Nick tells of Gatsbys parties. Living next door to Gatsby, Nick, who has not met his neighbour yet, has been observing the parties at a distance, as a casual observer. On Mondays, when the parties are over, eight of Gatsbys servants and an extra gardener work all day long to repair the damage of the weekend parties. Here is what Nick says about the work the servants have to do to clean up after the party:

"And on Mondays eight servants, including an extra gardener, toiled all day ( . . . ) repairing the ravages of the night before." ( pg. 33 )

And here is the same passage in the translations:

E il lunedì otto domestici, compreso un giardiniere supplementare, lavoravano tutto il giorno ( . . . ) a riparare i danni della notte precedente. ( Mondadori, pg. 41 )

E il lunedì otto domestici e in più un giardiniere supplementare, lavoravano tutto il giorno ( . . . ) per riparare i danni della notte precedente. ( Newton, pg. 55 )

In the English, Gatsby's partygoers dont just damage his property, they actually ravage it. In the translations, on the other hand, the partygoers simply cause damage ( "danni" ). The noun "damage" ( "danno") does not imply the same severe and violently destructive action that the noun "ravage" does. "Ravages" suggests a hidden, darker side to Gatsby's typical party guest; a violent side, which the word "danno" does not suggest. This anticipates the later violence, for the reader must wonder that if Gatsby's partygoers are capable of ravaging his property, what else are they capable of doing ? Indeed the final accident, caused by Daisy, one of Gatsby's party guests, will result in Gatsbys murder after he is falsely identified as the driver of the car that has killed Myrtle.

One afternoon Gatsby's chauffeur appears at Nicks door with an invitation to Gatsby's party that evening. Nick goes, and this is how he describes the party:

The lights grow brighter as the earth lurches away from the sun, and now the orchestra is playing yellow cocktail music, and the opera of voices pitches a key higher. Laughter is easier minute by minute, spilled with prodigality, tipped out at a cheerful word. The groups change more swiftly, swell with new arrivals, dissolve and form in the same breath; already there are wanderers, confident girls who weave here and there among the stouter and more stable, become for a sharp, joyous moment the centre of a group, and then, excited with triumph, glide on through the sea change of faces and voices and colour under the constantly changing light. ( pg.34 )

Here is the same passage in the translations:

Le luci diventano più festose mentre la terra si nasconde al sole, lorchestra suona gialla musica da cocktail e il coro delle voci raggiunge un tono più alto. Il riso si fa più facile di minuto in minuto, viene profuso con prodigalità, donato a ogni parola gioconda. I gruppi si trasformano più rapidamente, si allargano con i nuovi arrivi, si fanno e rifanno nellattimo di un respiro; già ci sono le ragazze che si aggirano qua e là tra le più salde e più ferme, diventano per un rapido momento gioioso il centro di un gruppo, e poi, eccitate dal trionfo, proseguono tra i volti e le voci e i colori mutevoli come il mare sotto la luce sempre cangiante ( Mondadori, pgs. 42 43 )

and:

Le luci si fanno più brillanti via via che la terra riceve dal sole gli ultimi guizzi, e lorchestra suona gialla musica da cocktail, e il coro delle voci alza il suo tono. Il riso si fa sempre più facile di minuto in minuto, si espande con prodigalità, donato ad ogni più piacevole battuta. I gruppi cambiano più rapidamente, si gonfiano di nuovi arrivati, si sciolgono e ricompongono nellattimo di un respiro; vi sono già ragazze che si aggirano, sicure di sé, tra altre più statiche e rigide, diventano per un gioioso, vibrante momento il centro del gruppo, e poi, eccitate dal trionfo, passano oltre, attraverso il mutevole mare dei volti, delle voci e dei colori, sotto una luce continuamente cangiante. ( Newton, pg 56)

The earth doesnt lurch away from the sun but rotates steadily around it. In fact " the earth lurches away from the sun" is not referred to the movement of the earth but to the effect alcohol has upon Gatsbys partygoers: things seem to lurch around them when they are drunk. The music at Gatsbys party is " yellow" and this is impossible of course since we cannot hear a colour. Are the people at the party so drunk that they are actually mixing their sense impressions ? We should also notice that yellow is the colour of gold, hence wealth, as if to suggest that Gatsbys money is everywhere, even in the music that is being played. Laughter is "spilled" and "tipped out", as if it were a drink. These two verbs, like "lurches", capture the effect that alcohol has upon the participants. We should also notice the fact that the people at Gatsbys party are laughing "with prodigality", and this suggests their reckless, extravagant life style , which is indeed the case. Looking more closely at this passage, we notice not only that many words can be associated with drinking and drunkenness, and this increases the sense of chaos and reckless enjoyment even more, but also that many words are associated with movement ("lurches", "spilled", "tipped out", "change more swiftly", "swell", "dissolve and form", "weave here and there", "glide on", "constantly changing" ) and all these words of movement, which build up an atmosphere of restlessness and disorder, suggest again the confused and nervous pursuit of action which characterizes the lives of Gatsbys partygoers.

