Babylon Revisited ~ F. Scott Fitzgerald ~ June 10-14 ~ Short Stories

[JoanP]

The Book Club Online is  the oldest  book club on the Internet, begun in 1996, open to everyone.  We offer cordial discussions of one book a month,  24/7 and  enjoy the company of readers from all over the world.  Everyone is welcome.

Short Stories - Some SeniorLearn Favorites - JUNE ~ JULY

It is said that a good short story should include: * a strong theme, * a fascinating plot, * a fitting structure, * unforgettable characters, * a well-chosen setting, * an appealing style.  Let's consider these elements as we discuss the following stories.  Is it necessary to include them all in a successful story?  
  

Notice that the titles are all links to the stories.

Discussion Schedule:
June 1 -June 9: *The Book of The Funny Smells--and Everything (1872) by Eleanor H Abbott *The Necklace or The Diamond Necklace (1880) -  by Guy de Maupassant *A Pair of Silk Stockings (1896) by Kate Chopin
June 10- 14: *Babylon Revisited by F. Scott Fitzgerald
June 15- 17: *First Confession by Frank O'Connor

************************

BABYLON REVISITED by F.Scott Fitzgerald

Topics for  Consideration
June 10 - June 14

Click this link for French terms  appearing in Babylon Revisited) -

Have you revisited your own past, physically, mentally?  What were the best years, the worst?    “strident queens” - two words that date this story.  Today from the lamposts in my capitol city of Columbus, Ohio we have  colorful banners promoting  the “Stonewall Pride” parade.  -  http://www.stonewallcolumbus.org/  - times have changed.  Is this progress?   Fitzgerald states that despite the economy, whether up or down - prostitution is a good business.  What did you think when you read this? “Now at least you can go into a store without their assuming you’re a millionaire.”   Is this still true?  Do Europeans or the world, for that matter, still believe every American is wealthy? Charlie believes in “character” - the “eternally valuable element.”  But “everything wore out.”  What did Charlie mean? DL Contact: Ella Gibbons

[Ella Gibbons]

The 1920's.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QJSdk44gWIE

 Was there ever another period in American history that had such romance connected with it?  It had booze, gangsters, the Charleston, the flappers, skyscrapers, great writers, and among them was F. Scott Fitzgerald. I'm sure you know the name, let's explore one of his short stories together.

WELCOME!  

Read the story and tell us what you think.  I have posted a few questions for our consideration (and have a few more if we have time.  

[JoanP]

Good morning, Ella!  Eager to get started with this story - trying to put it in context.  It seems so autobiographical doesn't it?  Parallels in Fitzgerald's life...makes it even more poignant.

The roaring 20's...so much fun (the Charleston, the flappers, those dresses!  Fitzgerald coined the term for "The Jazz Age" - and yet Hemingway refers to the generation as "lost"...  Is there a conflict here?  Was it really fun...too much "fun"?

"The "Lost Generation" was the generation that came of age during World War I.
  "all of you young people who served in the war. You are a lost generation." This generation included distinguished artists such as F. Scott Fitzgerald,[2] T. S. Eliot, John Dos Passos, Waldo Peirce, Isadora Duncan, Abraham Walkowitz, Alan Seeger, and Erich Maria Remarque.  Why LOST?

A good question...why Babylon? Hmmm -  There are the Hanging Gardens of Babylon.   Is the tower of Babel in Babylon? (Feels like that's a dumb question)  Might that biblical story relate to Fitzgerald's story title?

[Ella Gibbons]

Hello JoanP: 

Oh, I think those young people had fun dancing with short dresses and all, until they matured somewhat and learned a few of life's lessons (whatever they are).  A lost generation?  I wish I knew what Hemingway meant?  And he is referring specifically to "those who served in the war?"   

As you said, that generation produced so many who gave us so much.

The title - Babylon Revisited - another question.  What did Fitzgerald have in mind?  It's fun to look it all up on the Web if you have time.   This story  is heralded as, not only Fitzgerald's best, and as you stated based on his own life, but one of the best short stories in modern times.

Did Babylon refer to the biblical city?  Did it refer to corruption?

