The inspiration for the major motion picture starring Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett, plus eighteen other stories by the beloved author of The Great Gatsby In the title story of this collection by one of America’s greatest writers, a baby born in 1860 begins life as an old man and proceeds to age backward. F. Scott Fizgerald hinted at this kind of inversion when he called his era “a generation grown up to find all Gods dead, all wars fought, all faiths in man shaken.” Perhaps nowhere in American fiction has this “Lost Generation” been more vividly preserved than in Fitzgerald’s short fiction. Spanning the early twentieth-century American landscape, this original collection captures, with Fitzgerald’s signature blend of enchantment and disillusionment, America during the Jazz Age. For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.

Evoking the Jazz-Age world that would later appear in his masterpiece, The Great Gatsby, this essential Fitzgerald collection contains some of the writer’s most famous and celebrated stories. In “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button,” an extraordinary child is born an old man, growing younger as the world ages around him. “The Diamond as Big as the Ritz,” a fable of excess and greed, shows two boarding school classmates mired in deception as they make their fortune in gemstones. And in the classic novella “May Day,” debutantes dance the night away as war veterans and socialists clash in the streets of New York. Opening the book is a playful and irreverent set of notes from the author, documenting the real-life pressures and experiences that shaped these stories, from his years at Princeton to his cravings for luxury to the May Day Riots of 1919. Taken as a whole, this collection brings to vivid life the dazzling excesses, stunning contrasts, and simmering unrest of a glittering era. Its 1922 publication furthered Fitzgerald's reputation as a master storyteller, and its legacy staked his place as the spokesman of an age.

"The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" is anthologized in his book Tales of the Jazz Age. In 1860 Baltimore, Benjamin is born with the physical appearance of a 70-year-old man, already capable of speech. His father Roger invites neighborhood boys to play with him and orders him to play with children's toys, but Benjamin obeys only to please his father. At five, Benjamin is sent to kindergarten but is quickly withdrawn after he repeatedly falls asleep during child activities. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button was released as a motion picture late in 2008 starring Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett and directed by David Fincher. The screenplay differs greatly from the short story. Only the title, Benjamin's name, and most aspects of the aging process are retained in the screenplay. Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald (1896-1940) was an American author of novels and short stories, whose works are the paradigmatic writings of the Jazz Age. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest American writers of the 20th century. Fitzgerald is considered a member of the "Lost Generation" of the 1920s.

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is a short story written by F. Scott Fitzgerald and first published in Colliers Magazine on May 27, 1922. It was subsequently anthologized in his book Tales of the Jazz Age, which is occasionally published as The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and Other Jazz Age Stories. Development rights to the story were held for years by the late Hollywood mogul Ray Stark. Stark retained those rights until his death in 2004, when they were purchased from his estate and used for an adaptation of the story as the 2008 film of the same name, directed by David Fincher. [The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and Other Jazz Age Stories] [Fantasies] 1. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button 2. The Diamond As Big As the Ritz 3. Tarquin of Cheapside 4. “O Russet Witch!” [My Last Flappers] 1. The Jelly-Bean. 2. THE CAMEL'S BACK 3. May Day 4. Porcelain and Pink [Unclassified Masterpieces] 1. The Lees of Happiness 2. Mr. Icky 3. Jemina, the Mountain Girl A Wild Thing A Mountain Feud The Birth of Love A Mountain Battle

In 1860 Benjamin Button is born an old man and mysteriously begins aging backward. "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button," a witty and fantastical satire about aging, is one of Fitzgerald's most memorable stories.

Set in London in 1594, ‘Tarquin of Cheapside’ is a cross between a whodunnit and a whodunwhat. We find Wessel Caxter reading ‘The Faerie Queen,’ before his evening is interrupted by a mysterious figure, known only as Soft Shoes. Soft Shoes is being pursued by Flowing Boots, but who they are and what their quarrel is, is only revealed after Soft Shoes completes a poem. Packed with literary flourishes and sharp wit, this offers a fascinating insight into the mind of a master at the start of his career. ‘Tarquin of Cheapside’ is perfect for fans of Debbie Young. F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896-1940) is one of the greatest American novelists of the 20th century and the author of the classics ‘Tender is the Night’ and ‘The Great Gatsby’, with the latter having been made into a film starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Carey Mulligan. Skillfully capturing the prosperity of post-World War One America, his writing helped illustrate the 1920s Jazz Age that he and his wife Zelda Fitzgerald were at the centre of.

"A collection of short fiction by F. Scott Fitzgerald, including The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, The Diamond as Big as the Ritz, and others." --