April 27, 2012: Great American Stories, Part Five

[As work on the writing project continues, this week’s brief posts will highlight some of my favorite American short stories, by some of our most talented authors in this unique and compelling genre. Suggestions, and even guest posts, very welcome as always!]

Today’s great American story is F. Scott Fitzgerald’s

”Babylon Revisited” (1931).

A perfect coda to the Roaring 20s, a pitch-perfect summation of the Lost Generation, and one of the most heartbreaking and compelling character portraits ever created.

Follow up post this weekend,

Ben

PS. Last chance for nominations that I can highlight this weekend!

4/27 Memory Day nominees: A tie between Ulysses S. Grant, not for his scandal-ridden and partially failed presidency, but for his crucial military savvy, his highly readable and powerful memoirs, and his impressive honesty and candor on complex national issues; and Coretta Scott King, whose work with her husband Martin Luther King, Jr., was only the beginning of her inspiring American life.