Say, Old Sport

“The Great Gatsby,” F.Scott Fitzgerald’s tale of a tragic Long Island millionaire, was published 100 years ago to tepid reviews and disappointing sales.

Since then, especially in the decades since World War II, it has become a staple of English classes and a fixture in popular culture.The novel has been memed, mocked, tweaked and reimagined countless times, a multifarious afterlife that I wrote about recently in The Times.In my article, I explored some of the reasons for this longevity.

But I didn’t focus on the most obvious one.In spite of what many critics of the 1920s thought, it’s a good book!Let me be clear: I don’t mean a Great Book, though “Gatsby” may also be that.

We tend to approach literary masterpieces in a spirit of deference and duty.They’re assigned in school or placed on authoritative lists of what we have to read before we die, which can be more off-putting than enticing.

“The Great Gatsby” is profound and important, but it’s also all kinds of fun.Here are some of the kinds.It’s a short, quick read.At under 200 pages, “Gatsby” can be finished in the course of a rainy afternoon or a long plane ride.

There’s a bit of wheel-spinning at the beginning, as our narrator, Nick Carraway, indulges in some philosophizing, but as soon as he mentions Jay Gatsby, whose name arrives in a cloud of mystery, glamour and foreboding, our interest is piqued.And Fitzgerald teases that interest, keeping the title character shrouded in an enigmatic aura until the very end of the book, revealing him — through Nick’s eyes — by means of a series of riddles, glimmerings and sideways glances.It’s romantic.Or at least Gatsby himself is.

Nick describes him in the opening pages as possessing “some heightened sensitivity to the promises of life.” But modern life — crass, dishonest and materialistic — betrays those promises and destroys Gatsby’s life.Even though he’s a rich man with underworld connections, his motives remain...