In the Mondadori translation "the lights grow brighter" has been translated as " le luci diventano più festose". In the original this phrase captures the effect that alcohol has on the people at the party: they are drunk and it seems to them that "the lights grow brighter". "Le luci diventano più festose" means "the lights become merrier, more joyous". The idea that the lights actually seem brighter, and not merrier, because this is the effect that alcohol has on the participants is lost with "festose". Similarly, when people are very drunk things seem to lurch around them and they themselves lurch about. So whereas "lurches" is referred to the effect that alcohol produces on the people at the party, "si nasconde" , meaning [ the earth ] "hides", loses this reference because "to hide" is not a verb we can associate with drinking and drunkenness. In the original "laughter is spilled with prodigality" whereas in the translation it is "profuso con prodigalità" meaning wasted, lavished with prodigality. To lavish ( "profondere" ) is not a verb we can associate with drinking and drunkenness whereas "to spill" clearly is. However "profuso" ("lavished" ) does tie in neatly with " prodigalità " to suggest the lavish life style that these people lead. In the original laughter is not only "spilled" but also "tipped out", and "to tip out" is another verb which can be associated with the idea of drinking, whereas "donato" (also used in the Newton translation), which means "given", cannot. Similarly "swell" can be associated with drinking and drunkenness whereas its translation, "allargano", from "allargare", meaning "to widen", cant. "The groups dissolve and form in the same breath" captures the atmosphere of drinking as it suggests drinks being mixed together ( " dissolve and form") to create ( "form" ) a new drink which is then gulped down all in one breath ( "in the same breath" ). This has been translated as " i gruppi si fanno e rifanno nellattimo di un respiro". The idea of mixing drinks together to make a new drink ( "dissolve and form" ) is not as clearly suggested in the words "si fanno e rifanno" which mean "are made and made again" or "are formed and formed again". The words "in the same breath" suggest " all in one breath" and this expression also exists in Italian as "tutto dun fiato". However both translations use the words "nellattimo di un respiro" which mean "in the moment of a breath": the idea of a drink being gulped down "all in one breath", which we saw is possible with the expression "tutto dun fiato", is lost. "The more stable" can also be associated with drinking as "stable" suggests sober people, people who are "stable" on the ground because they arent drunk. "Ferme", the word used to translate "stable", means still, not moving. Whereas "the more stable" suggests people who are stable on the ground because they are not drunk, if we want to associate "ferme" with drunkenness then this word suggests the opposite: people who are so drunk they cannot even move ( "ferme" ).

In the Newton translation "the earth lurches away from the sun" becomes "la terra riceve dal sole gli ultimi guizzi" which translates as "the earth receives the suns last flashes". Again, whereas in the original the word "lurches" suggests the effect that alcohol has upon the people at Gatsbys party, this suggestion is lost with "riceve", which means "receives". The idea of the earth receiving flashes ("guizzi") from the sun, which is not present in the original, is a failure to see that by saying "the earth lurches away from the sun", Fitzgerald is describing the effect drunkenness has on the senses of Gatsbys partygoers. "Spilled" can be associated with drinking and drunkenness whereas " si espande", meaning "to spread out", "to extend", cannot. "Gonfiano" does indeed translate "swell": both verbs can be associated with drinking. "Sciolgono" for "dissolve" also suggests the idea of drinks being mixed together since "sciogliere" means "to melt" and "to dissolve". In the original "the more stable" suggests people who are sober, people who are stable on the ground because they are not drunk. "Statiche e rigide" means "motionless and stiff ". If we want to associate the idea of being motionless and stiff with drunkenness then "statiche e rigide" doesnt suggest that these people are sober ( " the more stable" ), but that they are dead drunk ( "statiche e rigide", indeed ! ), that they have had so much to drink they cant even move.

On the whole, then, what is missing in these translations is the idea of drunkenness and drinking which the words in the English, so carefully chosen by Fitzgerald, are associated with. But more importantly, we saw that in the original many of these words, which increase the sense of reckless enjoyment at the party, are also associated with movement and in fact mingle with other words of movement in the passage. This is not the case, as we have seen, with the choice of words in the translations. All this verbal drift of the original builds up an atmosphere of restlessness which suggests the nervous pursuit of action that characterizes, as is the case, the lives of those who attend Gatsbys parties.

Gatsbys fabulous parties continue through the summer and Nick attends two more of them. He writes a long list of the guests who attended one of Gatsbys parties. Here are some of the names on that list:

. . . the Leeches . . . the Hornbeams . . . a whole clan named Blackbuck . . . Edgar Beaver, whose hair, they say, turned cotton white one winter afternoon for no good reason at all . . . the Cheadles . . . the Ripley Snells . . . Mrs.Swett . . . the Dancies . . . S.B. Whitebait, who was well over sixty . . . the Hammerheads . . . Ed Legros . . . James B. ( "Rot Gut") Ferret and Ernest Lilly they came to gamble -- . . . S.W.Belcher . . . the Smirkes . . . Miss Haag . . . and Miss Claudia Hip, with a man reputed to be her chauffeur . . . ( pgs. 49 51 )

Fitzgeralds list of names is a great comic set piece. The surnames themselves are real masterpieces of suggestiveness. "Leeches" suggests people who behave like parasites, people who hang on seeking some sort of advantage or gain. This surname anticipates one such person, a man called Klipspringer, who was at Gatsbys house so often and so long that he simply became known as " the boarder", and Nick even doubts if this man ever had any home at all. Moving on to the surname "Hornbeams", in American slang a "horn" is an erect penis. "Horn" also suggests "horny", an adjective which means easily excited sexually. A "beam" is a long wooden or metal rod or shaft. "Beam", "shaft" and "rod" also mean penis. So the surname "Hornbeams" introduces the suggestion, the possibility that the members of this "horny" family go to Gatsbys wild parties for the sexual encounters they might have there. Turning to the surname "Blackbuck", the phrase " a whole clan named Blackbuck" suggests a large and powerful family whose members earn their money ("bucks" is an American slang word for dollars ) on the black market. The idea of money earned on the black market suggests the illegal business of bootlegging, a historical reality during the years in which The Great Gatsby is set, the years of prohibition. The consequent illegal production and selling of alcohol is also the principal source of Gatsbys wealth, the core of corruption within his lifestyle. So the surname "Blackbuck" cleverly implies not only the nature of the Blackbucks themselves, but also allows us an insight into an aspect of the novel, prohibition, that had historical roots during the years in which the novel is set.

