The Basil and Josephine Stories by F. Scott Fitzgerald (1973)

A collection of the 14 stories that Fitzgerald wrote about his teenage avatars.

Book Review: The Basil and Josephine Stories is part of the endless repackaging of Fitzgerald's treasure trove. He released only four short fiction collections in his lifetime, consisting of 46 stories in all, each released after one of his novels. Since then there've been two significant collections of his selected stories (by Malcolm Cowley (1951) and Matthew Bruccoli (1989)), and many other smaller selections in various groupings. For the devout Fitzgerald aficionado there is now much more than the four novels and story collections he published. The Basil and Josephine Stories fits a particularly esoteric niche. These are YA stories (teen and pre-teen) of the first decade of the Twentieth Century. Tales of adolescence, of love an popularity, told by the brash and insecure Basil (nine episodes) and the impulsive but seductive Josephine (five stories). Though he describes both well and convincingly, the differing presentations, attitudes, and outlooks between his female and male personas is telling and would make a good thesis subject, which perhaps could be extended to an examination of the male and female characters in his novels. At times the biographical component is as intriguing as the fictional. For these are stories that Fitzgerald took from life: how he saw himself coming of age and portraits of the girls and women to whom he was attracted. Generally it seems that the more popular a girl the more desirable she was, a recipe born of insecurity and heading for (teenage) disaster. Although few would call these his most meaningful short fiction (the invaluable Introduction, however, makes a strong case for possible levels of analysis), they are compelling and enjoyable for the cataclysmic intensity of their emotional onslaught. At least for those willing to expend time revisiting early youth, as at that age every passion is novel and undoubtedly incapable of repetition, meaning that any given moment may be the end of the world and life as we know it. The Basil and Josephine Stories is for Fitzgerald completists, those exploring his biography, and that small band of intrepid souls willing to relive those first early moments of passion and loss.  [3½★]