Trimalchio: An Early Version of The Great Gatsby
The complete draft Fitzgerald sent his editor, before he rewrote it in proof.
The novel everyone knows was made in the proofs. Here is the book before that, complete and different.
What it keeps and what it changes
Keeps: the story and the people, in the version Fitzgerald submitted to Maxwell Perkins at Scribner’s.
Changes: a lot, according to its editor: two chapters were rewritten completely for the published novel, the rest was heavily revised, Nick’s voice is different, and Gatsby’s past is revealed in a wholly different way.
Whose story is it?
Nick’s, in an earlier voice.
How much time does it ask?
216 pages in paperback, edited by James L. W. West III.
Cambridge University Press: “two chapters were completely rewritten for the published novel, and the rest of the book was heavily revised.”
Where to find it
Buy the paperback — Bookshop.org
Other ways to get it: Paperback — Amazon · Ebook — Kobo · Kindle — Amazon
Borrow it free: Borrow on Libby · Find at your library — WorldCat
Common questions
What is Trimalchio?
The version of the novel Fitzgerald submitted to his editor, Maxwell Perkins, at Scribner’s, before he rewrote it in proof. Cambridge University Press published it for the first time, edited by James L. W. West III. According to the edition, two chapters were completely rewritten for the published novel, and the revelation of Gatsby’s past is handled in a wholly different way.
More ways into West Egg: The Scribner paperback (“The Only Authorized Edition”) · The Penguin Classics edition, introduction by Min Jin Lee · The Norton Critical Edition, ed. David Alworth