gyzym | everyone suspects himself of at least one of the cardinal virtues

This is totally a post about nothing except The Great Gatsby, and you should PROBABLY IGNORE IT.

1. Did you know that there is a Great Gatsby Game? Because I didn't until

two_if_by_sea told me about it the other night, and I must tell you, my life is enriched. Apparently it was adapted for NES at some point and some guy has put it up online, and it is...oh my god, you guys, it is GLORIOUSLY RIDICULOUS. You have to fight the eyeglasses! You throw your hat at waiters and dancing girls! AHAHAHAHAHAHA FOREVER, ETC.

2. The first time I read Gatsby, I was in 10th grade and had a terrible terrible terrible terrible English teacher. Which, actually, despite being lucky enough to be in an awesome school district, I had a whole spate of terrible English teachers in high school--including my senior year AP Lit teacher, who made us draw pictures of our feelings while we were reading Crime and Punishment, because that's totally an appropriate way to teach Dostoevsky to overachieving 18 year olds, and no, of course I'm not still angry--but I digress. My point is, I read Gatsby in this class with this English teacher who couldn't have gotten me excited about winning the lottery, let alone about the 1920s, but god, I fell in love with it anyway. And I know that makes me a cliche, and I know about all the things that are wrong with it, but I can't ever let go of being 16 and awake at four in the morning reading and rereading, "He smiled understandingly-much more than understandingly. It was one of those rare smiles with a quality of eternal reassurance in it, that you may come across four or five times in life. It faced--or seemed to face--the whole external world for an instant, and then concentrated on you with an irresistible prejudice in your favor. It understood you just as far as you wanted to be understood, believed in you as you would like to believe in yourself."

3. And actually that's what I want to say here, really, about Gatsby--Fitzgerald set out to write the Great American Novel, and then he kind of did. He edited and reworked and rewrote and reshaped that book to death, and say what you will about ego and hubris and the wrong reasons to be writing (and believe me, when it comes to Fitzgerald, I could say a lot), but there's something to that kind of determination, even if it's fucked over and fucked up. I think everyone has that book they read that made them want to read more, made them want to write, and for all it's a cliche Gatsby's mine. Which, of course, is why I can never manage to get past the outlining stages of the Gatsby AU I want to write in every fandom I encounter--my love for this book is stupid and probably unjustified and all consuming, and I can't ever bear to mess with it, even in homage, even for fun.

4. SO READ THIS BOOK IF YOU HAVEN'T YET, GUYS, THAT IS MY POINT. There are problems with it and it's okay if you read it and hate it, but just...you know, just read it. It's this and East of Eden for me (yes, I know you all know that, yes, I know I insert East of Eden in everything, yes, shut up), and this morning I heard these two high school kids bitching that they weren't even gonna bother with the Cliff's notes, and it hurt me. It hurt me in my soul.

5. Have some Kate Beaton for your troubles! Goddamn, but I laughed at these this morning.