Reader's Companion to F. Scott Fitzgerald's Tender is the Night

Book excerpt: Bruccoli's substantial introduction reconstructs the composition, publication, and initial reception of the novel Fitzgerald forecast so enthusiastically when he wrote to his editor Maxwell Perkins in 1925. Bruccoli chronicles the novel's varied commencements, explains Fitzgerald's final approach to the novel, and addresses key criticisms of the work. Noting that discussion of Tender Is the Night habitually returns to its initial reception, Bruccoli refutes the common belief that the novel failed in 1934 because of a critical conspiracy. He describes Fitzgerald's brooding over the novel's stillbirth and his unsuccessful efforts to republish it in amended form. Comparing Fitzgerald's plan for restructuring the novel with Malcolm Cowley's 1951 edition, Bruccoli assesses the limited impact of the revised novel.