The Great Gatsby is not only one of the greatest American novels but also one of the most perplexing. Is its theme a peculiar and simplified view of the American Dream as the masculine drive to pursue status, material wealth, and sensual gratification—and the consequences of that pursuit?  Fitzgerald’s masterwork certainly presents the pains of amorous loss and seems to suggest that wealth does not make for enduring happiness. But is there more to this modern literary classic? Something deeper? Are there elements of what C. S. Lewis called “the dialectic of desire”? Does the failure of all worldly desires to satisfy our deepest needs suggest a desire and a need for something the world can't provide? Is The Great Gatsby a cautionary tale? If so, about what is it cautioning the reader? These great questions asked by the novel are in need of answers. Such answers are offered or at least suggested by the critics whose essays accompany this edition of Fitzgerald's beguiling novel.

The Ignatius Critical Editions represent a tradition-oriented alternative to popular textbook series such as the Norton Critical Editions or Oxford World Classics, and are designed to concentrate on traditional readings of the Classics of world literature. While many modern critical editions have succumbed to the fads of modernism and post-modernism, this series will concentrate on tradition-oriented criticism of these great works. Edited by acclaimed literary biographer, Joseph Pearce, the Ignatius Critical Editions will ensure that traditional moral readings of the works are given prominence, instead of the feminist, or deconstructionist readings that often proliferate in other series of 'critical editions'. As such, they represent a genuine extension of consumer-choice, enabling educators, students and lovers of good literature to buy editions of classic literary works without having to 'buy into' the ideologies of secular fundamentalism.

The series is ideal for anyone wishing to understand great works of western civilization, enabling the modern reader to enjoy these classics in the company of some of the finest literature professors alive today.