Afternoon of an author : a selection of uncollected stories and essays

"At the outset of what he called "the greatest, the gaudiest spree in history," F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote the novels and stories that brought him instant fame, mastering the glittering prose and keen social observation that would distinguish all his writing. Celebrating the riotous energy and naive optimism of a generation that believed itself liberated from the past, Fitzgerald's early works also sound a plaintive strain beneath the era's wild cacophony, a lament for the wasted potential of youth. His books remain the fullest literary expression of one of the most fascinating eras in American life."--BOOK JACKET.