A short story by F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896-1940) Here is a somewhat obscure tale titled "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" —obscure of course, until Mr. Button was conflated with Mr. Pitt. — This recording is the complete, original story as penned by Fitzgerald in the early 1920s. It was published originally in Colliers and finally collected in his popular Tales of the Jazz Age. One might call Benjamin Button an odd addition to the collection, as he was born in 1860, the year prior to Lincoln gaining his Presidency —a long way from the Jazz Age, which marked its begiining when Benjamin was 60... and he was... well, you'll have to listen to the REAL story to find out what happened before Hollywood stepped in...
The story is prefaced by Fitzgerald's brief humorous comment hidden away in the book's table of contents. Here he establishes both the tale's humor and its pathos and in a further sense, grounds it in our growing tradition of American literary sensibilities, echoing towards Mr. Clemens.
The musical accompaniment is from a public domain recording of L. Beethoven’s Cello Sonata in A, Opus 69, the fourth movement, as performed by John Michel. The piano is unattributed.
Feedback