American Dream Visions: Chaucer’s Surprising Influence on F. Scott Fitzgerald

This fascinating book breaks new ground by examining the influence of Chaucer’s dream visions on American author F. Scott Fitzgerald. In so doing, it raises important questions about periodization, genre, and gender issues. Besides offering much biographical evidence of a Fitzgerald-Chaucer connection, the study uses Jungian theory to present a detailed and persuasive discussion of structural and other features shared by Chaucer’s works and several of Fitzgerald’s relatively early works: three stories, a play, and The Great Gatsby. Further, the study demonstrates that each author dealt with a similiar theme: that of artistic creativity and the qualities necessary for the successful artist. It explores, too, each author’s use of artist-narrators, including Fitzgerald’s use of females in the role of artist figure in two of his stories.