Player FM 앱으로 오프라인으로 전환하세요!
John Jackson's Arcady
Manage episode 294893852 series 2900822
Some critics have dismissed this story of a man who escapes his worldly woes by fleeing his office to return to his small-town, rundown origins as "pure trash," but we uncover some historical reasons it should be of interest. First, "John Jackson's Arcady" was the last short story Fitzgerald wrote in April 1924 before departing for the Riviera to write The Great Gatsby. As such, it has some intriguing overlap with the novel. Second, although not republished in a collection until 1979, the story enjoyed a curious afterlife as an elocution text for aspiring high-school orators (and Rotarians). But third and most importantly, the story's closing scene in which John Jackson discovers just how much the world appreciates the good deeds he's done may just be---oh heck, we'll go on a limb and say we're ninety percent certain it is---the inspiration for Frank Capra's It's a Wonderful Life, starring (of course!) Jimmy Stewart. We explore that tantalizing connection, as well situate the story in the very popular 1920s' genre of the "revolt from the village." We also ask why "Arcady" is the rare sympathetic portrait of an American businessman at a time when nonfiction bestsellers such as Bruce Barton's The Man Nobody Knows (1925) proclaimed Jesus the quintessential entrepreneur. Along the way, after figuring out how to pronounce "Arcady," we quiz each other on famous Jacksons, from Stonewall to Tito to Luscious.
22 에피소드
Manage episode 294893852 series 2900822
Some critics have dismissed this story of a man who escapes his worldly woes by fleeing his office to return to his small-town, rundown origins as "pure trash," but we uncover some historical reasons it should be of interest. First, "John Jackson's Arcady" was the last short story Fitzgerald wrote in April 1924 before departing for the Riviera to write The Great Gatsby. As such, it has some intriguing overlap with the novel. Second, although not republished in a collection until 1979, the story enjoyed a curious afterlife as an elocution text for aspiring high-school orators (and Rotarians). But third and most importantly, the story's closing scene in which John Jackson discovers just how much the world appreciates the good deeds he's done may just be---oh heck, we'll go on a limb and say we're ninety percent certain it is---the inspiration for Frank Capra's It's a Wonderful Life, starring (of course!) Jimmy Stewart. We explore that tantalizing connection, as well situate the story in the very popular 1920s' genre of the "revolt from the village." We also ask why "Arcady" is the rare sympathetic portrait of an American businessman at a time when nonfiction bestsellers such as Bruce Barton's The Man Nobody Knows (1925) proclaimed Jesus the quintessential entrepreneur. Along the way, after figuring out how to pronounce "Arcady," we quiz each other on famous Jacksons, from Stonewall to Tito to Luscious.
22 에피소드
Todos os episódios
×플레이어 FM에 오신것을 환영합니다!
플레이어 FM은 웹에서 고품질 팟캐스트를 검색하여 지금 바로 즐길 수 있도록 합니다. 최고의 팟캐스트 앱이며 Android, iPhone 및 웹에서도 작동합니다. 장치 간 구독 동기화를 위해 가입하세요.