SAN JOS� STATE UNIVERSITY
ECONOMICS DEPARTMENT
Samuel Samaniego

This webpage contains a summarization of a article written by E. Ray Canterbery entitled, "Thorstein Veblen and 'The Great Gatsby.'.(Papers from the 1999 AFEE Meeting)". The article was published in the June 1999 issue of the Journal of Economic Issues.

About Thorstein Veblen

It is the author's contention that F. Scott Fitgerald's novel The Great Gatsby which was set in the 1920's was "not original with Fitzgerald, but reflects the influence, both directly and indirectly, of the earlier adversary of conspicous consumption and pecuniary emulation, Thorstein Veblen."

The author, E. Ray Canterbery, cites many parallels between The Theory of the Leisure Class and The Great Gatsby. The conspicous consumption and pecuniary emulation that the character Jay Gatsby displays in his attempts to win over Daisy Buchanan is reminiscent of the traits that Thorstein Veblen wrote about and found distateful among America's elite.

According to Canterbery, "The two works share not only a set of themes and a moral stance, they also exhibit many of the same writing qualities - humor, satire, teasing, exaggeration, poetic imagery, symbolism, allegory, and folklore."

The author contends that an aritcle written by Fitzgerald in March 30, 1924 entitled, "Our Irresponsible Rich", in March 30, 1924 was influenced by the writings of Thorstein Veblen. "Although Fitzgerald does not refer to Veblen in the article itself, his notes relating to the article make clear that he was consciously documenting Veblen's theme of conspicous consumption and waste [Fitzgerald 1972, 104]."

The author makes a very strong case that some of F. Scott Fitgerald's themes and ideas were strongly influenced by Thorstein Veblen and that The Great Gatsby was the culmination of all these themes and ideas.