The partly ironically titled book tells the story of a Hollywood producer, Monroe Stahr, based on Fitzgerald's observations and meetings with MGM second-in-command Irving Thalberg, as well as many other Hollywood denizens. Like the three novels he wrote before it, it's a tragic love story.
The novel, what we can read of it, is structurally flawed (i.e., and regrettably, a mess). Like The Great Gatsby to an much lesser extent, The Last Tycoon suffers from problems of viewpoint, relating scenes which the narrator didn't witness or is awkwardly retelling from having talked to other sources. Fitzgerald's then editor, Maxwell Perkins, believed Fitzgerald would have solved these problems before completion, but I don't see how. To make the matter more convoluted, Fitzgerald's notes indicate he considered having Monroe Stahr's story told three levels deep: that is, told by someone else, whose story is then told by someone else.
I don't know why Fitzgerald had such difficulties in this regard because his writing is, in so many other respects, exquisite. He captures the feel, the atmosphere, the backstage chaos and absurdities and the simpler business methods of Hollywood in the '30s. His descriptions in the novel are as fine as his best work. Those interested in film history (and, especially, the history of MGM) will find much to enjoy here.
This edition features seventy pages of photocopies of Fitzgerald's notes, his letters from the time period, a history of the novel's publication and much more.
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