This Side of Paradise is the debut novel of F. Scott Fitzgerald and his breakthrough.
Published in 1920, the book examines the lives and morality of post-World War I youth. Its protagonist, Amory Blaine, is an attractive Princeton University student who dabbles in literature. The novel explores the theme of love warped by greed and status-seeking.
Written in an adventurously mixed style, the book’s success was driven in part by the enthusiasm of reviewers. Burton Rascoe of the Chicago Tribune wrote that ’it bears the impress, it seems to me, of genius. It is the only adequate study that we have had of the contemporary American in adolescence and young manhood.’ H. L. Mencken wrote that This Side of Paradise was the ’best American novel that I have seen of late.’