Absolution (short story)

"Absolution"
Author F. Scott Fitzgerald
Country USA
Language English
Genre(s) Short Story
Published in The American Mercury Collected in All the Sad Young Men
Publication type

Magazine

Short story collection
Publisher Scribner's
Media type Print

Absolution is a short story by American writer F. Scott Fitzgerald. It was included in his 1926 collection All the Sad Young Men.

Publication

"Absolution" was originally published in The American Mercury in June, 1924.[1][2] The story would later be published in Fitzgerald's third short story collection All the Sad Young Men in 1926.

Background

Fitzgerald began writing "Absolution" in June, 1923.[3] In a letter to Maxwell Perkins, Fitzgerald stated that it was originally intended to be the prologue of his later novel The Great Gatsby, but that it "interrupted with the neatness of the plan".[4] In 1934, Fitzgerald wrote in a letter to a fan that the story was intended to show Gatsby's early life, but was cut to preserve his "sense of mystery".[5]

Plot Overview

"Absolution", narrated in the third person, focuses on a young boy named Rudolph Miller, who often fantasizes about a self-created alter ego called Blatchford Sarnemington.[6] Rudolph, an eleven-year-old Catholic, attends a confession with Father Schwartz. Rudolph describes what he believes is a terrible sin he committed. In a flashback, Rudolph lies to Father Schwartz in a previous confession. Rudolph also gets in trouble with his father when he attempts to avoid communion by drinking water before. After telling Father Schwartz about these two instances, Father Schwartz collapses and a startled Rudolph flees.

Critical Reception

Upon publication in All the Sad Young Men, the story was met with mixed reception. The New York Times wrote that "Absolution" is "simple and stripped of artifice".[7] In the Saturday Review of Literature, the story is described as "first rate. Three quarters of it, at least, is masterly. Then the author falters".[8] In the Literary Review of the New York Evening Post, the story is praised along with the other stories in All the Sad Young Men.[9] Contemporary reviewers often focus on the story's connection with The Great Gatsby.[10][11] However, some scholars argue against that this connection has been overemphasized.[12] Some modern scholars have also drawn parallels between "Absolution" and James Joyce's The Sisters (short story)[13][14][15]

References

  1. ↑ Mizener, Arthur (1965). The Far Side of Paradise : a biography of F. Scott Fitzgerald ([Rev. ed.]. ed.). Boston: Houghton Mifflin. p. 404. ISBN 0-395-08395-8.
  2. ↑ Baughman, F. Scott Fitzgerald ; edited by Matthew J. Bruccoli ; with the assistance of Judith S. (1994). A life in letters (1st Touchstone ed.). New York: Simon & Schuster. pp. 71–72. ISBN 9780684801537.
  3. ↑ Petry, Alice Halll (1989). Fitzgerald's Craft of Short Fiction: the Collected Stories, 1920-1935. Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press. p. 210. ISBN 0585270678.
  4. ↑ Baughman, F. Scott Fitzgerald ; edited by Matthew J. Bruccoli ; with the assistance of Judith S. (1994). A life in letters (1st Touchstone ed.). New York: Simon & Schuster. p. 76. ISBN 9780684801537.
  5. ↑ Petry, Alice Halll (1989). Fitzgerald's craft of short fiction the collected stories, 1920-1935. Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press. p. 210. ISBN 0585270678.
  6. ↑ Haglund, David (7 May 2013). "The Forgotten Childhood of Jay Gatsby". Slate. Retrieved 9 November 2014.
  7. ↑ "Scott Fitzgerald Turns a Corner". The New York Times. 7 March 1926. Retrieved 10 November 2014.
  8. ↑ Petry, Alice Halll (1989). Fitzgerald's craft of short fiction the collected stories, 1920-1935. Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press. p. 210. ISBN 0585270678.
  9. ↑ Petry, Alice Halll (1989). Fitzgerald's craft of short fiction the collected stories, 1920-1935. Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press. p. 207. ISBN 0585270678.
  10. ↑ Haglund, David (7 May 2013). "The Forgotten Childhood of Jay Gatsby". Slate. Retrieved 9 November 2014.
  11. ↑ Petry, Alice Halll (1989). Fitzgerald's craft of short fiction the collected stories, 1920-1935. Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press. p. 210. ISBN 0585270678.
  12. ↑ Stewart, Lawrence D. (1973). "Absolution and The Great Gatsby". Fitzgerald/Hemingway Annual 5: 181–187.
  13. ↑ Petry, Alice Halll (1989). Fitzgerald's craft of short fiction the collected stories, 1920-1935. Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press. p. 210. ISBN 0585270678.
  14. ↑ Cusham, Keith (1979). "Scott Fitzgerald's Scrupulous Meanness: 'Absolution' and 'The Sisters'". Fitzgerald/Hemingway Annual 11: 115–121.
  15. ↑ Keuhl, John (Fall 1964). "A La Joyce: The Sisters Fitzgerald's Absolution". James Joyce Quarterly 2: 2–6.
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