The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and Other Jazz Age Stories

by F. Scott Fitzgerald

  THE CAMEL’S BACK

  I suppose that of all the stories I have ever written this one cost me the least travail and perhaps gave me the most amusement. As to the labor involved, it was written during one day in the city of New Orleans, with the express purpose of buying a platinum and diamond wrist watch which cost six hundred dollars. I began it at seven in the morning and finished it at two o’clock the same night. It was published in the “Saturday Evening Post” in 1920, and later included in the O. Henry Memorial Collection for the same year. I like it least of all the stories in this volume.

  My amusement was derived from the fact that the camel part of the story is literally true; in fact, I have a standing engagement with the gentleman involved to attend the next fancy-dress party, to which we are mutually invited, attired as the latter part of the camel—this as a sort of atonement for being his historian.

  MAY DAY

  This somewhat unpleasant tale, published as a novelette in the “Smart Set” in July, 1920, relates a series of events which took place in the spring of the previous year. Each of the three events made a great impression upon me. In life they were unrelated, except the general hysteria of that spring which inaugurated the Age of Jazz, but in my own story I have tried, unsuccessfully, I fear, to weave them into a pattern—a pattern which would give the effect of those months in New York as they appeared to at least one member of what was then the younger generation.

  PORCELAIN AND PINK

  “And do you write for any other magazines?” inquired the young lady. “Oh yes,” I assured her. “I have had some stories and plays in the

  ‘Smart Set,’ for instance——”

  The young lady shivered.

  “The ‘Smart Set!’ ” she exclaimed. “How can you? Why, they publish stuff about girls in blue bathtubs, and silly things like that!”

  And I had the magnificent joy of telling her that she was referring to “Porcelain in Pink,” which had appeared there several months before.

  FANTASIES

  THE DIAMOND AS BIG AS THE RITZ

  These next stories are written in what, were I of imposing stature, I should call my “second manner.” “The Diamond as Big as the Ritz,” which appeared last summer in the “Smart Set,” was designed utterly for my own amusement. I was in that familiar mood characterized by a perfect craving for luxury, and the story began as an attempt to feed that craving on imaginary foods.

  One well-known critic has been pleased to like this extravaganza better than anything I have written. Personally I prefer “The Off Shore Pirate.” But, to tamper slightly with Lincoln: If you like this sort of thing, this, possibly, is the sort of thing you’ll like.

  THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON

  This story was inspired by a remark of Mark Twain’s to the effect that it was a pity that the best part of life came at the beginning and the worst part at the end. By trying the experiment upon only one man in a perfectly normal world I have scarcely given his idea a fair trial. Several weeks after completing it, I discovered an almost identical plot in Samuel Butler’s “Note-books.”

  This story was published in “Collier’s” last summer and provoked this startling letter from an anonymous admirer in Cincinnati:

  “Sir—

  I have read the story of Benjamin Button in Collier’s and I wish to say that as a short story writer you would make a good lunatic. I have seen many pieces of cheese in my life but of all the pieces of cheese I have ever seen you are the biggest piece. I hate to waste a piece of stationary on you but I will.”

  TARQUIN OF CHEAPSIDE

  Written almost six years ago, this story is a product of undergraduate days at Princeton. Considerably revised, it was published in the “Smart Set” in 1921. At the time of its conception I had but one idea—to be a poet—and the fact that I was interested in the ring of every phrase, that I dreaded the obvious in prose if not in plot, shows throughout. Probably the peculiar affection I feel for it depends more upon its age than upon any intrinsic merit.

  O RUSSET WITCH!

  When this was written I had just completed the first draft of my second novel, and a natural reaction made me revel in a story wherein none of the characters need be taken seriously. And I’m afraid that I was somewhat carried away by the feeling that there was no ordered scheme to which I must conform. After due consideration, however, I have decided to let it stand as is, although the reader may find himself somewhat puzzled at the time element. I had best say that however the years may have dealth with Merlin Grainger, I myself was thinking always in the present.

  It was published in the “Metropolitan.”

