''Firecrackers, a Realistic Novel'' is a 1925 novel by American author Carl Van Vechten. It is one of several fictional works published that same year which assayed the temerity and

hedonism Hedonism refers to a family of theories, all of which have in common that pleasure plays a central role in them. ''Psychological'' or ''motivational hedonism'' claims that human behavior is determined by desires to increase pleasure and to decr ...

of the Jazz Age including

F. Scott Fitzgerald Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald (September 24, 1896 – December 21, 1940) was an American novelist, essayist, and short story writer. He is best known for his novels depicting the flamboyance and excess of the Jazz Age—a term he popularize ...

's ''

The Great Gatsby ''The Great Gatsby'' is a 1925 novel by American writer F. Scott Fitzgerald. Set in the Jazz Age on Long Island, near New York City, the novel depicts First-person narrative, first-person narrator Nick Carraway's interactions with mysterious mil ...

'' and

Anita Loos Corinne Anita Loos (April 26, 1888 – August 18, 1981) was an American actress, novelist, playwright and screenwriter. In 1912, she became the first female staff screenwriter in Hollywood, when D. W. Griffith put her on the payroll at Triang ...

' '' Gentlemen Prefer Blondes.'' Van Vechten dedicated this novel to his friend

James Branch Cabell James Branch Cabell (; April 14, 1879 – May 5, 1958) was an American author of fantasy fiction and ''belles-lettres''. Cabell was well-regarded by his contemporaries, including H. L. Mencken, Edmund Wilson, and Sinclair Lewis. His works ...

. The book is considered to be the fourth entry in a series about New York's "Upper Bohemians." ''Firecrackers'' chronicles the further adventures of characters—such as Paul Moody, Gareth Johns, Ella Nattatorrini, and Edith Dale—who appeared in Vechten's earlier works, ''The Blind Bow-Boy'' (1923) and ''The Tattooed Countess'' (1924).

Synopsis

During 1924, a blasé coterie of pleasure-seeking sophisticates are inordinately excited by a handsome and athletic newcomer to their social circle, Gunnar O'Grady, "a youth with the appearance of a Greek

Adonis In Greek mythology, Adonis, ; derived from the Canaanite word ''ʼadōn'', meaning "lord". R. S. P. Beekes, ''Etymological Dictionary of Greek'', Brill, 2009, p. 23. was the mortal lover of the goddess Aphrodite. One day, Adonis was gored by ...

." Alternately seeking and avoiding their attentions, this enigmatic individual drifts through a series of menial vocations including furnace repairman, florist, waiter, and acrobat. O'Grady becomes an object of sexual fascination to many within the circle, including a precocious young girl, a thrill-seeking wife, and a bored husband. Tensions escalate as various persons within the coterie vie for O'Grady's companionship, and O'Grady finds his own desires stymied.

Reception

Writer

praised the novel in his personal correspondence to Van Vechten. In a letter dated July 27, 1925, Fitzgerald wrote: "I like 'Firecrackers''best of your four novels—It seems to me that this rather than ''The Tattooed Countess'' is your true line of genius. In he character ofCampaspe, for example, you suggest so much more than you say—she is the embodiment of New York, mysterious and delicate and entirely original."

References

Bibliography

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External links

* * * {{HathiTrust, htid=mdp.39015030715406 Fiction set in 1924 1925 American novels Jazz culture Alfred A. Knopf books Novels set in the Roaring Twenties Novels set in New York City 1920s LGBT novels