The Diamond as Big as the RitzAlthough this novella stands out from his body of work in that it’s a playful yet sinister fairy tale, it brilliantly fuses F. Scott Fitzgerald’s ongoing lush fantasies about the extremes of wealth with his much more somber understanding of what underpins it. Loosely inspired by a summer he spent as a teenager working on a ranch in Montana, The Diamond as Big as the Ritz is Fitzgerald’s hallucinatory paean to the American West and all its promises. It’s the story of John T. Unger, a young Southerner who goes to Montana for summer vacation with a wealthy college classmate. But the classmate’s family proves to be much more than simply wealthy: They own a mountain made entirely of one solid diamond. And they’ve gone to dreadful lengths to conceal their secret … meaning John could be in danger. But the family also has a daughter, lovely Kismine, and with her help, John may yet escape the fate her family has meted out to all their other guests so far … |
Contents
Chapter I | |
Other Titles in The Art of the Novella Series | |
Illuminations for The Diamond as Big as the Ritz by F Scott Fitzgerald | |
Table of Contents | |
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Common terms and phrases
ANTON CHEKHOV Ardita arms asked Babe bath beautiful began blue boys Braddock Washington buffaloes Callao Carlyle's château CHRISTOPHER MORLEY Clark cliff cold cried John dance dark darn DIAMOND AS BIG dream dressed eyes face faint Farnam father feet Flappers Flappers and Philosophers girl glittering gold golden grass gray green Hades hair hand Harry Harry's head heard HEINRICH VON KLEIST HERMAN MELVILLE Jasmine jewels John's Kismine kissed lake laughed LEO TOLSTOY lifted light live look Margery Lee married minute Montana negroes never night Percy PRINCE CAROL ragtime Ritz rose round Sally Carrol Scott Fitzgerald seemed settee Shining Mountains side Side of Paradise sighed silent slowly smiled smoke snow softly sort sound suddenly tall tell There's things told Transcontinental Express turned Unger valley voice walked whispered window yacht York young