"Absolution" is a short story by American writer

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 ...

. It was included in his 1926 collection '' All the Sad Young Men''.

Publication

"Absolution" was originally published in ''

The American Mercury ''The American Mercury'' was an American magazine published from 1924Staff (Dec. 31, 1923)"Bichloride of Mercury."''Time''. to 1981. It was founded as the brainchild of H. L. Mencken and drama critic George Jean Nathan. The magazine featured wri ...

'' in June 1924. The story would later be published in Fitzgerald's third short story collection ''All the Sad Young Men'' in 1926.

Background

Fitzgerald began writing "Absolution" in June 1923. In a letter to

Maxwell Perkins William Maxwell Evarts "Max" Perkins (September 20, 1884 – June 17, 1947) was an American book editor, best remembered for discovering authors Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, and Thomas Wolfe. Early life and ...

, Fitzgerald stated that it was originally intended to be the prologue of his later novel ''

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 narrator Nick Carraway's interactions with mysterious millionaire Jay Gatsby ...

'', but that it "interrupted with the neatness of the plan". In 1934, Fitzgerald wrote in a letter to a fan that the story was intended to show Gatsby's early life, but was cut to preserve his "sense of mystery".

Plot overview

"Absolution", narrated in the

third person Third person, or third-person, may refer to: * Third person (grammar), a point of view (in English, ''he'', ''she'', ''it'', and ''they'') ** Illeism, the act of referring to oneself in the third person * Third-person narrative, a perspective in p ...

, focuses on a young boy named Rudolph Miller, who often fantasizes about a self-created alter ego called Blatchford Sarnemington. Rudolph, an 11-year-old Catholic, attends a confession with Father Schwartz. Rudolph describes what he believes is a terrible sin he committed. In a flashback, Rudolph lies to Father Schwartz in a previous confession. Rudolph also gets in trouble with his father when he attempts to avoid communion by drinking water before. After telling Father Schwartz about these two instances, Father Schwartz collapses and a startled Rudolph flees.

Critical reception

Upon publication in ''All the Sad Young Men'', the story was met with mixed reception. ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'' wrote that "Absolution" is "simple and stripped of artifice". In the ''

Saturday Review of Literature ''Saturday Review'', previously ''The Saturday Review of Literature'', was an American weekly magazine established in 1924. Norman Cousins was the editor from 1940 to 1971. Under Norman Cousins, it was described as "a compendium of reportage, ess ...

'', the story is described as "first rate. Three quarters of it, at least, is masterly. Then the author falters". In the ''Literary Review of the New York Evening Post'', the story is praised along with the other stories in ''All the Sad Young Men''. Contemporary reviewers often focus on the story's connection with ''The Great Gatsby''. However, some scholars argue against that connection. They argue that this connection has been overemphasized. Some modern scholars have also drawn parallels between "Absolution" and

James Joyce James Augustine Aloysius Joyce (2 February 1882 – 13 January 1941) was an Irish novelist, poet, and literary critic. He contributed to the modernist avant-garde movement and is regarded as one of the most influential and important writers of ...

's short story " The Sisters".

References

External links

Absolution
at

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Absolution 1924 short stories Short stories by F. Scott Fitzgerald Third-person narrative fiction