Published - appropriately and almost symbolically - in 1920, this was the novel which made Fitzgerald famous at the age of 24. Somehow it hit exactly the tone and the temper of the era, helping to stereotype its mood and to create the image of the so called Lost Generation - which saw itself as disillusioned and betrayed, although for the most part it was merely self indulgent and interested in having a good time. The novel is scarcely a masterpiece, but it obviously draws heavily on Fitzgerald's Princeton background and on his experiences in France, and it has a breezy, offhand contemporaneity which must have been catching. Perhaps the best thing about it is the title - Fitz always had a genius for finding exactly the right one.