A Literary Dilemma

I've been reading some of F. Scott Fitzgerald's short stories in a collection put together by Matthew J. Bruccoli (1989). I haven't read any Fitzgerald since 10th grade when we read The Great Gatsby with Mr. Sternstein, which I unfortunately don't really remember (everyone says it's great though, and I vaguely remember liking it. Add it to the reading list!). I love Fitzgerald's writing: it's poetic and catchy, his dialogue and his exposition flow smoothly and he paints fantastic pictures of the upper class just before the Great Depression. Perhaps I have a somewhat romanticized vision of this time period--the jazz, the dress--everything seems perfect to me, but Fitzgerald seems to portray it just as I would imagine it. But there's a big, not-so-subtle issue that I struggle with in his writing: the blatant racism. In his story The Offshore Pirate, I came across a passage I loved: "'You see,' said Carlyle softly, 'this is the beauty I want. Beauty has got to be astonishing, astounding--it's got to burst in on you like a dream, like the exquisite eyes of a girl'" (81). A wonderful description of beauty and a beautiful piece of writing. But throughout the story, there is repeated use of derogatory terms to describe black people, and it is quite clear that Fitzgerald did not have the highest opinion of black people. I have a few choices in this situation. I can:

1. Dismiss his racism as a product of contemporary society and not hold him at fault;
2. Put down the book and boycott all of Fitzgerald's writing;
3. Form my own opinions about the type of person Fitzgerald was and read his writing for the sheer value of his words, sentences and ideas.

As you may have guessed, I chose No. 3 and continued reading. I definitely don't appreciate Fitzgerald's prejudices and certainly don't agree with them, but his writing is too significant to the literary world to be ignored. Furthermore, if we were to just put down books we didn't like because the author was racist, would anyone read Huckleberry Finn? Of course, there is much debate on whether or not Twain's masterpiece is actually racist, but that's an issue for another time. Plus, I've found that Fitzgerald's writing has even influenced some of my recent writing. And his stories are fantastic. 

So, I keep reading. I keep in mind that perhaps Mr. Fitzgerald is not the kind of person I would have liked to be friends with, but he sure can write a damn good story. Take everything with a grain of salt.

Thoughts?

-ZMG