The next name, "Edgar Beaver", suggests the expression "eager beaver", a person who is overimpatient and overdiligent not only to perform his part, but to volunteer for more. The word beaver is also an American term for vagina or for a woman seen exclusively as a sex object. So Edgar Beaver is a funny name because it suggests a man who is impatient for sex, who has a strong and urgent desire for ( "eager for" ) sex ( "beaver" ). The wordplay with this name suggests the rhyming expression of "eager for some beaver". Beaver is also an old word for beard, especially a full one. The word "hair", coming right after Beaver, emphasizes this other suggestion. The fact that Nick adds that Beavers hair "turned cotton white one winter afternoon for no good reason at all" adds a crazily eccentric, screwball dimension to the entire suggestion of Beaver and his hair, whether it is pubic hair we are thinking about or the hairs of a beard.

The next name, "Cheadles", sounds very much like the word cheeseballs, a term of abuse indicating an unpleasant, contemptible person. "Cheadles" also sounds like the verb "to cheat", with the added suggestion therefore of dishonesty. "Ripley Snells", the next surname, sounds a lot like "Ripley smells", suggesting quite funnily that someone called Ripley, who goes to Gatsbys parties, is a smelly person. "Ripley Snells" also sounds like "ripely smells", as in something mature, ripe, old that smells. Indeed in America the surname Ripley can be pronounced with a short i sound but also with a long i sound, thus sounding exactly like the adverb "ripely". The idea is that the adverb "ripely" could either suggest that the Ripley Snells are old people ( as in the expression "to reach a ripe old age" ) who smell, or people who smell of something old, something that has gone off , like a mature ( "ripe") cheese, or a "ripe" fruit.

The name "Mrs. Swett" suggests, quite obviously, a lady who sweats. The next surname, "Dancies", sounds like "dunces". "S.B. Whitebait" suggests the word "whistle bait", which means an attractive girl. The letters S and B are also the initials for Bachelor of Science, suggesting therefore an attractive but also educated girl. The irony is that Fitzgerald then immediately qualifies S.B. Whitebait as being "well over sixty". This kind of irony gives Fitzgeralds writing a good amount of humour. "Whitebait" also suggests a person who behaves like a parasite. In fact whitebait is another name for maggots, small worms that live as parasites in animals.

The next surname, "Hammerheads", suggests "hammerheads", which means stupid, thickheaded people. There is also a common type of shark called the hammerhead shark. "Shark" is also a term for a crafty person who lives by extortion, swindling, trickery, or other irregular means. So the name "Hammerheads" hints at the ambiguous nature of this family: they might look like stupid, thickheaded people ( "hammerheads" ) but in fact they live like sharks ("hammerheaded shark" ). The next name, "Ed Legros", sounds like " Ed the gross". The word gross, referred to a person, has a whole variety of different meanings: fat or obese, barbaric or disgusting, and rude, vulgar, or offensive. The next name "James B. ( "Rot Gut" ) Ferret suggests someone who is sneaky, sly, and obtains things underhandedly. The word ferret in fact comes from a Latin word which means small thief. "Rot Gut" means "rotten guts", and this characterizes him as being morally corrupt. In fact "rotten" means morally corrupt, and " guts" means moral stamina, force of character. The adjective "rot - gut" is also a term which is applied to a low quality alcoholic drink. So the strong suggestions are that Mr. "Rot Gut" Ferret is involved in the illegal liquour business. Again, as in the surname "Blackbuck", this other name, Ferret, allows us an insight into aspects of the novel such as prohibition, bootlegging, and organized crime, which all had historical roots during the time in which the novel is set. There is irony in Nicks words when he says that "Rot Gut" Ferret is gambling with a man called "Ernest Lilly", a name which suggests someone who is lilylike, in other words a timid or cowardly man. Mr. Lillys first name is Ernest, a name that suggests sincerity of feeling, thus reinforcing the idea of Mr. Lillys fairness, purity and honesty already suggested in the surname Lilly. We can only hope that poor Mr. Ernest Lillys gambling partner is Mr. "Rot Gut" Ferret, and that he is not gambling against Mr. Ferret ! The next name, "S.W. Belcher", quite clearly suggests a person who burps rather loudly. Again, Fitzgerald adds a screwball, nonsensical comic touch to this surname and this is achieved through the initials of Belchers first names. S.W. are in fact, amongst many others, the initials for Sweden and South Wales. This is quite funny in a crazy, eccentric kind of way because we imagine someone from South Wales or from Sweden going to Gatsbys party and burping loudly. Even funnier, still in a crazily nonsensical way which those initials S.W. allow us to do, is to imagine Fitzgerald thinking about someone burping in Swedish or in a South Welsh dialect ! The next surname, "Smirkes", suggests the verb "to smirk", which means to smile in an affected or conceited manner. The suggestion, then, is that perhaps the "Smirkes" have an excessively or unjustifiably high opinion of themselves.

The name "Miss Haag" quite openly suggests the word "hag", a term which means a witch or an ugly old woman, especially a vicious or a malicious one. Finally, the name "Claudia Hip" suggests the adjective "hip", which means trendy, up to date, but which also implies cool, detached behaviour. The irony is that Claudia Hip goes to Gatsbys parties "with a man reputed to be her chauffeur", which is anything but a hip, trendy or cool thing to do. Also, in Fitzgeralds days, hip behaviour implied a rejection of bourgeois values. The irony here is that if Claudia Hip was as hip as her name suggests, she simply wouldnt have a chauffeur, something which only the bourgeoisie would have. And even if she did have a chauffeur it still certainly wouldnt be hip for her to present him as her man at Gatsbys parties, where only the most fashionable, the trendiest, the hippest of people can be seen.

