The Great Gatsby and Tender is the Night

[Emil Miller]

There have recently been a couple of interesting comments on this forum regarding the superiority of Scott Fitzgerald's Tender is the Night over that of Gatsby. Having recently read Tender is the Night, I would disagree with that proposition, although I think it is much more autobiographical and the protagonist is obviously based on Fitzgerald himself. Does anyone else have a view on these two very different books?

[Apocrypha75]

I read The Great Gatsby expecting to hate it, but adored it. I am the most unlikely Fitzgerald fan you could imagine, but 'Gatsby' had such an effect on me that I now have Tender is the Night on my book shelf waiting for me. Perhaps I'll drop back and comment once I have read it and compared them.

[Emil Miller]

I read The Great Gatsby expecting to hate it, but adored it. I am the most unlikely Fitzgerald fan you could imagine, but 'Gatsby' had such an effect on me that I now have Tender is the Night on my book shelf waiting for me. Perhaps I'll drop back and comment once I have read it and compared them.

Be prepared for a shock.Tender is the Night is completely different to Gatsby.

[kelby_lake]

My English teacher said she preferred Tender is The Night.
Which of the other novels do you reckon it's most like?

[Emil Miller]

My English teacher said she preferred Tender is The Night.
Which of the other novels do you reckon it's most like?

None of Fitzgerald's novels resemble each other except in the prose style.This Side of Paradise and The Last Tycoon are all different in content as far as I can see.
I believe that the reason some people find Tender is the Night better than Gatsby is because all of the psychology is on the surface ( It has to be as it's about a psychiatrist ) while the psychology in Gatsby is hidden in the symbolism.

[Dark Lady]

I think I preffered Tender is the Night but I'm not sure. When I read The Great Gatsby I'd heard so much about it and it was my friend's favourite novel so I was expecting a lot from it. I think I kept waiting for...something. I don't know what exactly, just a significant moment or epiphany or something that would make me say, "Wow! I get it!" But the moment never came. So, I was pretty disappointed on the whole.

On the other hand, when I read Tender is the Night (much more recently so I remember a lot more about it, which might work in its favour) I wasn't expecting anything. I thought, "I didn't like Gatsby and this is a lesser known Fitzgerald novel so what are the chances I'll like it?" Turns out I did like it. I didn't love it but I was pleasantly surprised.

I am planning on re-reading Gatsby at some point to see whether, with lower expectations, I like it more. So my opinion could change.

[PoeticPassions]

Out of the four novels I have read by Fitzgerald Tender is the Night is my favorite... it moved me in some way, though if you ask me why or how, I do not have a clear answer. I personally love Fitzgerald and think that his prose is at times stunning. So much beauty in his words.

I loved The Great Gatsby as well, though I think that sometimes the book is "over analyzed" so that it has almost become cliche. It doesn't reduce its value, in my opinion, but I can see why people become somewhat tired of it. Perhaps this is why his other works tend to be more liked.

[Scheherazade]

I like Tender is the Night because there are more aspects I can relate to in that book. It touches me at a personal level.

Gatsby, even though a great book, is a book about an era and I find it hard to feel a personal connection to those people or their "causes".

I have to admit that these are the only books of the author I have read - though I have been wanting to read This Side of the Paradise for ever.

[blp]

Tender is the Night gets my vote. I loved it.

[PoeknowsProse]

I'm a big Great Gatsby fan. I think Fitzgerald wrote some of the most beautiful sentences ever written in that book. He was clearly at the height of his powers then, but unfortunately his prime didn't last long due to his alcoholism. With that said, I haven't read Tender is the Night. I'm expecting it to be very good, but am skeptical that it can surpass Gatsby, at least in terms of writing. I'm sure I'm sure I'll enjoy it more than This Side of Paradise though, which, while I'm glad I read, I just didn't like very much.

[manolia]

Tender is the Night gets my vote. I loved it.

I second that :)
The story was great.