An interesting site I wandered into on the Web stated that the USA built an Army base on the grounds of the archeological site of Babylon in Iraq messing it up almost beyond repair.  We have apologized to the Iraq government, but they are not sure it can be salvaged.

ARE WE GOING TO BE ALONE HERE!!!   yoo-hoo!! 

 

[Ella Gibbons]

JOANP, I know that Zelda, Fitzgerald's wife, spent years in a mental institution which burned down but I can't remember if she died first or our author did.  I must look it up.   I have a book titled Zelda somewhere, her life seemed so tragic as she tried to compete with Fitzgerald; well, both their lives were tragic but they had a few good years - fun years.  

[PatH]

I'm here, just struggling with what to say.  Back in a bit.

[JoanK]

I met a woman who had been a caretaker in the institution where Zelda ended her life. I asked her what Z was like. Apparently, she was pretty much out of it.

I so associate Fitzgerald with the twenties, it's interesting to read a story by him after the crash. Since I noticed at once the publication date (1931), I assumed from the beginning that that was when the story took place.

Very sad. You're rooting for him, but knowing all along that somehow he won't make it. Although the story ends with some hope let, you know he's going to be dragged back into the tattered remnants of the life he knew (until he gets caught up with the Nazis).

[JoanK]

This is a good example of why I like short stories. They give you a chance to experience in small doses an author whom you couldn't take for a whole book. Fitzgerald's world is so alien from mine, I don't think I was ever able to finish "The Great Gatsby". But this story contains much of the same feeling.

[BarbStAubrey]

Holding a place - need to read the story - it is one I have never read -

[JudeS]

The title struck me as important . A hint to the meaning of the story.

Babylon was founded by the Amorites in 1894 BC. The original meaning is Gate of God or Gateway of God.
However Babel also is found in Genesis:11:9. And the meaning in that context is "Confusion" or To Confuse.

Both these meanings find expression in this superb story.
The Hero had lived like a God and ended up a confused man who eventually figured out a way out of his confusion. But was it too late?
When Lorraine and Duncan confused the fragile new bridge he was building  the path to salvation was grabbed out of his hands. His past come back to haunt him.
This is a very sad  but truthful story of how our past interferes with our present intentions. No matter how good we are now we are still carrying our past with us.

[PatH]

I read The Great Gatsby twice--once over 30 years ago, and once about 10 years ago, when I was a more sophisticated reader.  The book doesn't work for me.  I think I see what he's saying, what he feels and wants you to feel, but he doesn't make me feel it.  I'm just looking at it from the outside.

That's not true of this story, though; it works for me, and I think it's terrific.

I noticed the publication date too, but although there is nothing specific at first, right from the start it feels like Paris after the stock market crash--all the once lavish, now deserted haunts of Americans.  Oops.  Just spotted something specific: the head bartender Paul "...in the latter days of the bull market had come to work in his own custom-made car..."

As the story goes on we get more clues--all the people who have lost their money, Josephine Baker performing (that could be 20s or 30s)

[JoanK]

Babylon has always been a symbol of "sinning" in the kind of wild drunken way that the characters had done. it must be from somewhere in the Bible, I'm not sure where.

Fitzgerald was buried near where I used to live, in Rockville Maryland. It had been a country graveyard when he was buried there, but now it's a small triangle of grass, on Rockville Pike, the busiest shopping street in the area. I used to pass it all the time, going to the gas station nearby.

[nlhome]

I'm also marking a place. It's a complex story.

[PatH]

The Columbia Encyclopedia says that Babylon during its heyday was noted for its luxury, splendid architecture, and sensual living.  So it fits well in that way too, splendid past, less splendid present.

[PatH]

She's not important to the story, but I can't let Josephine Baker pass by without comment; she's a favorite of mine.  Baker was a Black dancer, born in St Louis.  She rocketed to fame in Paris in the 20s, with her sensuous dancing, usually with exotic backgrounds and staging, famously dancing in a costume consisting of nothing but a string of bananas.  She made several movies, which are still shown occasionally; they are mostly insubstantial stories used to string together extremely elaborate dance numbers.

http://www.cmgww.com/stars/baker/about/biography.html

[salan]

I'm here and have read the story.  Still thinking about it.  I found the story rather depressing.  It was well written; but.....
Sally

[JoanP]

I find I have the same reaction to much of his writing, Sally.  Such a sad, tumultuous life - over so soon.  Illness due to alcoholism would get the better of him - Wasn't he only 40 when he died?

