The Short Stories of F. Scott Fitzgerald: A New Collection

Bruccoli's ( Some Sort of Epic Grandeur ) collection of 43 Fitzgerald stories includes 23 not featured in Malcolm Cowley's landmark 1951 collection, expanding the canon of a peerless American writer who was deeply ambivalent about the role of short fiction in his art. Published in commercial magazines (e.g., the Saturday Evening Post ), the stories brought their author as much as $4000 each--but also exacted a price, distracting Fitzgerald from work on his novels. Regardless, many of the stories are unequalled in achievement--inspirited with a delicate wit, a shrewd perception of character and a poetic sense of place--and lead us through Fitzgerald's rich creative chronology, from unforgettable evocations of the enchanting but ruthless social whirl of the young in the 1920s (``Bernice Bobs Her Hair'') to the exhaustion of spirit chronicled 16 years later in ``Afternoon of an Author.'' Among the 23 stories, nearly all of which have appeared previously in magazines, is one--``Last Kiss''--published for the first time in the author's final revision. Invaluable to Fitzgerald admirers, Bruccoli's collection should also capture a new generation of readers. BOMC alternate, QPB main selection . (Oct.)