The Basil and Josephine stories

F Scott Fitzgerald published his best loved novel The Great Gatsby in 1926, and it wasn't until 1934 that his next novel was published.   Call it writers block or him hitting the bottle too hard, but he struggled in getting Tender is the Night to publication.  During this time he needed to make money by publishing some stories for the "slicks".  Between April of 1928 and April of 1929 he reached back into his childhood and created the character of Basil Lee Duke.

Young Fitzgerald -Basil Duke Lee

The stories of Basil Duke Lee are based on events and the neighborhood of Scott Fitzgerald between the ages of 11 to 17.

The Basil stories include:
That Kind of Party
The Scandal Detectives
A Night at the Fair
The Freshest Boy
He Thinks He's Wonderful
The Captured Shadow
The Perfect Life
Forging Ahead
and
Basil and Cleopatra

After completing the Basil stories, he turned his eyes to a female character based on his lost first love, Ginevra King.  He cast her as the indomitable Josephine Perry from Lake Forest Illinois.

Ginevra King- Josephine Perry

These stories include:
First Blood
A Nice Quiet Place
A Woman with a Past
A Snobbish Story
and
Emotional Bankruptcy

Fitzgerald had planned on writing a story where the 2 meet, completing the series, but never got around to it.  (Babes in the Woods is based on Scott meeting and falling in love with Ginevra)

Although these stories were written as separate short stories, they do flow together when read in a series. Many of the Basil and Josephine stories were collected in Taps at Reveille, but in this collection is where you find them all.

With Basil you sense the struggle of the young Fitzgerald keeping his ego in check. These are especially apparent in The Freshest Boy, He Thinks He's Wonderful and The Perfect Life.  They remind me a bit of another story he wrote earlier, The Four Fists.  Personally, I love his early stories.  the stories of discovering infatuation and falling in love.  The stories where adolescence are figuring out who they are and pulling away.

***Light bulb moment****  Fitzgerald the Ultimate Young Adult Fiction, and not a Vampire to be found.  hmmmm

OK, so the Basil and Josephine stories are not his best written.  His amazing turn of phrases are really not found in these stories, but they are worth the read.

I personally found the Josephine stories relevant to my adolescence.  Not that I was the "top girl" or the great beauty that Josephine was, but because of my attitude towards boys and the game of love.  I will admit to being a bit boy crazy in my day.

This is why I am fascinated by FSF.  How can he possibly know how my mind worked as a young girl.  OK, admittedly he wasn't writing about me personally, but he got the female mind and he got the game.  Not only did he get the boy/girl game he knew the girl/girl game as well.  And even with all his insight he fell prey to the game he loved so much.

Well, that may be enough of my ramblings for today.  Make sure you check The Basil and Josephine Stories out for yourself.

-Laurie