 Babylon - wild, sensuous living...drunkeness - and  confusion.  Paris of the 20's - No wonder they were considered LOST.

JoanK - you say he WAS buried near where you used to live.  What did you mean by that?

[BarbStAubrey]

  ~ Brentano's Book Store

[BarbStAubrey]

 Debussy - La Plus que Lente http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-xYj2dmDKj4

[BarbStAubrey]

ah finally figured it out - Un strapontin is one of those pull down seats that used to be on the back of the front seats of automoblies so someone could have a temporary seat because they were not comfortable for a long drive however, I remember as a kid sitting on one as my mother and her sisters sat in the back filling up the back seat so that my sister sat in the one behind my father and I was in one behind my grandmother.

Here is a picture of two strapontins
http://apeonthemoon.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/strapontin.jpg

This artcle shows a nice photo of Bricktop's
http://riverwalkjazz.org/2012/09/27/a-night-at-bricktop%E2%80%99s-jazz-in-1930s-montmartre/

Interior photo of Zellis Night Club
http://www.mediastorehouse.com/image/an_interior_view_of_a_party_at_zellis_nightclub_montmartre_7243415.jpg

Even found the Cafe Heaven and the Cafe Hell front entrances
http://expatparis.files.wordpress.com/2011/11/cieletlenfer-pjpg.jpg?w=640&h=446

[Ella Gibbons]

OH, GOOD, WE HAVE SOME FASCINATING REMARKS ABOUT THE STORY.  THE TITLE!   Did Fitzgerald make it confusing on purpose?  To pull in curious readers?  Are titles important in publication of a book or story or does the author himself bring in readers.  Which do you look for in choosing a book to read?

Thanks so much for your interpretations,   

JOANK, ordinarily I don’t like short stories, but they are a change from a book,and, as you say, they give your small doses of a life; a life that could be anyone’s life I think.  Don’t any of you know someone who is addicted to alcohol, possibly beyond help?  I had a brother-in-law who died too young who fit that pattern.  It was terrible for my sister who three times attempted to divorce, but never could bring herself to complete it.  I wonder if AA was around when Fitzgerald was alive; would he have used it do you think?  Did he ever attempt to stop drinking?

I think Zelda drank also, but I'm not sure of my facts here.  I must do some research.  It's always sad to think of mental institutions of the past where patients were locked up, many of them for life.

“It had been given, even the most wildly squandered sum, as an offering to destiny that he might not remember the things most worth remembering……”  Great sentence.

JUDE, thanks for the history and I agree it is a superb story, a tragic one - “a truthful story of how our past interferes with our present intentions.”  Our past constantly is catching with us in one way or another., it seems to me.  Particularly, as we get older and the memories resurface, we are not so busy, we reflect. 

PATH:  I remember reading about Jospephine Baker who couldn’t make it in  a racially segregated America but was a sensation overseas.  You didn’t like THE GREAT GATSBY - you probably did not see the movie either, did you?  I thought Leonarda DeCaprio (what a name) was terrific in it, but I think the rest of it was poor.  We have done it to its death I think.  Enough. 

That bookstore, Barbara, must have some meaning for you?   Charlie remembered it as his cab rolled down one of his favorite avenues.

CHARLIE, such an American name, rather like Joe, isn’t it?  DUNCAN and LORRAINE, formal names, I don’t know if that has any symbolism in the story or not.

Tomorrow let’s pick the story apart; I'm rather late for dinner tonight.

[Ella Gibbons]

BARBARA, we were posting together.  Oh, gee, such great sites to look at; it will have to wait until tomorrow for me.  THANKS, MUCH.

[BarbStAubrey]

Oh yes, posting at the same time -

Sad sad story - before fathers were considered a viable parent - too sad to think about. All sorts of power plays by Marion - if she could not beat him one way she could fall back on her weakness as a woman. Sad.

