Babylon Revisited
| "Babylon Revisited" | |
|---|---|
| Author | F. Scott Fitzgerald |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre(s) | Short story |
| Published in |
The Saturday Evening Post collected in Taps at Reveille |
| Publication type | Magazine Short Story Collection |
| Publisher | Scribner (book) |
| Media type | |
| Publication date | February 21, 1931 |
"Babylon Revisited" is a short story by F. Scott Fitzgerald, written in 1930 and first published on February 21, 1931 in the Saturday Evening Post and free inside The Telegraph, the following Saturday. It was later adapted into a movie called The Last Time I Saw Paris (1954), starring Elizabeth Taylor and Van Johnson.
The story is set in the year after the stock market crash of 1929, just after what Fitzgerald called the "Jazz Age". Brief flashbacks take place in the Jazz age itself. Also it shows several references to the Great Depression, and how the character had to adapt his life to it. Much of it is based on the author's own experiences.
"I heard that you lost a lot in the crash."
"I did," and he added grimly, "but I lost everything I wanted in the boom."
"Babylon Revisited" is split up into five sections and the short story begins with Charlie Wales sitting at Ritz Bar in Paris, he is having a conversation with the bartender Alix. While in conversation with Alix the bartender, he inquires about his old friends whom he use to drink and attend parties with. He leaves the bartender with an address to where his friends might be able to find him, later on he realizes that as a mistake. During the years of the roaring twenties, Charlie Wales spent his days drinking and partying and seemed to not have a single care in the world. At the time the story is set, Charlie sees the world different as he is no longer consumed by the extravagant lifestyle of the 20’s he once lived. He was a frequent drinker and party goer but now only allows himself to have one drink per day. He eventually leaves the bar and observes the streets of Paris with a sense of nostalgia now that the party days are over but also acknowledges how much his previous behavior and lifestyle has impacted his life in negative ways.
During the roaring twenties, Charlie had lost everything from money to his family. Due to that he is now in Paris to reclaim his rights as a father to his daughter Honoria who is currently under the care of Charlie’s sister in law Marion Peters and her husband Lincoln Peters. Honoria is now in custody of her aunt Marion due to the fact that her mother Helen had passed away during the party years and Marion blames Charlie for the death of her sister. Charlie and Helen were frequent party goers and as the story progresses, the reader learns that one night Charlie got angry about his wife kissing another man and left her out in the snow. The story indicates that while Honoria’s mother might have had some issues with her heart, he at the same time was recovering from alcoholism at a rehab and their relationship might have been toxic. Marion blames Charlie for the death of her sister and constantly sees him as a bad person. The story reveals that she has this grudge against him because she hated that her sister and Charlie were out spending so much money on unnecessary partying while she and her husband Lincoln were barely getting by. He fears that Marion will put ideas in Honoria’s head and turn his daughter against him because of her beliefs about him.
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