What we can say about all these examples of names and surnames is that this comic set piece is a literary exercise which includes puns and verbal jokes of all sorts. The names themselves are masterpieces of suggestiveness. Obviously no translation ever translates a first name or a surname. The tour de force is inevitably lost.

One July morning Gatsby arrives at Nicks house and announces they are having lunch that day in New York. During the ride to New York Gatsbys car approaches the city from the great Queensboro bridge. Looking at the city from the bridge, this is how Nick describes the New York skyline:

( . . . ) with the city rising up across the river in white heaps and sugar lumps . . . ( pg. 55 )

The sugar lump image effectively describes the appearance of distant sky scrapers since sugar lumps have a rectangular or square shape, just like the sky scrapers in New York in the early and mid 20s. But the sugar lump image also recalls the sugar lumps out of which houses are built in fairy tales, to lure children into the evil hands of the witch. The image then contains a somewhat sinister hint of the hidden dangers of city life. We should also notice that Nick describes the New York skyline as being "white", and that white, apart from denoting purity, is also the absence of colour and can, in fact, denote a void, a lack. So the whiteness of New York suggests perhaps Nicks subsequent disillusionment with life in the urban East. Nick has in fact returned to the Midwest, where he is writing his book, and by his own admission he is indeed worn out and embittered by his experiences in the East. He realizes that even when he was excited by life in New York he had been aware somehow that it was false and empty. And after Gatsbys death, Nick becomes even more conscious of its decadence and emptiness.

Here is the same passage in the translations:

( . . . ) e la città che sorgeva di là dal fiume in cumuli bianchi e pani di zucchero . . . ( Mondadori, pg. 70 )

and:

( . . . ) con la città che si sollevava oltre il fiume in cumuli bianchi e blocchi di zucchero . . . ( Newton, pg. 82 )

In the English the sugar lump image effectively describes a sky scraper since a sugar lump looks like a tiny, miniature version of a sky scraper: they both have the same rectangular or square shape. In the translations the words used are not as accurate and appropriate as the word "sugar lump" is to describe a sky scraper. "Pane di zucchero", in the Mondadori translation, is sugarloaf. No New York sky scraper of the 1920s could look like sugarloaf since all sky scrapers had a rectangular or a square shape ( the square shaped ones usually had fewer floors ) and sugarloaf has a conical shape. So for the 1920s sugarloaf ( "pan di zucchero" ) would be an appropriate word to describe a hill or a mountain, but not a sky scraper.

In the Newton translation "blocchi di zucchero" means blocks of sugar. The word "block" means building in American English and it also suggests the compactness of a building or a sky scraper. However, referred to sugar, by no means does the word "block" suggest that blocks of sugar are always rectangular or square shaped. Indeed if we drop tea or coffee into a sugar bowl, the block of sugar that is formed will absolutely never have a rectangular or a square shape. In other words we will have a block of sugar ("blocco di zucchero" ) that in no way looks like a miniature version of a sky scraper. So what is missing in these translations is the idea of sky scrapers looking like sugar lumps, which recalls the idea of sugar lump houses in fairy tales, where sugar lumps are used to lure children into the evil hands of a witch. This image, as we saw in the English, then contains a somewhat sinister hint of the hidden dangers of city life, suggesting Nicks disillusionment with life in the urban East. If this is true, then maybe the word "zolletta" (sugar lump ) would have come closer to whatever possible suggestion the English word sugar lump might be hinting at.

Gatsby and Nick have lunch together and in the afternoon Nick has tea with Jordan Baker. Jordan recalls her girlhood in Louisville and one of her memories of Daisy Fay, who would become Daisy Buchanan. In 1917 Daisy fell in love with a young officer, Jay Gatsby, who later went overseas. Daisys family didnt approve of the match Gatsby was too poor to marry her so Daisy eventually put Gatsby behind and married Tom Buchanan a few months after the armistice. Jordan also tells Nick what Gatsby told her on the night of a recent party. It was not coincidence that bought Gatsby to West Egg, as Nick initially believed, but rather it was all part of Gatsbys calculated plan. Gatsby purposely chose his mansion so that the house of his lost love would be just across the bay. Jordan also tells Nick that the parties Gatsby hosts are for no other reason than to try to get Daisys attention. As the conversation ends, Jordan brings up Gatsbys request: he wants Nick to invite Daisy over for tea some afternoon so he can happen by and see her, as if by accident. The agreed upon day arrives and when Gatsby and Daisy meet in Nicks living room both are initially tense and embarrassed. Nick decides to leave them alone for a while and when he returns he finds their embarrassment gone, Daisy moved to tears, and Gatsby in a state of elation. They leave Nicks house and Gatsby conducts them on a tour of his estate, proudly watching all of Daisys reactions as he shows them around. Klipspringer, the boarder, is called to play the piano and Gatsby and Daisy retire to a dark corner of a room. They become so lost in each other that they barely notice Nick when he approaches to say goodnight to them. As Nick quietly retreats, leaving the lovers alone together, he sees Gatsby peering into Daisys eyes and listening to her enchanted voice. Here are the words Nick uses to describe Daisys voice:

( . . . ) quella voce era un canto immortale. ( Mondadori, pg. 98 )

( . . . ) quella voce era immortale ( Newton, pg.106 )

In the translations Daisys voice is immortal ( "immortale" ).

