Master the 40: The Stories of F. Scott Fitzgerald

30 Episodes

Reverse

"The Rough Crossing"

2026-09-2851:28

Send us Fan Mail An underappreciated story that is sometimes overshadowed by 1930's "One Trip Abroad," "The Rough Crossing" first appeared in the Saturday Evening Post on June 8, 1929. It was based on the Fitzgeralds' own experiences on a transatlantic voyage a few months earlier when their vessel hit bad weather and passengers soothed their oceanic anxieties by hitting the bar. In this case, the crossing serves as a correlative for the troubled marriage between playwright Adrian Smith a...

"The Curious Case of Benjamin Button"

2026-08-2154:05

Send us Fan Mail F. Scott Fitzgerald's fantasy about a man born at seventy who ages backwards has become one of his most famous short stories, thanks in no small part to a certain 2008 movie starring Brad Pitt that was, honestly, kind of wishy-washy. The story has more recently been adapted into opera and is about to debut as a New York musical, although the plot bears only a superficial resemblance to Fitzgerald's. (Same for the movie). The question for Fitzgerald fans is whether the premise...

"The Long Way Out"

2026-07-0355:07

Send us Fan Mail Published in Esquire in September 1937, "The Long Way Out" could possibly be the best F. Scott Fitzgerald short story nobody has ever paid attention to---not even seasoned scholars. Set in a sanitarium, the plot involves a traumatized woman who every day gets ready for a visit from her husband, who never arrives because, as the hospital staff has decided they won't tell her, he has died in a car wreck. Clearly based on Zelda's long and torturous institutionalization for ...

Special episode: The Racial Uncanny in "The Dance"

2026-06-0320:05

Send us Fan Mail While we're editing our next episode (out before the end of the month!), we're very excited to share this adaptation of Fitzgerald's "The Dance," which first appeared in Red Book exactly 100 years ago. Although not widely known, "The Dance" is important for two reasons: it's Fitzgerald's most overt attempt at a murder mystery and his most direct confrontation of race, including the lynching crisis of the era. In this episode, students at the Bentley School in California ...

"A Short Trip Home"

2026-05-2549:04

Send us Fan Mail Published December 17, 1927 in the Saturday Evening Post, "A Short Trip Home" is most notable as one of a handful of supernatural short stories F. Scott Fitzgerald published throughout his career. Indeed, the Post almost declined the story because they weren't keen on tales of specters, wraiths, or apparitions, but ultimately they couldn't resist his prose. In this tale, a St Paul college boy, Eddie Stinson, takes it upon himself to protect local girl Ellen Bak...

#box-pro-ellipsis-17931012818375{-webkit-line-clamp:2;}Master the 40: The Stories of F. Scott Fitzgerald

Master the 40: The Stories of F. Scott Fitzgerald