Gatsby's Oxford: Scott, Zelda, and the Jazz Age Invasion of Britain: 1904-1929

by Christopher A. Snyder

The story of F. Scott Fitzgerald's creation of Jay Gatsby—war hero and Oxford man—at the beginning of the Jazz Age, when the City of Dreaming Spires attracted an astounding array of intellectuals, including the Inklings, W.B. Yeats, and T.S. Eliot.

A diverse group of Americans came to Oxford in the first quarter of the twentieth century—the Jazz Age—when the Rhodes Scholar program had just begun and the Great War had enveloped much of Europe. Scott Fitzgerald created his most memorable character—Jay Gatsby—shortly after his and Zelda’s visit to Oxford. Fitzgerald’s creation is a cultural reflection of the aspirations of many Americans who came to the University of Oxford.

Beginning in 1904, when the first American Rhodes Scholars arrived in Oxford, this book chronicles the experiences of Americans in Oxford through the Great War to the beginning of the Great Depression. This period is interpreted through the pages of The Great Gatsby, producing a vivid cultural history. Archival material covering Scholars who came to Oxford during Trinity Term 1919—when Jay Gatsby claims he studied at Oxford—enables the narrative to illuminate a detailed portrait of what a “historical Gatsby” would have looked like, what he would have experienced at the postwar university, and who he would have encountered around Oxford—an impressive array of artists including W.B. Yeats, Virginia Woolf, Aldous Huxley, and C.S. Lewis.

Genres: Nonfiction, History

376 pages, Hardcover

Published April 2, 2019

Reviews

[Laurie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book loosely- very loosely- ties the fictional Jay Gatsby to Oxford. The author posits that being an ‘Oxford man’ is very important to Gatsby’s image and ability to enter high society; he would not be able to pursue Daisy without this in his background. The author then carries this to show that, were Gatsby a real person (and if the character had really gone to Oxford, which is dubious given some clues in the story) he would have seen certain places, met certain people, and examined certain ideas. Given that, the author then tells us about those people, places, and ideas in detail.

He tells us about the various castes that inhabit Oxford: the athletes, idealists, poets, and enlisted men. He tells us about the medievalism and romanticism of Oxford of the time. And he tells us about Tolkein, Waugh, C.S. Lewis, Woolf, Yeats, Eliot, Huxley, and Churchill, among many others.

The text wanders and goes into great detail. The author seemed intent on showing us every single influence that might have touched Fitzgerald (who was at Oxford with his wife, Zelda, for a few months) and Gatsby, the history of that influence, and possibly the influences brother-in-law. We get how Princeton was set up to be like Oxford, how race was dealt with, the Jazz Age, and even what businesses were run later by Oxford men. It really seemed like he was carrying things a bit far at times.

Because of this, I found some parts of the book very interesting and some, well, less so. The chapter on Tolkein & Lewis I loved, as well as the one on the Jazz age. The one on American Rhodes scholars really lost me a few times, as did the one on Princeton. I suspect many people will wish to pick and choose which chapters to read- although there is so much wandering even inside chapters one risks either missing something really interesting or being bored to tears. Four stars.

[Sevelyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

This cannot have been an easy project to execute and get published. The reason behind my high rating is my own biased interest in the interwar period in England. So if you are interested in Gatsby, Fitzgerald, Oxford, or the interwar period, then it is a must read. The main focus here is on Gatsby and the tie to Oxford is tough to follow at times. The second half seemed much less labored, picking up on New York jazz, the Pre-Raphaelites, modernity, and the Bright Young People in London. So at times the book reads like the work of an academic who was forced by his publisher to give the book a popular title to help sell it to the Downton Abbey masses. Other passages read as if they are cut out of current-and-choice nonfiction, something akin to what one gleans from Scott Berg’s and Garrett Peck’s bestsellers, but here dipping occasionally into esoterica. To be fair to the author, such are the times we live in, and such is the state of the publishing industry. But the book is painstaking researched and the writing purposeful. The topic, of course, is magical.

Et in Arcadia ego.

[Jypsy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Anything Gatsby always interest me. It's an intriguing time period. Gatsby and the people surrounding him were glamorous, fabulous lay abouts. Gatsby's Oxford is informative and engaging. The characters are themselves. Great read if you are interested in Gatsby. Thanks to NetGalley for an arc in exchange for an honest review.