Here is the original:

( . . . ) that voice was a deathless song. ( pg. 76 )

Conceptually, immortal ( "immortale" ) and "deathless" mean the same thing , so in this strict semantic sense there is no difference between the original and the translations. However what is missing in the translations, crucially, is the word "death" ("morte" ). Although the word "death" is attached to the suffix " less", its presence in the original is far more ominous than the adjective "immortale", which does not contain the word "morte". "Death" foreshadows a tragic development in a way in which the word "immortale" doesnt. "Deathless" and "immortale" might both be hinting at the fact that Daisy will not die; but "deathless" might also be suggesting, more ominously and unlike the word "immortale", that Daisy will have something to do with Gatsbys "death" since it is Gatsby himself who is listening to her "death" - less voice. At the end of the novel George Wilson murders Gatsby because he thinks that Gatsby was driving the car that ran over and killed his wife. Instead, the driver of that car was Daisy, who is thus indirectly linked with Gatsbys death. So the adjective "immortale" does not share the same ominous suggestion, the same foreboding of tragic events which the adjective "deathless" hints at through the presence of the word "death".

Nick tells us that when Gatsby met Daisy for the first time as a young officer in 1917 it was purely by chance. Here are Nicks words:

Ma sapeva di trovarsi nella casa di Daisy per un caso del tutto eccezionale. ( Mondadori, pg. 150 )

and:

Ma sapeva che se era lì, nella casa di Daisy, era per un colossale caso. ( Newton, pg. 154 )

Both translations say that when Gatsby met Daisy for the first time in 1917 it was purely by chance ( "per caso"). The language explains this clearly and no further interpretation is possible.

Here is the original:

But he knew that he was in Daisys house by a colossal accident. ( pg. 118 )

Whereas the phrase "by a colossal accident" is ominous, the phrases used in the translations, which both mean "simply / purely by chance", are not ominous at all. Again, as in the example of Daisys " deathless" voice, the words " by a colossal accident" foreshadow tragic developments. Indeed Daisys and Gatsbys relationship ends with and by a "colossal accident": the "colossal" car accident which kills Myrtle Wilson leads to the "colossal" mistake of George Wilson murdering Gatsby, the wrong man since it was Daisy and not Gatsby who was driving the car.

What is lost in the translations is the verbal patterning of the original in which the language, through the words " by a colossal accident" and "deathless", ominously hints at the fact that Daisy is a fatal woman whose love is death.

After seeing Gatsby and getting to know him better, Nick presents the real story of Gatsbys past. His original name was James Gatz, changed when he was seventeen to the more glamorous Jay Gatsby. Gatsby came from North Dakota and not from San Francisco as he had mentioned to Nick when they first met. An interesting point about Gatsbys past which Nick recalls is this:

The truth was that Jay Gatsby of West Egg, Long Island, sprang from his Platonic conception of himself. ( pg. 78 )

"To spring" and "conception" suggest that Gatsby "created" himself, that he "conceived" an image of himself according to his Platonic ideal. However, we might know what a Platonic ideal is but what exactly is a "Platonic conception" ? Fitzgerald complicates the issue since he doesnt write that Gatsby sprang from a Platonic conception of himself, but "from his Platonic conception of himself", as if this Platonic conception, whatever it may be, belonged to Gatsby and we could somehow read Gatsbys mind and know exactly what it means for him. "Platonic conception" is a strange formulation since on the one hand a "conception" is something which is conceived ( an embryo, a fetus ) through sexual intercourse, while on the other hand "Platonic" can suggest Platonic love, a kind of love in which sexual intercourse is absent. In this sense, "Platonic conception" could suggest that the boy created himself anew ( "sprang from" ) according to an ideal scheme or plan of action ( " Platonic conception" ), but that he also wanted a kind of love in which sexual attraction was present, a love in which pregnancy ( "conception" ) was possible through sexual intercourse. Whatever that Platonic conception meant to James Gatz, from the ashes of that young boy Jay Gatsby came into existence.

Here is the same passage in the translations:

La verità è che Jay Gatsby di West Egg, Long Island, era scaturito da una concezione platonica di se stesso. (Mondadori, pg. 100 )

La verità era che Jay Gatsby di West Egg, Long Island, era balzato dalla sua concezione platonica di se stesso. (Newton, pg. 108 )

In the Mondadori translation the verb "scaturire", like the verb to "spring", also suggests the idea of something originating, of something being created, coming into existence. So the suggestion that Gatsby "created" himself according to a Platonic conception, that he "conceived" this image of himself is also maintained with the verb "scaturire".

In the Newton translation, however, the idea of Gatsby having created himself according to some sort of Platonic ideal is lost with the verb "balzare". This verb, followed by the preposition "da" ( = "from" ) means to move rapidly away from something, as in the phrase "Paolo balzò dalla sedia" ( "Paolo jumped from the chair"). So whereas the English "sprang from" and the Italian "scaturire" mean that Gatsby conceived, created an ideal conception of who he was, the Newton translation somewhat confuses the issue since it seems to be suggesting rather the opposite, that Gatsby had moved away from ( = "era balzato dalla" ) that ideal conception of himself. This translation does however keep the idea, as in the original, that it is Gatsbys Platonic conception ( " sua concezione Platonica " ) and not a Platonic conception, as if we could read Gatsbys mind ( " sua " ) and know exactly what a Platonic conception means to him.

