The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgeralds portrait of the Jazz Age in all its decadence and excess, is, as editor Maxwell Perkins praised it in 1924, "a wonder." It remains one of the most widely read, translated, admired, imitated and studied twentieth-century works of American fiction.

　　This deceptively simple work, Fitzgeralds best known, was hailed by critics as capturing the spirit of the generation. In Jay Gatsby, Fitzgerald embodies some of Americas strongest obsessions: wealth, power, greed, and the promise of new beginnings.

　　The recording includes a selection of letters written by Fitzgerald to his editor, Maxwell Perkins, his agent, Harold Ober, and friends and associates, including Willa Cather, H.L. Mencken, John Peale

　　Bishop and Gertrude Stein.

　　Performed by Tim Robbins