This Side of Paradise by F. Scott Fitzgerald. cover art

This Side of Paradise by F. Scott Fitzgerald.

This Side of Paradise by F. Scott Fitzgerald.

Written by: Popular Culture and Religion.
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This Side of Paradise by F. Scott Fitzgerald.
Amory Blaine grew up in a wealthy family and was given an Ivy League education. Without a need to learn a profession, he chiefly dabbled in literature and partying. His school chums were of similar background, and the ideas they reflected to each other grew in their minds to be of the greatest importance. Amory began to think of himself as somewhat of a character in a Rupert Brooke poem (from which the book's title is taken).
World War I intervened in this happy fog and brought focus to some, doubt to others.
In the rapidly changing technology of the war era, the financial underpinnings of the Blaine fortune began to fall apart. The deaths of Amory's parents left the finances without a rudder and as Amory's situation deteriorated he came to realize he had only his interest in literature to fall back upon.
Meanwhile, a series of young women traipsed through his life, attracted to his handsome face and bright wit like moths to a candle. But Amory could never master the role of being a real person... and, one by one, they traipsed out.
This Side of Paradise was F. Scott Fitzgerald's first novel and was one of the nation's most popular books in the year it was published. It has some definite parallels with Fitzgerald's own life, and is in some ways an autobiography.Copyright Popular Culture and Religion.
Episodes
  • 20 - Chapter 5, Part 2. This Side of Paradise by F. Scott Fitzgerald.
    Feb 21 2026
    20 - Chapter 5, Part 2. This Side of Paradise by F. Scott Fitzgerald.
    This Side of Paradise is the debut novel of F. Scott Fitzgerald. Published in 1920, and taking its title from a line of the Rupert Brooke poem Tiare Tahiti, the book examines the lives and morality of post-World War I youth. Its protagonist, Amory Blaine, is a wealthy and attractive Princeton University student who dabbles in literature and has a series of romances that eventually lead to his disillusionment. In his later novels, Fitzgerald would further develop the book's theme of love warped by greed and status-seeking.
    Show More Show Less
    38 mins
  • 19 - Chapter 5, Part 1. This Side of Paradise by F. Scott Fitzgerald.
    Feb 21 2026
    19 - Chapter 5, Part 1. This Side of Paradise by F. Scott Fitzgerald.
    This Side of Paradise is the debut novel of F. Scott Fitzgerald. Published in 1920, and taking its title from a line of the Rupert Brooke poem Tiare Tahiti, the book examines the lives and morality of post-World War I youth. Its protagonist, Amory Blaine, is a wealthy and attractive Princeton University student who dabbles in literature and has a series of romances that eventually lead to his disillusionment. In his later novels, Fitzgerald would further develop the book's theme of love warped by greed and status-seeking.
    Show More Show Less
    28 mins
  • 18 - Chapter 4. This Side of Paradise by F. Scott Fitzgerald.
    Feb 21 2026
    18 - Chapter 4. This Side of Paradise by F. Scott Fitzgerald.
    This Side of Paradise is the debut novel of F. Scott Fitzgerald. Published in 1920, and taking its title from a line of the Rupert Brooke poem Tiare Tahiti, the book examines the lives and morality of post-World War I youth. Its protagonist, Amory Blaine, is a wealthy and attractive Princeton University student who dabbles in literature and has a series of romances that eventually lead to his disillusionment. In his later novels, Fitzgerald would further develop the book's theme of love warped by greed and status-seeking.
    Show More Show Less
    22 mins
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