James Joyce's "The Dead" or F. Scott Fitzgerald's "The Great Gatsby, which one and wh

[armen_r10]

I read Gatsby recently and should confess have been so stunned that can't pick up a book and read for more than 20 minutes for a few days already. Somehow Gatsby has so elevated (!) my taste that other stuff seem not to satisfy it.

Only once have I had a similar feeling: after I had read "The Dead" by James Joyce. The quality of the prose, his lyricism, almost takes your breath away. You usually don't really enjoy a prose work of fiction—novel, short story, etc.—until you somehow get into the "story" of it—its plot. But these two, Gatsby and The Dead, besides being great stories, had such a poetic quality in every paragraph that you read each word with eagerness—not solely eager to find what will come next, but eager to grasp the image, metaphor, or whatever of that phrase.

I think I prefer Gatsby now, but that might be because it has been the last between the two that I've read. Those who have read both, which one do you prefer and why? And if you know other good works that have this same . . . same "quality" of prose, please name them. Thank you.

[dfloyd]

to an American novel, although you like both, is not easy. I have read both, enjoyed both (in fact all the stories in the Dubliners), but never thought of comparing them. But you wont find another American novel quite like Gatsby simply because it is, perhaps, the best American novel of the 20th century, although many wont agree with this. Try Fitzgerald's The Beautiful and the Damned, then go on to Tender is the Night. Then read the rest of Fitzgerald, novels and short stories.

[Veho]

I wouldn't have thought to compare them either. I wasn't all that affected by The Great Gatsby, it was a nice read but I was kind of left feeling a bit disappointed, as I was expecting great things from "the best American novel of the 20th century", as dfloyd said. The Dead, on the other hand, is a very poignant story and it made an impression on me (we started reading it in an English class but never finished, so I went and bought Dubliners for the sole purpose of finishing it).

I would recommend Brideshead Revisited, if you haven't already read that. I found Waugh's prose to be wonderful and I thought it superior to Fitzgerald's.

[Dinkleberry2010]

xxxxxxx

[dfloyd]

and most of Waugh. I like both. The important thing is to read extensively and let the critics make the claims they want. I only read literature and I never read the academics or critics. Waugh's early comedic works, such as Scoop and Black Mischief, are tremedous farces.

[armen_r10]

Dfloyd, I've read all the Fitz before Gatsby but, frankly, don't think much highly of them. Perhaps a few passages in The Beautiful and Damned and a few of his short stories . . . but the rest? No. This Side of Paradise is just a showing off of lyricism, and seems to be just an excuse for the author to bunch up all his unpublished poems and short stories together to make a novel.

Jermac, I have heard about Wolfe. He doesn't seem to be quite popular now, but I can't tell anything about him. Haven't read any of his.

[soundofmusic]

Fitzgerald was one of my favorite writers. I think, the books that affected me the most were Gatsby and The Last Tycoon...

[prendrelemick]

I never thought of comparing them either, but I prefer The Dead. I think. A lovely ending that works so well because of the beginning. I try not to study the prose style, but to be aware of its effect.

[kasie]

I've read them both and though I rate each highly (imho!) I've never thought of comparing them either. As a previous poster has suggested, do go on and read the rest of Dubliners - Clay is my favourite, there's not a wasted word in it and it's unbelievably poignant.

I'm not a great fan of Lawrence but he has some passages that bring tears to the eyes: there is a brief but lyrical passage near the beginning of The Rainbow when Tom takes the young Anna out to feed the animals, just to get her out of the house while her mother is in the last stages of giving birth which never fails to move me.

[armen_r10]

I try not to study the prose style, but to be aware of its effect.

The effect! :D That's exactly why I juxtaposed Gatsby and The Dead here, because they both . . . they both moved me in a very similar way.

[Katy North]

Gatsby, definitely.

He is the quintessential tragic American... he lives the ideal life but is still denied the one person (or thing, with Daisy it's debatable) that he's always wanted.