  UNCLASSIFIED MASTERPIECES

  THE LEES OF HAPPINESS

  Of this story I can say that it came to me in an irresistible form, crying to be written. It will be accused perhaps of being a mere piece of sentimentality, but, as I saw it, it was a great deal more. If, therefore, it lacks the ring of sincerity, or even of tragedy, the fault rests not with the theme but with my handling of it.

  It appeared in the “Chicago Tribune,” and later obtained, I believe, the quadruple gold laurel leaf or some such encomium from one of the anthologists who at present swarm among us. The gentleman I refer to runs as a rule to stark melodramas with a volcano or the ghost of John Paul Jones in the rôle of Nemesis, melodramas carefully disguised by early paragraphs in Jamesian manner which hint dark and subtle complexities to follow. On this order:

  “The case of Shaw McPhee, curiously enough, had no bearing on the almost incredible attitude of Martin Sulo. This is parenthetical and, to at least three observers, whose names for the present I must conceal, it seems improbable, etc., etc., etc.,” until the poor rat of fiction is at last forced out into the open and the melodrama begins.

  MR. ICKY

  This has the distinction of being the only magazine piece ever written in a New York hotel. The business was done in a bedroom in the Knicker-bocker, and shortly afterward that memorably hostelry closed its doors forever.

  When a fitting period of mourning had elapsed it was published in the “Smart Set.”

  JEMINA

  Written, like “Tarquin of Cheapside,” while I was at Princeton, this sketch was published years later in “Vanity Fair.” For its technique I must apologize to Mr. Stephen Leacock.

  I have laughed over it a great deal, especially when I first wrote it, but I can laugh over it no longer. Still, as other people tell me it is amusing, I include it here. It seems to me worth preserving a few years—at least until the ennui of changing fashions suppresses me, my books, and it together.

  With due apologies for this impossible Table of Contents, I tender these tales of the Jazz Age into the hands of those who read as they run and run as they read.

  EXPLANATORY NOTES

  As tales of an “age,” the stories collected in Flappers and Philosophers and Tales of the Jazz Age contain dozens of references to contemporary events, personalities, sites, and objects, as well as to the literary works that Fitzgerald read as a Princeton undergraduate and to which he referred in his novels and stories throughout his career. The notes gloss a representative number of these in order to provide a cultural context for the reading of the stories. I have not provided commentary for those references sufficiently explained within the context of a given story, nor have I done so for references (such as to Shakespeare and Newton) that will be already familiar to the reader.

  The title of Fitzgerald’s first collection, Flappers and Philosophers, refers to one of the chief icons of the Jazz Age, the flapper—the new, free woman who defied convention (by smoking and drinking), openly expressed her sexuality, bobbed her hair, and typified the frenetic activity of the Roaring Twenties in hectic dancing and fast-paced talking.

  “THE OFFSHORE PIRATE” 1 The Revolt of the Angels, by Anatole France: Anatole France was the 1921 Nobel Laureate in literature; The Revolt of the Angels (1914) is an allegorical novel of nineteenth-century French culture written by an author known for
the eloquence, biting wit, and stylistic grace of his writing.

  2 demi-monde: On the fringes of respectable society.

  3 Narcissus ahoy!: The name of the boat refers to the mythological figure Narcissus, who drowned in his own image; the reference is clearly to Ardita’s own self-infatuation.

  4 I thought the country was dry: A reference to Prohibition, or the Twenty-First Amendment (the Volstead Act) to the U.S. Constitution, which prevented the sale, transportation, and consumption of alcoholic beverages; the Twenty-First Amendment was in effect from 1919 until it was repealed in 1933.

  5 Stonewall Jackson: Thomas Jonathan Jackson (1824-1863), Confederate general and war hero know for his daring and brilliance as a military tactician.

  6 the revenue boat that takes you up to Sing Sing: A reference to the federal agents who pursued those transporting illegal alcohol during Prohibition; Sing Sing is the infamous federal penitentiary in upstate New York. The pirate of the story’s title is purportedly a thief and rum runner.

  7 the Winter Garden and the Midnight Frolic: Popular nightclubs.