Did not remember other stories by Fitzgerald quite so poignantly sad.

[pedln]

Marking my place here, too.  Although I don't read them often, I find when I do, that I enjoy reading a short story.  So much is said with fewer words and in less space.  It's a skill, it's an art form.  I've only read the first section of this story, but already the author has conveyed much.

I've never been a Fitzgerald fan, read Great Gatsby years ago.  As my daughter would say, "it doesn't do anything for me."  No desire to see the movie.

I appreciate the background from all of you.  FSF died at age 40, a talented individual who probably lived too much too soon.  Sad.

[marcie]

I found this a complex story that had me emotionally involved from the beginning even though I didn't know what was going on at first. I had a sense of foreboding regarding Charlie from the beginning. I see that some of you have that feeling also.

I appreciate everyone's thoughts about the story. It has a lot of layers that I think we're peeling together.

Whether or not he was a practicing Catholic as an adult, since Fitzgerald was educated as a Catholic (attended two Catholic schools), it seems likely that the title of "Babylon Revisited" is, at least in part, a religious reference. Fitzgerald would have known some of the references to Babylon in the Bible as a city of "sin" or City of the Devil, because of the dissipated life of its people.

I found some details about Babylon at one website ( http://bible.org/seriespage/babylon-seen-scripture-introduction-rev-17-18 ) that brought to my mind some of the details that Fitzgerald includes in the story:


"The Origin of Babylon’s Religion
Ancient records indicate that Nimrod had a wife named Semiramis who was the founder and first high priestess of the Babylonian mystery religion. She gave birth to a son named Tammuz, whom she claimed was conceived miraculously....The rites incorporated the worship of the mother (who was called “the queen of heaven”) and the child. While the rites varied, and the idol images often varied from country to country as the cult spread from one location to another, they all contained one central feature, the worship of the goddess mother and her child. Often the names changed, but no matter where you went, pictures and images of a mother with a child in her arms were found."  

The reference to a mother and child seems like it could be a reference to Charlie's wife and child. Charlie's feelings about his daughter seem to to be linked to his memories of his wife Helen.

"The Doctrine of Purgatory
The doctrine of purgatorial purification after death was seen first in pagan Babylonianism. It involved the same extortion and theft of the poor to get the dead cleansed and into a higher state. Prayers and supplications were offered by the priest but only after great fees were collected."

Charlie seems to be in a state of purgatory. The mood that I get from the story is that he's always hovering between "heaven" and "hell." (As someone mentioned, Charlie even passes by "the two great mouths of the Café of Heaven and the Café of Hell). He's trying to cleanse his life and atone for his wrong doing. He's willing to pay a great price for atonement and reunion with his child but it's not clear that he can attain his goals.

[JudeS]

Zelda was born to a wealthy Southern family in 1900. Her father was a Supreme Court Justice of Alabama.
Zelda was more playful than studious. Under her photo in the High School yearbook:


"Why should all life  be work, when we can borrow
Lets think only of today, and not worry about tomorrow"

Zelda and Scott were married in 1920. She gave birth to their only child, a girl, Frances, in 1921.
Their lives were tumultuous. Especially after 1925 when Scott and Hemingway became friends in France. Scotts Alcoholism was severe . Zelda's mental health deteriorated and by 1930 she had to be hospitalized. First diagnosed as Bi-Polar, then as Schizophrenic.
Scott died of Alcoholism in 1940. Zelda in1948, in a fire that engulfed the institution in which she was living.
They are buried together and on their tombstone is written:

"So we beat on, boats against the current,  Borne back ceaselessly to our past."

[Ella Gibbons]

BARBARA,  thanks so much for the clickable.  I played Debussy over twice, lovely, soothing, cleansing music for the soul.  And Bricktops, fascinating.  Cole Porter had a reserved table always, what a lady she must have been.

Most of us, I would imagine, have gone back to our hometowns or campuses, where we were young,.  Were you happy you had gone?  Would you make it a yearly visit if you could?  Or are you content with the memories?

HI PEDLIN!    True - "So much is said with fewer words and in less space. It's a skill, it's an art form."  

