With rumours of a Baz Luhrmann remake of The Great Gatsby due to go into production, we thought it would be interesting to revisit the way in which the story is presented within the publishing world.

This might be an older blurb but the manner in which it talks to readers is still widely used today.

And unfortunately, it is not that great.

You see, the whole blurb is dedicated to regaling us with what a significant book this is:

“…Fitzgerald brilliantly captures both the disillusion of post-war America and the moral failure of a society obsessed with wealth and status…”

“…in chronicling Gatsby’s tragic pursuit of his dream, Fitzgerald recreates the universal conflict between illusion and reality…”

“…Gatsby is probably Fitzgerald’s best, and certainly his most finished book…”

This is all very well and after reading this blurb, one cannot help feeling that yes, it is a very important book.

But what this blurb fails to do in any shape or form, is persuade anyone to read it on the basis of the story.

One can read the whole of the back cover of this book and come away with no idea what it is about.

This happens time and time again with the ‘Classics’.

Publishers know them so well, they assume that everyone else does too.

They devote their back covers to selling the cultural and historical significance of the book but forget to tell people about the story itself.

(Another book that suffers from this constantly is our own favourite  - 1984)

If Publishers want to recycle novels and bring in new readers (beyond students who are forced to read them anyway) then they have to get out of their ivory towers and remember to sell the story just as much as they sell its ‘importance’.