Still remembering what he has learnt about Gatsbys youth, Nick informs us about Gatsbys need to believe that:

( . . . ) the rock of the world was founded securely on a fairys wing. ( pg. 79 )

This phrase seems to contain an allusion to Daisy, whose original surname, Fay, is an old English word for "fairy". So the words "fairys wing" might hold a subtle allusion to Daisy, who for Gatsby is an image of excellence and perfection, as indeed is the image of a fairy. The suggestion might then be that the reality of the material world around Gatsby ( "the rock of the world" ) is less important to him than Daisy ( " a fairys wing" ). Indeed we know from what Gatsby himself told Jordan Baker at one of his parties, that the only reason he bought his enormous mansion in West Egg was because it was right across from Daisys house, and that the parties he hosts are for no other reason than to try to get Daisys attention. When Daisy and Gatsby met for the first time in 1917 he was a soldier and Daisys family forced her to break off the relationship because he was too poor to marry her. Now that he is very rich, Gatsby puts on excessive displays of wealth entertaining hundreds of people he doesnt know and who dont know him all for the sake of a lost love. The reality of the material world around Gatsby ( "the rock of the world" ) is less important to him than having Daisy ( " a fairys wing" ).

Here is the passage in the translations:

( . . . ) la roccaforte del mondo era saldamente basata sullala di una fiaba. ( Mondadori, pg. 101 )

( . . . ) la grande roccia del mondo aveva come suo rassicurante fondamento lala di una fata.( Newton, pg. 109)

In the English it is the word "fairy" that holds the allusion to Daisy since Daisys original surname "Fay" is an old word for fairy. If we know that "fay" is an old term for fairy, then we can appreciate the pun Fay/fay. "Fata", in the Newton translation, does indeed mean fairy. However, the word "fiaba", in the Mondadori translation, means fairy tale, fable. What is lost in this translation is the allusion to Daisy through the image of a fairy ( "fata" and not "fiaba"). In a way, Daisy is Gatsbys fairy: to him she is fairy like, she has the same magical appeal and the same image of excellence and perfection that a fairy has.

Another point in Nicks description of Gatsbys youth is this:

He stayed there [ the Lutheran College of St.Olafs in southern Minnesota ] two weeks, dismayed at its ferocious indifference to the drums of his destiny, to destiny itself, and despising the janitors work with which he was to pay his way through. ( pg. 79)

And in the translations:

Vi rimase due settimane, costernato dallindifferenza feroce dimostrata dallistituto per i tamburi rullanti del suo destino, per il destino stesso, e pieno di disprezzo per il lavoro di portiere col quale doveva pagarsi la permanenza. ( Mondadori, pg. 101 )

Stette lì due settimane, sconvolto da quellindifferenza feroce verso i tamburi rullanti del suo destino, per il destino stesso, e disprezzando il lavoro di portiere col quale si pagava la retta. ( Newton, pg. 109 )

Here Fitzgerald uses the phrase "ferocious indifference", a transferred epithet, and we notice that the same collocation of the English is maintained in the translations, which use "indifferenza feroce". The sense of ferocity lurking beneath this apparently indifferent Minnesotan society may indicate an underlying savagery within it. But coming so close as it does in the text to Gatsby, "ferocious" might also be suggesting that the sense of ferocity is Gatsbys own reaction, and not just the "ferocious indifference" of the Minnesotan society. In other words this ferocity may also register the intensity of Gatsbys dissatisfaction, his "ferocious" anger with the hand life has dealt him: "the janitors work with which he was to pay his way through" college. Gatsby conceived an image of himself as a person who had great things to accomplish and to aspire to ( "he sprang from his Platonic conception of himself" ) so the ferocity, if it belongs to Gatsby himself , might also suggest that he has the energy, the strength and the anger to lift himself out of this routine life, out of his allotted role. The new role may ultimately prove inadequate, but the energy that drives Gatsby when he is young is offered for our consideration through the idea of ferocity which the words "ferocious indifference" ( "indifferenza feroce" ) suggest.

Daisy and Tom attend one of Gatsbys parties for the first time. After the party, when Tom and Daisy have gone home, Gatsby tells Nick that he is sure that Daisy didnt enjoy herself. What Gatsby wants is that Daisy should tell Tom that she has never loved him. As soon as she has done that, she and Gatsby can return to Louisville and get married from her house "just as if it were five years ago". Gatsby also tells Nick that Daisy doesnt seem to understand him anymore. Here is the dialogue between Gatsby and Nick:

"And she doesnt understand", he said. "She used to be able to understand. Wed sit for hours -- "

He broke off and began to walk up and down a desolate path of fruit rinds and discarded favors and crushed flowers.

"I wouldnt ask too much of her", I ventured. "You cant repeat the past ."

"Cant repeat the past ?" he cried incredulously. "Why of course you can ! "

Gatsby believes that he can repeat the past, that he can arrange everything with Daisy just as it was five years ago and relive that beautiful moment in the present. Yet as he speaks of his dream, he is walking on a "desolate path of fruit rinds and discarded favors and crushed flowers". The adjective "desolate", which means deserted, lonely, abandoned suggests that Gatsby will be left alone. Indeed Daisy eventually abandons Gatsby, returning to her husband Tom. The suggestion of Daisy rejecting Gatsby is also present in the words "discarded favors". In fact one of the meanings of "favours" is sexual intercourse granted by a woman: "discarded favors" suggests that Gatsby will no longer have ( "discarded" ) these favours from Daisy. Fruit rinds, discarded favors and crushed flowers are images of the superficiality of Gatsbys present joys. Also, these small, fragile objects have been irreversibly changed. Gatsby and his party guests have stepped on them, crushed them: they will never be the same as they were before. They are images that suggest that the past is in the past and cant be resurrected. These images of the irreversibility of the past suggest that Gatsbys dream of being permanently reunited with Daisy can never be realized.

