9. Chapter 8

About this Lecture

Lecture

In this module, we explore the eighth chapter on the novel, in which the bodies of Gatsby and Wilson are discovered – "and the holocaust was complete". In particular, we think about Carraway's broken sleep and his "savage, frightening dreams" at the beginning of the chapter, the memorable description of Gatsby's body floating in the swimming pool, and the discovery of Wilson's body a little further away in the grass.

Course

In this course, Professor John McRae (University of Nottingham) explores F. Scott Fitzgerald's 1925 novel, The Great Gatsby. The course begins with a broader introduction to the novel, thinking about the context in which the novel was written and published, its alternative title ('Trimalchio in West Egg'), and introducing some of its key themes – love, loss, wealth, ambition. Each of the following nine sections is dedicated to one of the chapters of the novel, providing close reading and in-depth analysis of the novel's major characters, themes and motifs.

Lecturer

John McRae is Special Professor of Language in Literature Studies and Teaching Associate in the School of English at Nottingham University, and holds Visiting Professorships in China, Malaysia, Spain and the USA. He is co-author of The Routledge History of Literature in English with Ron Carter, and also wrote The Language of Poetry, Literature with a Small 'l' and the first critical edition of Teleny by Oscar Wilde and others.