Just learned from a footnote in 'The Great Gatsby' that Fitzgerald wanted the title to be 'Under the Red, White, and Blue'.

I was reading the back notes in my old paperback copy last night and that fact just jumped out at me. It completely changes how I see the whole book's theme about the American dream. Has anyone else's book club argued about what the title should have been?

3 comments

3 Comments

kim.xena1mo ago

Good thing his editor had some taste.

price.tara1mo ago

Oh man, totally. I read his first draft online once and wow, it was a mess. The editor must have cut like half of it and fixed all the weird jokes.

grace_knight701mo ago

Seriously, that title would have been way too on the nose. It reminds me of when my high school English teacher made us argue about whether "To Kill a Mockingbird" should have been called "Atticus." We spent a whole class yelling at each other and got nowhere, but it did make us actually read the book. Sometimes the obvious title is just the wrong one.