'Let me tell you about the very rich. They are different from you and me. They possess and enjoy early, and it does something to them ...'F. Scott Fitzgerald's All the Sad Young Men is widely regarded as the most consistent and cohesive of the four short-story collections the Jazz Age laureate published during his short lifetime (1896-1940). The nine stories featured reveal a fascinating tension between Fitzgerald's innate romanticism and his growing desire to be known as a serious, hardworking professional. Interspersed between celebrated classics like "The Rich Boy", "Winter Dreams", and "Absolution"—all of which resonate with his trademark themes of ambition, glittering wealth, and bittersweet disappointment—are tarter, more prescriptive domestic tales such as "The Baby Party," "Hot and Cold Blood," and "Gretchen's Forty Winks." These parables of marital felicity feature young husbands and fathers resolutely committed to the Protestant work ethic, efficiency, and the pursuit of success.All the Sad Young Men captures Fitzgerald at a pivotal moment of transition, away from the enfant terrible of his early flapper tales into a craftsman with a keen talent for collapsing distinctions between popular and "artistic" fiction. With a great variety of settings, moods both melancholy and comic, and heroes that discover that wizened maturity comes with both great costs and great rewards, these stories present F. Scott Fitzgerald as he desperately wanted to be seen in the Gatsby era-as both an entertainer and an adult. ABOUT THE SERIES: For over 100 years Oxford World's Classics has made available the widest range of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford's commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, helpful notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.