Like you, I seldom read short stories, that is why this week of stories is so enjoyable. Sad, sad, everyone is calling the story sad.  Is there no redeeming quality, no modicum of joy in the story?

MARCIE, I’m so happy you are joining us.  Thanks for the information about purgatory.  What specifically were Charlie’s wrong doings and was he able to atone for them?

Hi JUDE.  Those words of Zelda’s in her yearbook were prophetic weren’t they?  It’s been my experience with young people that they can’t wait for tomorrow - teenagers wanting to drive, go off on their own somewhere, anywhere, away from home, wanting to grow up, grow away.  Out from under their parents rules, guidance.   Zelda just wants to play,  and play, and spend money, buy.  She never matured, did Scott want her to?  Did he want to keep her young and beautiful?

[Ella Gibbons]

On Youtube, a video of the Fitzgeralds and the 1920's:

http://www.openculture.com/2012/11/rare_footage_of_scott_and_zelda_fitzgerald_from_the_1920s.html

It's ironic that the author's life seems to be as interesting, if not more so than the story he wrote; but they cannot be separated.

Let's begin the beguine:

Some of you have mentioned that the story at the very first is confusing.  What's going on here, one asks when beginning to read. 

But we soon get the idea that Charlie is reliving his past. 

"He was not really disappointed to find Paris was so empty....It was not an American bar any more--he felt polite in it......It had gone back to France."

Bingo for me.   How about you?

[JoanP]

There is SO MUCH HERE to digest this morning- who needs breakfast! Thank you will for making the era come alive - even before we get into this particular short story.

Ella, you are so right - you can't really separate Fitzgerald's life from his work.  It has amazed me how autobiographical each of the short stories we have read so far have been.  Do you suppose that it is necessary to write from your experience, from what you know when writing a short story because you have to develop your characters and setting in such an economical way?  Or is this just a coincidence in the stories we have read so far?

From reading all of the above descriptions of "Babylon" -  Fitzgerald's Babylon is Paris.  It seems most of his stories center on this period in his life, and then the atonement for this period in later works.

I just read that Babylon Revisited" was written in 1930 and first published on February 21, 1931 in the Saturday Evening Post.  It was later adapted into a movie called The Last Time I Saw Paris (1954), starring Elizabeth Taylor and Van Johnson .

[pedln]

JoanP, I'm glad to know when Babylon Revisited was first published -- 1930.  It probably couldn't have been even written much earlier.  I get the feeling it was post-stock-market crash. The economic status of much of the world was hard, and much lower than it had been in the earlier flapper, jazz era.

[Ella Gibbons]

Incidentally, I did find my book, Zelda by Nancy Mitford.  Read about it here:

http://www.amazon.com/Zelda-Biography-P-S-Nancy-Milford/dp/0062089390/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1370960693&sr=8-1&keywords=zelda+by+nancy+mitford#reader_0062089390

[JoanP]

Loved the video, Ella! (And the Charleston music)  Such a happy family.  Wish they had all lived happily ever after with little Scottie.  Both parents dead at such an early age.

"Babylon Revisited" is based on a true incident - Perhaps that makes it even more poignant, Marcie.  When Zelda suffered a breakdown and was committed to a sanitarium in Switzerland, Rosalind, Zelda's sister,  felt that Scott was unfit to raise their daughter and that Rosalind and Newman should adopt her.

I read that Scottie married, had four children, a daughter,  Eleanor  Lanahan, wrote a biography of her mother, Scottie, "The Daughter of ... The Life of Frances Scott Fitzgerald Lanahan Smith" (1995).  In it she wrote of Scottie's wish to share her parents' life while maintaining their privacy.  I'd love to read that recently published book.

 "There is the strictness of the father attempting to keep Scottie from repeating his mistakes. Much of his advice Scottie resented (or at least did not appreciate), and she endured many embarrassing situations."

ps. JoanK, after reading your remark about F. Scott's original grave site - and interesting story about the nearby Catholic St. Mary's  cemetery relented and allowed Scottie to have her parents buried together.  - Reburying f scott fitzgerald - Scottie's daughter, Eleanor, also had Scottie and her father buried in cemetery, near her grandparents F Scott and Zelda...

ps  Ella, I have found going home again is painful...the places, the remembered homes and landmarks may still be standing - but the PEOPLE who made it "home" are no longer there!