  8 Booker T. Washington: African-American leader and educator (1856- 1915) whose autobiography, Up from Slavery (1901), and Life of Frederick Douglass (1907) are controversial classics recounting the movement from slavery to emancipation in the nineteenth century; in the context of the blatant racism exhibited by Carlyle in “The Offshore Pirate,” the reference is, at best, ironic.

  “THE ICE PALACE” 1 how’s Carmen from the South? . . . How’s—how’s Dangerous Dan McGrew?: The interplay between Sally Carroll and her dancing partner makes reference to the heroine of Bizet’s opera Carmen, a nomadic smuggler, and the protagonist of Robert Service’s poem about an Alaskan adventurer and gambler slain by a rival over “the lady that’s known as Lou” (see note #4 below under “Dalyrimple Goes Wrong”).

  2 Ibsen: Henrik Ibsen (1828-1906), Norwegian dramatist and poet known for the stark, gloomy realism of his mature plays.

  3 “Peer Gynt”: Play by Ibsen recounting the protagonist’s allegorical wandering through life in search of the self and the existential crisis wrought by that search.

  4 Serbia: As today, in the early twentieth century, the site of ethnic conflicts in the wake of the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian empire that many historians consider to be the spark that ignited World War I.

  “HEAD AND SHOULDERS” 1 Cæsar, Cicero, Vergil, Xenophon, Homer, Algebra, Plane Geometry, Solid Geometry, and Chemistry: Classical authors and disciplines that were considered parts of the foundation of a liberal arts education at Princeton during the time that Fitzgerald matriculated there.

  2 George M. Cohan: Actor, singer, and composer (1878-1942) best known for his Broadway musicals and patriotic songs such as “Over There” and “I’m a Yankee Doddle Dandy.”

  3 Châuteau-Thierry: Site of intensive military buildup and confrontation between German and U.S. troops during World War I.

  4 “The Pragmatic Bias of the New Realists” . . . “Spinoza’s Improvement of the Understanding . . . “German Idealism”: Together, the references reveal Horace to be interested in a hodgepodge of philosophical traditions, ranging from the rationalism of the Renaissance Italian philosopher, Spinoza, to nineteenth-century German romanticists such as Schiller and Schilling, to the modern pragmatism of American philosophers such as Dewey and William James (see note #24 below).

  5 Pall Malls: Popular brand of cigarettes.

  6 Berkeley . . . Hume: George Berkeley (1685-1753) and David Hume (1711-1776), respectively, British and Scottish empiricist philosophers.

  7 Omar Khayyam: Persian poet, mathematician, and astronomer (1048?- 1122) whose philosophical love poem, the Rubáiyát, received wide popularity when it was translated into English by Edward Fitzgerald in the nineteenth century.

  8 Florodora Sextette: A reference to the six actresses who portrayed the “Pretty Maidens” of Florodora, a 1900 Broadway smash musical, all of whom eventually married millionaires.

  9 Uncle Remus: The fictional narrator of a series of Southern folktales gathered and retold by Joel Chandler Harris (1848-1908) containing such characters as Brer Rabbit and Brer Fox.

  10 Catullus: Classical lyric poet (c. 84-54 BC) known for his love poetry.

  11 with Bergsonian trimmings: The reference suggests that Horace’s fictional mentor, Anton Laurier, is indebted to Henri Bergson (1859-1941), a French philosopher known for his melding of science and metaphysics in producing modern theories of time, space, will, and creation.

  12 “The Bohemian Girl”: Light opera by the Irish composer Michael William Balfe (1808-1870).

  13 attar of roses: A perfume.

  14 Nabiscoes: Tea biscuits made by the company better known now for its cereals.

  15 Divinerries’ . . . Palais Royal: Popular entertainment theaters.

  16 the style was like Carlyle’s: A reference to Thomas Carlyle (1795-1881), Scottish essayist, philosopher, and social critic.

  17 St. Vitus dance: A form of chorea, a disease that inflicts nervous disorders often involving involuntary, spasmodic bodily movements.

