The Bankruptcy of a Promising Psychologist.docVIP

The Bankruptcy of a Promising Psychologist 　　Abstract 　　Tender Is the Night is another important work written by Fitzgerald， the spokesman of Jazz Age. It ranks 28th among the best 100 novels in the Twentieth Century. The book takes the author years of hard work， because when he is writing it， his family experiences lots of vicissitudes—his wife’s insanity and economic problems. At the very beginning， he embraces high expectation of the novel， because he wants to regain his fame by it. But the expectation is spoiled by the cold receptions among readers and critics. Because of the loose structure and the unclear explanation of Dick’s bankruptcy， many critics and readers severely inveigh against the novel. This paper wants to illustrate the process of Dick’s bankruptcy from a promising psychologist with the aid of bildungsroman theory. At first， under the impact of two positive guides， Dick is a rising elite. But owing to the personal weakness and outer seductions， the innocent Dick meets sophisticated circumstances and goes bankrupt at last. 　　Key words： F. S. Fitzgerald； Tender Is the Night； Bankruptcy； Bildungsroman 　　INTRODUCTION 　　F. Scott Fitzgerald （1896-1940） is born into a well-being family. Later， his family declines because of his father’s failure in business. With relatives’ support， he goes to Princeton University， but results in dropping out. Based on the experiences of university， he writes his first book， This Side of Paradise， and reaps an overnight success which brings an expensive gift， his wife， to him. From then on， he starts to work hard to support the family. “The history of my life is the history of the struggle between an overwhelming urge to write and a combination of circumstances bent on keeping me from it，” Fitzgerald admits. （Fitzgerald， 1958， p.83） Truly as he says， he is tied by many unexpected issues which hamper his prolificacy. But due to his real and vivid representation of the changing mores of the twenties and thirties of the