The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Today, F. Scott Fitzgerald is known for his novels, but in his lifetime, his fame stemmed from his prolific achievement as one of America's most gifted story writers. "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button," a witty and fantastical satire about aging, is one of his most memorable stories. In 1860 Benjamin Button is born an old man and mysteriously begins aging backward. At the beginning of his life he is withered and worn, but as he continues to grow younger he embraces life -- he goes to war, runs a business, falls in love, has children, goes to college and prep school, and, as his mind begins to devolve, he attends kindergarten and eventually returns to the care of his nurse. This strange and haunting story embodies the sharp social insight that has made Fitzgerald one of the great voices in the history of American literature.

F. Scott Fitzgerald was born in St. Paul, Minnesota, in 1896. He attended Princeton University, joined the United States Army during World War I, and published his first novel, This Side of Paradise, in 1920. That same year he married Zelda Sayre and for the next decade the couple lived in New York, Paris, and on the Riviera. Fitzgerald’s novels include The Beautiful and Damned, The Great Gatsby, and Tender Is the Night. He died at the age of forty-four while working on The Last Tycoon. Fitzgerald’s fiction has secured his reputation as one of the most important American writers of the twentieth century.

CONTENTS FOREWORD PREFACE HEAD AND SHOULDERS BERNICE BOBS HER HAIR THE ICE PALACE THE OFFSHORE PIRATE MAY DAY THE JELLY-BEAN THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON THE DIAMOND AS BIG AS THE RITZ WINTER DREAMS DICE, BRASSKNUCKLES & GUITAR ABSOLUTION RAGS MARTIN-JONES AND THE PR-NCE OF W-LES "THE SENSIBLE THING" LOVE IN THE NIGHT THE RICH BOY JACOB'S LADDER A SHORT TRIP HOME THE BOWL THE CAPTURED SHADOW BASIL AND CLEOPATRA THE LAST OF THE BELLES MAJESTY AT YOUR AGE THE SWIMMERS TWO WRONGS FIRST BLOOD EMOTIONAL BANKRUPTCY THE BRIDAL PARTY ONE TRIP ABROAD THE HOTEL CHILD BABYLON REVISITED A NEW LEAF A FREEZE-OUT SIX OF ONE -- WHAT A HANDSOME PAIR! CRAZY SUNDAY MORE THAN JUST A HOUSE AFTERNOON OF AN AUTHOR FINANCING FINNEGAN THE LOST DECADE "BOIL SOME WATER -- LOTS OF IT" LAST KISS DEARLY BELOVED