Thanks for the link to the Mitford book on Zelda, Ella.  I'm afraid the price of Scottie's daugher's  on her mother is prohibitive...http://www.amazon.com/Scottie-Daughter-Frances-Fitzgerald-Lanahan/dp/0060927380

[PatH]

How much disconnect is there between how Charlie Wade sees himself and what he’s really like?

He sees himself as having plenty of ability to make a living, and that’s probably true, when he wants to exert himself.  He worked at it even before he hit it lucky in the stock market boom, and at the moment he’s making good money in Prague, where “They don’t know about me”.

He feels he’s conquered his drinking.  He’s had it under control for a year and a half, which is good, but taking one drink a day and stopping with that sounds like a pretty precarious way to handle the problem.  He could relapse any time.

What about his stormy marriage?  He doesn’t assign all the blame to either side, and clearly they both behaved fairly outrageously.  Was it mostly his fault?  Was his wife mentally unstable, as Zelda was?  Her sister is certainly emotionally fragile.

He does genuinely love his child, and want her back.  And he must have treated her lovingly, since she really wants to go back with him.

[BarbStAubrey]

The way I read the story he is not Scott Fitzgerald - it may be a dream of Scott's idea of how you can become a sober upstanding acceptable person but the story seems to read the Charles was not a drunk so much as a temporary drunk with no focus on life other than having fun and drinking binges in the most "in" place in the world, Paris, with the most "in" entertainment and music because, he had no more need to work for money and it appears this lot had no more idea of work except for money.

So I do not doubt that Charles could take care of his daughter - as the story reads I was immediately struck how Marion was depicted as the hurdle to Charles wanting his daughter - this is still a time when women may be able to vote in the US but are still not a powerhouse of self-determination. Since Marian and Lincoln are less wealthy she holds that against Charles and then when her logical argument does not sway things her way she falls into the old cliche "i have a headache" that is carried a bit further to "Marion is in bad shape.' - 'Marion's sick". (you have to wonder if Scott saw women as controlling - did he come from a home where his mother held his future in her hands I wonder?)

But all this striving on the part of Charles to obtain his child sends the message of a very vindictive God punishing Charles for his year and a half decent into decadence with no life goals other than making life an orgy highlighting his value of seeing life through the eyes of the almighty dollar. Because having lost it and regained his fortune and his work in Czechoslovakia is not about making the world a better place or bringing services to his customers it is about making money and lots of it.

Is that the message in this story - forget everything and loose yourself when money is no longer a reason and by not continuing to work for the money but engaging in the feeling of anything goes you pay dearly as others, who did not share in your wealth, end up with the power to deny you anything else that you hold most dear?

[Ella Gibbons]

Thanks, JOANP, for your remarks about going home again.  Am sorry it is so painful . 

Do you think that Charlie’s driving through Paris was painful to him; his wife dead, his drinking days over  (it was nice while it lasted, he says, with a sort of magic around us)   He strolled through Paris at night, watching, observing its night life.  Did he long for those old days or was he looking forward to the future?

He had come to Paris for a purpose, to attempt to make a home again, with his daughter

“He thought he knew what to do for her.   He believed in character, he wanted to jump back a whole generation and trust in character as the eternally valuable element.  Everything wore out.”

Why did he feel as though he had to go back in time to find character?  Do we feel that way about our parents generation - The Greatest Generation, as Tom Brokaw called it.

The book by Scottie’s daughter looks very interesting as does this one;

http://www.amazon.com/Zelda-Fitzgerald-Meticulously-Researched-Biography/dp/1611453046/ref=pd_sim_b_3#reader_B006Z8RKFO

Read the Introduction.

[Ella Gibbons]

PATH, I think you are in doubt about Charlie’s ability to conquer his addiction to drink.  Is it an addiction?  Scot Fitzgerald certainly knew he was a drunk and unable to quit.  It ruined his marriage, his life, his work.  