[Brian · Rating 3 out of 5]

I concur with the other reviewers on here that I am just not sure what to make of this book. It tries very had to be a scholarly academic written book but more often then not delves into naming famous authors and when they were at Oxford. I kept waiting for it to dive more into F. Scott but there were long stretches where I feel like he was not mentioned at all. Some interesting tidbits and theories on the creation of Gatsby but when he was discussed I was hoping for more background or presentation of evidence. If you are a literature enthusiast there is some nice gems in here that I have not seen presented elsewhere but for the casual reader I think you will wind up frustrated as I did waiting for this to become something more.

[Hal · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fairly well written analysis of F. Scott Fitzgerald's "The Great Gatsby" and how it intertwined with his exposure to Oxford and the tie in with age of the writing and the main character Jay Gatsby. Fitzgerald was for most as much an enigma as his writings and success or lack there of in his lifetime. They will forever be linked to the "Jazz Age" and aftermath of WWI.

In this book Christopher Snyder looks at much of the history and literary giants who came through the prestigious university or were in some way connected. Fitzgerald visited the campus and was influenced by the culture and romance of the institution that led to his writings and influences in these novels. The author connects this with a medieval link of the honor and nature of knighthood. Though it can be meandering at times the book does a good job of illustrating the influence of the college on young men who either marched off to war or wrote about it. Eventually it transformed into the aftermath that became the wandering soles of the jazz age and the Gatsby types that were connected to it.

[Jackie Podolski · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF. I had to stop in chapter 4 when what seemed like an interesting thesis requiring a lot of speciation yet interesting history became too much. Even before this chapter began, u doubted that Snyder was writing about Fitzgerald or Gatsby because if the goal is to explore race and religion in The Great Gatsby alongside both within Oxford Society within the Jazz Age, then do it with a close reading of the novel and Gatsby's identity next to those of prominent, or first, black and Jewish American Oxonians. Snyder does not do this. Rather, he throws or modem terms with little significant meaning, such as cultural appropriation, with little tied to Fitzgerald or Gatsby. If Snyder wanted to write a history of Oxford through multiple lenses, then that's the book he should have written leaving the faint hints of literary criticsm behind.

[Robert · Rating 4 out of 5]

As noted in most of the reviews, the connection between Fitzgerald and The Great Gatsby on the one hand and the history of Oxford between 1813 and 1945 (to give the full extent of the period covered) seems rather tenuous at first and at best, but Snyder indeeds finds a true line between them. He also manages to give a pretty full picture of both Fitzgerald and all the Oxonians so that, by the end, the attentive reader sees the myriad threads that bind the two together. Gatsby, the preeminent symbol of the American Jazz Age and the protagonist of what many still call the Great American Novel (of the first half of the 20th century, at least) is as much a product of the dreamers and rememberers of Oxford as Ryder (Waugh), Gandalf, and Narnia.

[Judith Squires · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm a huge Fitzgerald and Gatsby fan and I discovered this book at local consignment store. It is quite academic and goes into a lot of detail about Oxford and its illustrious history and famous literary connections. It makes the Gatsby connection because of Jay Gatsby's claim of having spent time there in an actual program that existed for American military officers right after World War I. It's an unusual book, but I learned a lot and will ad it to my collection of anything related to F. Scott Fitzgerald. The cover art alone was well worth the price.

[Lisa Mcbroom · Rating 2 out of 5]

The Great Gatsby is one of my favorite novels. I love the 1920s and Daisy Buchanan is one of my favorite characters. Some topics in the book are interesting such as Fitzgerald's obsession with Oxford and how the subject is approached in his novels. Also theories of Gatsby being African American, Medevil themes, Scott and Zelda's obsession with fairy tales, but unfortunately Sny der writing is dry as the Sahara Desert!

[Rory Gillis · Rating 3 out of 5]

Would definitely have given 3.5 stars if possible. This was a really enjoyable little book, with lots of nice stories about American students abroad in Oxford. I can’t really rate it higher though because I think the central thesis about Oxford’s importance to Gatsby is massively overstated - the book is often as interesting when talking about Waugh or other classic authors.

[Gina Dalfonzo · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's very well-researched and informative, but I'm not sure it really achieves its goals. 2.5 stars, rounded up to 3.