[ThousandthIsle]

I am about 2/3 of the way through Tender is the Night right now, and thusfar, I like it better than Gatsby. Tender is the Night is more engaging, I find. And beautifully, beautifully written. This book is more substantial (in terms of length/#of words), and that seems to work at an advantage, allowing Fitzgerald's writing to be more lush than in Gatsby.

[mono]

Wow, great to hear that so many others loved Tender is the Night as well; for anyone interested, manolia and I, primarily, constructed quite a thread here (http://www.online-literature.com/forums/showthread.php?t=41211) if anyone wanted to discuss the novel.
Comparing The Great Gatsby and Tender is the Night seems quite a difficult task, considering that they cover far disparate subjects and plots, but some of the same elements, particularly those of European and American culture, human relations, impulsiveness, and human nature, as broad as that sounds. In that case, choosing a favorite seems more a matter of taste than comparing which novel contains more of the goods, to put it in an elementary term, such as in comparing W. Somerset Maugham's Of Human Bondage and Cakes and Ale, the second of which some people have never heard of, let alone read; it seems so much more like choosing a favorite amid Homer's The Odyssey and The Iliad - a matter of taste more than the implications placed upon it by everyone from book lovers to professors of literature.
Out of the two, I would consider The Great Gatsby vastly and incontestably more philosophical, especially in terms of existentialism and rationalism . . . ***SPOILERS*** . . . particularly when the narratory realizes that Jay Gatsby attempted leaving his entire persona along with his former name, James Gatz, like a snake shedding its skin, for one example. Can one leave one's "former" self behind on a whim, timing it precisely with changing one's name? No, it merely presents a persona to a "third" person, but the one man, Jay Gatsby, no matter how he attempted to avoid James Gatz, just as Ralph Waldo Emerson said of certain individuals of traveling for the purpose of avoid one's self, one may only subject one's self to one's self, despite how s/he attempts to portray his/herself.
Tender is the Night, on the contrary, to me, seems so much more psychological in ways I cannot describe. Again, the cited thread displays some ideas, but the intense thoughts regarding human nature, development, interaction, and deceit I felt overwhelmed me to sway my tastes more towards it than The Great Gatsby. Thus far, I have read nothing more by F. Scott Fitzgerald, but I have every intention to read more, likely This Side of Paradise next . . . :)

[PoeticPassions]

I liked The Beautiful and the Damned as well, mono... so if you venture for more Fitzgerald, that's my recommendation. I think it reflects Fitzgerald's own life and struggles to some degree.

[kelby_lake]

Finished Tender Is The Night. I really loved it- Fitzgerald writes such wonderful prose. It was also more, um, descriptive in romance. His most mature novel, I think.

[Brad Coelho]

Tender was a confessional. I found it to be a gut-wrenching, melancholy window into Fitzgerald's life at his most vulnerable. You could feel his confidence and sense of self-worth erode, sacrificing his soul for his wife (what he was unable to do in reality). There is an intimate, indeliable impression left on any reader w/ this novel....that said, I found Gatsby to be technically brilliant, and its archetype of the have's and the have nots happens to be as timeless a theme as one could imagine in our society. The backdrop, the spectacle of the jazz age, may not be as pervasive an element, but it wrapped the novel in its aesthetic, period piece packaging. The core of it all resembles how vacuous and unattainable the American dream can be, particularly when striving for a mutable, lost past w/ blind eyes. Gatsby's legacy inevitably dissolved alone, abandoned in a vacant bloody pool, like the misguided dream it was.

[Buh4Bee]

I think Gatsby is a better read overall. It's a smooth read with a great plot. Tender is the Night is emotionally hard. It was so difficult to read at times that I was depressed from it during the day. It is a profound novel that carries universal themes. The psychology was also deeply engaging. It took you into the characters, sometimes, too far. I will admit that I wanted to keep reading the book even after it was done. I was left dissatisfied. I couldn't accept the tragedy that is Dick Divers.