“He feels he’s conquered his drinking. He’s had it under control for a year and a half, which is good, but taking one drink a day and stopping with that sounds like a pretty precarious way to handle the problem. He could relapse any time”

I wonder how AA would feel about that attitude?  I don’t think he would be applauded .

My husband, who was a heavy smoker, and myself, who was a light smoker, in years past, both went to a support group to stop our bad habit.  It worked for both of us but the program called for fewer and fewer cigarettes a day until we were down to one a day and then QUIT DAY.

Charlie should have had such a program for drinking.

[Ella Gibbons]

BARBARA:  You think the opposite, am I correct?  You think Charles capable of taking care of his daughter and not falling into his bad habit of drinking again.

Marion, the sister- in-law, is portrayed as rather vengeful for the death of her sister, believing Charles was responsible for it.  I might have felt that way if this had happened to one of my beloved sisters, there is not always forgiveness for wrongs. 

“The image of Helen haunted him.   Helen whom he had loved so until they had senselessly begun to abuse each other’s love, tear it into shreds.  On that terrible February night that Marion remembered so vividly, a slow quarrel had gone on for hours. “

When he consented to the guardianship of his daughter he was in a sanitarium and broke, but now that he is making money again he can give her certain advantages that Marion cannot.  At one point in the story Marion felt as though Charlie had arrived at control over the situation  and then Duncan and Lorraine appeared on the scene.  What damage they did to the whole situation.  His past coming to haunt Charlie.  Again and again, the past.

He lost a lot of money in the crash, but he lost everything he ever wanted in the boom!  How  tragic life can be.

[Ella Gibbons]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/8289335/Babylon-Revisited-When-the-money-runs-out.html

[BarbStAubrey]

I believe that AA only came into being in the late 1930s much after this story was written.

Yes Ella, I do not think Charlie was an out and out drunk - the story says -- You know I never did drink heavily until I gave up business and came over here with nothing to do. followed by My drinking only lasted about a year and a half--from the time we came over until I--collapsed. different than most alcoholics who are in the famous AA words DE-Nile Charles says, "I knew I'd acted badly,". Many people have an evening or nightly drink without being a drunk and so I see he had a swinging good time with no ambition and no reason to live other than have that swinging good time and after his body gave out and his wife was so ill and he lost all his money he stopped and reverted to what he probably was before his living in Paris but certainly to the way of life laid out for him by his parents and grandparents.

I think by his revisiting all the places in Paris, the author could tell the story showing the difference between what was and what is after the crash and what is for Charles now that he has resumed working that provides a focus in his life, a reason to be alive.

I think this story is too easily compared to Scott Fitzgerald life and I see differences. There may be underground feelings and above ground instances that are similar but he writes Charles as a man of his times more than a man with a chronic problem. Could be Scott's own DE-NILE where he thought he only had a temporary problem

[marcie]

Ella, thanks very much for the link to the review at http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/8289335/Babylon-Revisited-When-the-money-runs-out.html

It has lots to think about. I especially feel in accord with the following statement by the writer. I think the idea of "dissipation" does capture a main theme of the story:

"Wandering through Montmartre, Charlie suddenly realises the extent of his wastefulness in what is perhaps the most superb passage in this tale: “All the catering to vice and waste was on an utterly childish scale, and he suddenly realised the meaning of the word 'dissipate’ – to dissipate into thin air; to make nothing out of something. In the little hours of the night every move from place to place was an enormous human jump, an increase of paying for the privilege of slower and slower motion. He remembered thousand-franc notes given to an orchestra for playing a single number, hundred-franc notes tossed to a doorman for calling a cab. But it hadn’t been given for nothing. It had been given, even the most wildly squandered sum, as an offering to destiny that he might not remember the things most worth remembering, the things that now he would always remember – his child taken from his control, his wife escaped to a grave in Vermont.”

The idea of “dissipation” as an active loss is perhaps the story’s central insight, and it is one to which Fitzgerald would return again and again in his fiction of the Thirties. The passage evokes the sense of vanished and wasted time, the remorse that characterises the morning after the night before, the sense of everything being spent."