Abstract
At perhaps its most basic level, literature explores how to live (a representation of living), and philosophy, in part, examines what living means (an application to living). Though seemingly paradoxical, the authors and philosophers who deal extensively with and primarily study questions of existence are also those who most often confront the matter of death. The overlapping thanatological discussions between the two disciplines (real death in one and represented death in the other) provide insight into what is to be made of life in light of death. F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896-1940) so pervasively includes death in his fiction that experiences with death become a framework for life, with death being an informant on how to live. This analysis is enhanced when read with a philosophical lens and alongside particular philosophical understandings of death. Among the philosophers who have studied death extensively, most apparent is Jean-Paul Sartre (1905-1980) as evident in Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby (1925). This paper presents a close reading of the novel, revealing Fitzgerald’s characters of bad faith as connected to death. Just as Sartre’s philosophy of death is tied up in his theory of meaning, Fitzgerald’s characters explore specific elements of Sartre’s theory of meaning alongside death. This exploration culminates in Sartre’s for-itself as responsible for the dead, with Fitzgerald’s protagonist attributing meaning to Gatsby after his death.
Presenters
Rebecca Lee CurryPh.D. Student (ABD), English, Middle Tennessee State University, United States
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
KEYWORDS
American, Mimesis, Perspectives, Real, Representation, Theory, Meaning, Interdisciplinary, Philosophy, Literature
