Raymond Chandler and his contrarian cat Taki

That’s all we needed in a great year: copyright has expired on The Great Gatsby. Some Fitzgerald wannabe has already cashed in with a prequel, and I’m certain the worst is yet to come. I suppose that the insatiable hunger for fame and celebrity to impress a shallow and scatterbrained blonde across the water made Gatsby a very tragic hero. But he was not as tragic as Hemingway’s Jake Barnes, who had his you-know-what blown off in the war and could only flirt with Lady Brett from afar. Or Scott Fitzgerald’s other tragic hero, Dick Diver, whose talent wasted away while he amused his rich wife’s friends.

At least the Gatsby prequel has, I am told, been written by a very good writer who can create atmosphere. But I hate to think what future copycats will come up with. Do not paraphrase the classics was the first thing I was told back in lower school, and Gatsby is as classic as they get.