Burlington Public Library

Benjamin Button is born looking like an 84 year old man. As time passes, he ages backwards.

"These short stories offer insights into many themes, characters, and techniques that emerged in Fitzgerald's later works. "Winter Dreams," written three years before The Great Gatsby, shares the concept of commitment to an idealized dream. "Babes in the Woods," developed while the author was still a student at Princeton, evidences the roots of This Side of Paradise. A dozen other selections--including "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button," "The Camel's...

This collection of the author's best short, fantastic stories includes: The curious case of Benjamin Button, a surreal story about a man who is born as a feeble old man, and ages in reverse until he becomes a baby at the end of his life. Fitzgerald's preoccupation with moneyed society takes on a fantastical form, in The Diamond as big as the Ritz, in a playful yet sinister fairy tale about a family so wealthy they are entirely above the law. In Tarquin...

"A man, "born under unusual circumstances," ages backwards, through a life that is as unusual as could be. This story was inspired by a remark of Mark Twain's to the effect that it was a pity that the best part of life came at the beginning and the worst part at the end." --