Thank You for the Light

Hi!  I hope all of you who celebrated Thanksgiving last week had a nice holiday.  My family and I sure did.  Amid all the festivities, I even managed to squeeze in a little quiet time for reading, and I discovered an interesting short story that is perfect for the Thanksgiving season.

Title: "Thank You for the Light"

Author: Minnesota-born F. Scott Fitzgerald. We here in Minnesota sure are proud of our local-boy-makes-good. Here is a picture of the FSF statue that stands in our state capital, Saint Paul.

Genre: general fiction

Time to read: 10 minutes.  I enjoyed this story with a cup of coffee and a slice of apple kuchen, which is one of the desserts that I made for Thanksgiving.  I like apple kuchen even better than regular apple pie.  Let me know if you would like me to share my recipe in a future post.

Found in: You can read this story in print form or online.  I think you guys will be interested in the publication history of the story.  F. Scott Fitzgerald submitted it to the New Yorker in 1936, but the editors of that magazine rejected it.  In 2012, Fitzgerald's heirs rediscovered the story amongst his papers and resubmitted it to the New Yorker.  This time it was accepted.  The New Yorker editors also post most of the magazine's fiction online for anyone to access freely, so you can read the story right now (click here), if you want to.  Or, if you prefer, you can read the story in the book "I'd Die for You" and Other Lost Stories, a book of lesser-know Fitzgerald pieces.  I prefer the print version, because the book includes historical notes, images of original manuscripts, and photos of the author.  But it's nice to be able to access the story online, too.

Storyline: Well, I bet you are wondering what Fitzgerald wrote that was so controversial or objectionable that it went unpublished for over fifty years.  It is the story of Mrs. Hanson, a widowed, forty-year-old woman.  She has made a successful career as a sales representative for an undergarment manufacturer, but she faces new obstacles when she is transferred to a different part of the country.  Mrs. Hanson may not be one of the elegant socialites that Fitzgerald usually writes about, but her story is interesting--especially the ending!  Some people may find this ending humorous, others may find it sweet and touching, and still others may find it shocking and offensive.  But, in my opinion, that is the mark of a good story: it calls forth an emotional reaction, it makes the reader think about something in a new light, and it can be interpreted in different ways.

With that, I wish you a Happy T Day!