Here is the part in which Gatsby is walking on the residue of his party:

Si interruppe e cominciò a passeggiare su e giù per un desolato sentiero di bucce di frutti, di favori respinti, di fiori calpestati. ( Newton, pg. 119 )

Si interruppe e incominciò a passeggiare su e giù per un sentiero desolato, cosparso di scorze di frutta, carte di caramelle e fiori calpestati. ( Mondadori, pg 112 )

What we notice is that there has been a problem with the translation of "discarded favors". "Favors" are small gifts or festive items (as paper hats, Christmas crackers, noisemakers) given out to guests at a party. These small souvenirs have been dropped on the floor, gotten rid of ("discarded" ) and are strewn over the path that Gatsby is now walking along. The words "discarded favors" may also hold an allusion to Gatsby: he treats Daisy gently and kindly, he "favors" her, but she will drop him, reject him ("discarded" ). The words "favori respinti", in the Newton translation, do indeed carry the suggestion of Gatsby favouring Daisy ( "favorire" means "to favour" ) but ultimately being rejected, ( "respingere" means "to reject, to refuse" ) by her. However, the word "favori" does not also have the meaning of party novelties, as does the English word "favor". Since this translation can only have the one meaning of Gatsby walking down a path of favours that have been rejected, refused ( "favori respinti"), what it achieves is to sound more charged with feeling than the original, in which the words "discarded favors" also mean (and are more likely to mean) rubbish for Gatsbys servants to clean up the next day.

In the Mondadori translation "discarded favors" has been translated as "carte di caramelle", which means "sweet wrappers", as in the pieces of paper in which sweets are wrapped up. The more emotional, lyrical suggestion of the Newton translation and perhaps, as we saw, also of the English "discarded favors" is lost in this translation. Presumably the translator thought that "favors" were sweets given out to the guests at Gatsbys parties, and that the word "discarded", with its meaning of dropping, getting rid of, indicated the fact that the sweets wrappers had been thrown away, hence the idea of wrappers ( "carte di caramelle" ) strewn out over the path Gatsby is walking along. "Sweet wrappers" ("carte di caramelle" ) is undoubtedly a fairly creative translation of "discarded favors", but whereas this choice limits us to the context of sticky wrappers lying on Gatsbys lawn, the words "discarded favors" and "favori respinti" are open, as we saw, to a more lyrical interpretation.

One day, Daisy invites Gatsby and Nick to lunch at her house. After lunch they decide to go to New York. While Tom, Daisy and Jordan, who have also been invited, are inside getting ready to leave, Nick and Gatsby wait outside. Gatsby, talking about Daisy, says this to Nick:

"Her voice is full of money" , he said suddenly.

And here is Nicks comment:

That was it. Id never understood before. It was full of money that was the inexhaustible charm that rose and fell in it, the jingle of it, the cymbals song of it. ( . . . )

(pg. 96 )

What does Gatsby mean by this enigmatic statement ? Is Gatsby suggesting Daisys superficiality ? Is Gatsby telling us that Daisy represents to him the American Dream itself, that he sees her as an embodiment of the glamour of wealth ? Does Gatsby mean that to him, possessing Daisy is like possessing the wealth that America, the golden land, promises ? Is Daisy the promise of wealth or is Gatsby intimating that Daisy is a very expensive product, that it takes a great deal of money to maintain such a product, that she veritably breathes money, and announcing his awareness of this to Nick ?

Here are the translations:

"Ha una voce piena di monete" disse Gatsby improvvisamente.

Era proprio così. Non lavevo mai capito prima. Piena di monete ( . . . ) ( Mondadori, pg. 121 )

"La sua voce è piena di monetine", disse Gatsby allimprovviso.

Era così. Non lavevo mai capito prima. Era piena di monete ( . . . ) ( Newton, pg.128 )

Fitzgerald makes it very clear right from the start of the novel that Gatsby and Daisy have an enormous amount of money, that they are indeed both "full of money". "Monete", in the Mondadori translation, means "coins". "Monetine", in the Newton translation, means "small coins, small change". Of course coins are money too, but the expression "full of money" suggests the idea of wealth, of having a lot of money, much more than the expressions "full of coins" or "full of small coins" do. Since the theme of the rich and their money is at the heart of this novel, one feels that words like "soldi" or "denaro" or "quattrini" ( all meaning "money" ) are more appropriate than the words "monete" and "monetine" ("coins" ) to suggest the idea of wealth, the idea of being "full of money".

On the way to New York, Tom stops at Wilsons garage to fill the car up with petrol. Wilson, unaware that Tom is his wifes lover, tells Tom that he suspects that she is unfaithful to him and that he is therefore going to take her away from Long Island. Here is the moment where Tom pulls into Wilsons garage:

"Lets have some gas ! " cried Tom roughly.

"Im sick" , said Wilson without moving. "Been sick all day."

"Whats the matter ?"

"Im all run down."

(pgs. 97 98 )

The adjective "run down" means worn out, exhausted. Wilson suspects that his wife has a lover and this makes him physically sick. The adjective "run down" also suggests the verb "to run down", which means to drive a vehicle into someone, to knock someone down with a vehicle. What "run down" achieves is to foreshadow someone being run down. Later on, Daisy, driving Gatsbys car, runs down and kills Myrtle, Wilsons wife.

Here are the translations:

"Sono malato" disse Wilson senza muoversi. "Sono stato male tutto il giorno."

"Che cosa avete ?"

"Sono esaurito." ( Mondadori, pg. 124 )

"Non sto bene", disse Wilson senza muoversi. "Sono stato male tutto il giorno."

"Di che si tratta ?"

"Mi sento giù. Esaurito." ( Newton, pg. 130 )

The pun with "run down" / " to run down" is not possible with the adjective "esaurito" and the verb "esaurire". Here the word "esaurito" only has the meaning of exhausted, worn out. The suggestion of running down a person, of knocking someone down with a vehicle which the English foreshadowed through a pun on the words "run down" is lost in the translations.

