In preparation for my Writing Long Island course this fall, here is Carol Hughes's Penguin edition of The Great Gatsby, which I encountered today in Ted Hughes's library at Emory University. See Maureen Corrigan's So We Read On for a history of the painting on the more familiar Scribner's edition. In addition to reading Corrigan's account of Fitzgerald's time in Great Neck, we will be Skyping with Sarah Churchwell, author of Careless People, and designing digital maps of Gatsby's chapters. The course will also consider contemporary responses to the the novel, including Ali Smith's "The Universal Story" and Chang-Rae Lee's Aloft. Other highlights include possibly meeting with Kathleen Velsor and reading her work on the Underground Railroad on Long Island. We will consider the development of Long Island's parks and parkways by examining a recent graphic account of Robert Moses alongside excerpts from Robert Caro's The Power Broker. We will also analyze poems like Anne Sexton's "Letter Written on a Ferry While Crossing Long Island Sound" and Frank O'Hara's "A True Account of Talking to the Sun at Fire Island." Students will research the changing suburban landscape from the Levittowners and The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit to the twenty-first century, investigating local resources, including the National Center for Suburban Studies at Hofstra University.
Carol Hughes's copy of The Great Gatsby. Emory University.
