Just recently, Dr. Seuss and Harper Lee made the headlines after their long-lost manuscripts were unearthed. They instantaneously became literary knockouts and overnight bestsellers. Now, another celebrated author is in the front-page for the same phenomenal reason.
A short story written by F. Scott Fitzgerald, who is deemed as one of the greatest writers to ever walk the planet, was brought to light. Titled "Temperature," the short story will be published for the first time in the latest issue of The Strand Magazine, AP reports.
As per the publication, "Temperature" follows a "hard-drinking writer diagnosed with cardiac disease." Dated July 1939, the story was completed by Fitzgerald a year before he died of heart attack. The site adds that the author wrote it as he tried to reinstate himself in the fiction writing trade.
The author, who bit the dust in December 1940 at the age of 44, wasn't so subtle on what or who inspired the story. Fitzgerald's note in the beginning of "Temperature" read as quoted by AP: "And as for that current dodge 'No reference to any living character is intended' - no use even trying that."
"He felt anachronistic and was trying to find a voice that didn't echo with the Jazz Age," Kirk Curnutt, author of "The Cambridge Introduction to F. Scott Fitzgerald" said in an e-mail via AP. "To this end he experimented with more hardboiled tones and sardonic comedy," he said.
The Strand Magazine managing editor Andrew Gulli, the person who found the manuscript at Fitzgerald's old school, Princeton University, teased via NPR: "There's some madcap comedy, some [P.G.] Wodehousian dialogue, some romance, even a little bit of some tragedy in it."
Gulli revealed that he was "struck" by the funny elements and how interesting the story was. He explained to AP that Fitzgerald just "couldn't help using his satirical abilities to mock everyone from doctors, Hollywood idols and the norms of society."
"When we think of Fitzgerald we tend to think of tragic novels he wrote such as 'Gatsby' and 'Tender is the Night,' but 'Temperature' shows that he was equally adept and highly skilled as a short story writer who was able to pen tales of high comedy," he added.
The Strand Magazine will publish "Temperature" on their summer issue. Those who want to pick up a copy, which is priced at $11.95, can check out the publication's official website to order.