After lunch, just before leaving for New York, Tom had witnessed a soft glance that had passed between Daisy and Gatsby. When the group, which includes Tom, Daisy, Gatsby and Jordan, arrives in New York and stops at the Plaza Hotel for drinks, Tom forces Gatsby to tell him what is going on between him and Daisy. When Gatsby gets Daisy to declare her love for him, Tom, in disbelief, turns to Daisy for confirmation but she cannot however honestly admit never having loved Tom. Gatsby, shaken by the scene unfolding before him the collapse of his carefully constructed dream tries another tactic and tells Tom "Daisys leaving you". Tom laughs off this declaration assuring Gatsby that Daisy would never leave him for a bootlegger. He then orders Gatsby and Daisy to head back to East Egg in Gatsbys own car. By following Toms command, the lovers admit defeat and Gatsbys dream disintegrates. Tom, Jordan and Nick follow home in Toms car. On the way back to East Egg, Nick, suddenly remembering that it is his thirtieth birthday says this:

"Thirty the promise of a decade of loneliness, a thinning list of single men to know, a thinning brief case of enthusiasm, thinning hair."

So we drove on toward death through the cooling twilight. ( pg. 108 )

Nicks recollection that it is his thirtieth birthday provides an insight into the melancholy, dismal side of his character. Fitzgerald used to argue that life went downhill after you reached the age of fifteen ! Nicks sense of his own mortality, an irreversible movement toward his own death is captured in the words "so we drove on toward death". These words also foreshadow the discovery of Myrtle Wilsons body. Indeed as Nick, Tom, and Jordan "drive on toward" East Egg they find Myrtle Wilsons body in the middle of the road. She has been run down and killed by Gatsbys big yellow car, driven by Daisy.

Here is the second part of the passage, the sentence that foreshadows the discovery of Myrtles body, in the translations:

Così ci avviammo verso la morte nel crepuscolo rinfrescante. ( Mondadori, pg. 137 )

Così, filammo incontro alla morte, nella frescura del crepuscolo. ( Newton, pg. 142 )

What we notice is that in all three versions the different verbs used ( "drove", "avviammo" and "filammo" ) hint at the fact that someones death ( "morte" ) will have something to do with driving. In fact one of the meanings of the verb "avviare" is "to start up", as in the expression "avviare lautomobile" ( "to start up the car" ). Similarly, one of the meanings of the verb "filare" is "to run or spin along at full speed", as in the expression "lautomobile filò a tutta velocità" ( "the car ran at full speed" ). However, whereas in English it is correct to use the verb "to drive" and to say, for example, that "the car drove over Myrtles body", it is incorrect to use the verbs "avviare" and "filare" in the same way and to say "la macchina si avviò sul corpo di Myrtle" or "la macchina filò sul corpo di Myrtle". To achieve the same meaning, that of a car "driving" over someones body, in Italian we have to change these two verbs and say something like "la macchina schiacciò il corpo di Myrtle" or "la macchina passò sopra il corpo di Myrtle." Looking back at Fitzgeralds sentence in the original and concluding, what the verb "to drive" achieves is to suggest that Myrtle Wilsons death will have driving involved with it. The immediacy of this suggestion is lost with the verbs "avviare" and "filare" since they do not suggest at once, like the verb "to drive" does, death caused by driving. What is missing in the translations, vitally, is the verb to drive ("guidare" ).

We should notice that the suggestion of death is also present in the word "cooling" whereas it is not present in the words "rinfrescante" and "frescura". In fact "cooling" means losing heat but also losing force and vitality. Furthermore, "to cool" means "to kill" in American slang. "Rinfrescante", in the Mondadori translation, only means "refreshing". Similarly, "frescura del crepuscolo", in the Newton translation, means "the coolness, freshness of the twilight".

The night of the accident in which Myrtle is killed Nick hardly sleeps at all. Haunted by terrible dreams, when it is nearly dawn Nick runs over to Gatsbys house, feeling a need to warn him about something ( even he doesnt know what, exactly ). Here is that moment:

Toward dawn I heard a taxi go up to Gatsbys drive, and immediately I jumped out of bed and began to dress I felt that I had something to tell him, something to warn him about, and morning would be too late. ( pg. 117 )

The word "morning" puns with the word "mourning", from the verb "to mourn", which means to be sorrowful over a death. What this pun achieves is to create a sense of impending doom, and since it is Gatsby who Nick feels is in danger, it suggests that Nick will soon be mourning over his death. The novel does indeed end with Gatsbys death. In fact Wilson, overcome by grief and looking for the enormous yellow car that killed his wife, finds his way to Gatsbys house ( tipped off by Tom ) and kills him, mistakenly thinking that Gatsby was Myrtles lover and that he was driving the car that killed her.

Here is the passage in the translations:

Verso lalba udii un tassì risalire il viale di Gatsby; subito balzai dal letto e incominciai a vestirmi; mi pareva di avere qualcosa da dirgli, qualcosa di cui ammonirlo, e la mattina sarebbe stato troppo tardi. ( Mondadori, pg.148)

Verso lalba udii un tassì percorrere il viale di Gatsby, e subito saltai dal letto e cominciai a vestirmi. Sentivo che avevo qualcosa da comunicargli, qualcosa di cui avvertirlo, e sarebbe stato troppo tardi farlo al mattino. (Newton, pg.153 )

The pun with "morning" / "mourning" is not possible in Italian with "la mattina" or "al mattino". These words only mean "the morning" and "in the morning". What is lost in the translations is the suggestion of impending death hinted at through the pun in the original.