.com.au/ffximage/2007/01/12/gatsby_wideweb__470x264,0.jpg • http://www.djc.com/blogs/SeattleScape/wp-content/uploads/2008/10/robert-redford1.jpg • http://www.tribuneindia.com/2006/20060903/spectrum/s.jpg • http://static.sky.com/images/skymovies/pics/10093829.jpg • http://www.fadedyouthblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/05/redford.bmp • http://www.liu.edu/cwis/cwp/library/african/2000/1925_01.jpg • http://www.contentmine.de/cmi_dt/portfolios/_img/lovers/00359514.jpg • http://poietes.files.wordpress.com/2008/11/great-gatsby-bw.jpg • http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Film/Pix/pictures/2008/12/30/1230648761469/The-Great-Gatsby-001.jpg • http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2009/02/09/article-1139902-0352D23D000005DC-232_468x286.jpg • http://pro.corbis.com/images/BE070534.jpg?size=67&uid={632D0D4E-7014-49C2-BB34-559F3F58152F} • http://pro.corbis.com/images/BE070524.jpg?size=67&uid={6DC3CCBE-50DA-4A23-9BA1-10D0836A0A33} • http://s.wsj.net/public/resources/images/PT-AK941_STUCK1_G_20090218114122.jpg • http://www.brightlightsfilm.com/58/58_images/58grgeorgia.jpg • http://genealogy.fredquest.com/surnames/fitzgerald/graphics/fitzgerald-edward-catherine700.jpg • http://astrologyofatrainwreck.astrologydetective.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/07/f-scott-and-zelda-fitzgerald-1926.jpg • http://www.editoreric.com/greatlit/authorpics/fitzgerald.jpg • http://mia-farrow.com/Mia-from-Gatsby-copy.jpg