  18 Kipling and O. Henry: Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936) was an English novelist and short-story writer whose colonial tales and poems, collected in The Jungle Book, were enormously popular in the late Victorian and early modern eras. O. Henry (the pseudonym of William Sydney Porter, 1862-1910) achieved great popularity as a short-story writer upon whose signature surprise endings Fitzgerald modeled some of his early stories; with its symmetrical reversal of fortune, “Head and Shoulders” bears clear structural resemblance to many of O. Henry’s stories.

  19 Herb Spencer: A joking reference to the philosopher Herbert Spencer (1820-1903), associated with Darwin as a proponent of scientific theories of creation and evolution.

  20 “Pepys’ Diary”: The record of seventeenth-century London life maintained by English civil servant Samuel Pepys (1633-1703); the Diary will serve as the parodic source of inspiration for Marcia’s literary efforts.

  21 Mens sana in corpore sano: Famous epigraph; translated from Latin, it means “healthy in mind, healthy in body.”

  22 quod erat demonstrandum: Translated from Latin, it means “that which was to be demonstrated,” i.e., concluded.

  23 Prometheus: Greek Titan who stole the gift of fire from the gods and whose punishment was being chained to a rock for eternity while birds pecked out his intestines.

  24 Schopenhaur . . . William James: Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860), a German philosopher on morality and will who expressed a pessimistic view of the universe; William James (1842-1910), one of the leading proponents of American pragmatism, a philosophy that combines the logic of empiricism with the relativism of interpretation theory.

  “BERNICE BOBS HER HAIR” 1 Bobs: The central action in the story refers to the popular short hair style for “flappers.”

  2 Hiram Johnson . . . Ty Cobb: Hiram Johnson (1866-1945) was a highly visible, progressive Republican politician who held office as the governor of California and was Theodore Roosevelt’s running mate in a failed bid for the presidency in 1912; he favored reform, women’s rights, and New Deal domestic programs. Tyrus Raymond (“Ty”) Cobb (1886-1961) is considered by many to be the greatest baseball player of all time; he spent most of his career playing as an outfielder for the Detroit Tigers and was the first man to be elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame.

  3 Annie Fellows Johnston: Author (1863-1931) of popular, often sentimental children’s fiction.

  4 “Little Women”: The well-known novel about the March family and middle-class life in nineteenth-century New England written by Louisa May Alcott (1832-1888); the novel has maintained its enormous popularity for well over a century since its publication in 1868.

  5 League of Nations: The predecessor to the United Nations created after World War I to promote international peace and diplomacy; the formation of the League of Nations remained a disputed political issue throughout the twenties and thirties.

  6 Oscar Wilde:
Controversial author (1854-1900) whose work includes social satires such as the play The Importance of Being Earnest and a portrait of the travails of modern identity in the novel The Picture of Dorian Gray. Bernice quotes Wilde here in order to be shocking.

  “BENEDICTION” 1 its Victorian architecture or its Edward VII additions, or even its Woodrow Wilsonian, patented, last-a-century roofing: Fitzgerald is describing the monastery as a jumble of architectural styles, ranging from the Victorian to the modern (Edwardian) and utilitarian (Wilsonian).

  2 thick volumes of Thomas Aquinas and Henry James and Cardinal Mercier and Immanuel Kant: The serious reading of the monks ranges from systematic theology (Aquinas and Mercier) to high modern fiction ( James) and German philosophy (Kant).

  3 shimmys . . . maxixe: Popular dances of the day.

  4 Benediction: Catholic religious ceremony devoted to honoring the Blessed Sacrament.

  5 St. Francis Xavier: Catholic missionary (1506-1552) who, along with St. Ignatius Loyola, founded the Society of Jesus (the Jesuits), whose members inhabit the monastery in the story.

  6 “O Salutaris Hostia”: Hymn that accompanies the ceremony of Benediction.

  “DALYRIMPLE GOES WRONG” 1 Montaigne’s essays and Samuel Butler’s note-books—and a little of Tolstoi and Marcus Aurelius: The list reveals some of Fitzgerald’s Princeton reading, which he deemed ideal for the disillusioned modernist, including the secular, personal essays of Montaigne, the scientific, satirical humanism of Butler’s writings, the realism of Tolstoi’s novels, and the stoicism of the Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius.