The History Of Literature

What happens when the party is over? Can you ever truly escape your past? Jacke and Mike take a look at F. Scott Fitzgerald's classic 1931 story of guilt and melancholy, "Babylon Revisited." F. SCOTT FITZGERALD (1896-1940) was the quintessential Jazz Age writer. While he's known today primarily as the author of the near-perfect novel The Great Gatsby, in his lifetime he was far more famous for his short stories, which millions of readers encountered through big-circulation magazines like The Saturday Evening Post. Fitzgerald published 65 stories in The Saturday Evening Post, including "Babylon Revisited," which tells the story of an American father living in post-Crash Paris, hoping for a reunion with his nine-year-old daughter--but fearing the reminders from his past that might make that impossible.  NOTE: This is a self-contained episode of The History of Literature, in which both the story and a discussion of it are provided. No reading necessary (unless you'd prefer it that way)! Help support the show at