Thematic Interpretation
Thematic Interpretation
In “Great Expectations: What Gatsby’s Really Looking For,” literary critic William Deresiewicz tries once again to explain the enduring appeal of a book almost everyone reads either in high school or college, F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby (1925). His essay appeared in The American Scholar just shortly after yet another film version premiered in spring 2013, with Leonardo DiCaprio in the title role.
Reading the Genre
Chances are you have written literary papers in school, analyzing poems or books. Does Deresiewicz’s essay feel like the papers you have prepared? In what ways is it similar and, perhaps more important, how is it different? How do you account for the differences?
A Different Kind of Criticism Lisa Brown has done a series of cartoon-
© 2013 Lisa M. Brown.