
May Day by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Author: F. Scott Fitzgerald | Published: July 1920
May Day Synopsis
"May Day" is a short story written by F. Scott Fitzgerald. It was published in The Smart Set magazine in July 1920 and later in the short story collection Tales of the Jazz Age in 1922. The story's setting is based on the May Day riots in Ohio in 1919; the riot started because the local unions and socialists were protesting Eugene Debs' conviction, which turned violent.
"May Day" revolves around a carefree group of affluent Yale graduates who gather for a social dance amidst the chaos of the May Day riots. The story opens with a wave of discharged World War I soldiers who had just arrived in New York; amongst them was Gordon Sterrett. After a period of bad luck, Gordon decides to visit an old college friend Philip Dean. This story focuses on more than one event and various characters.
Excerpt from May Day Online Book
There had been a war fought and won and the great city of the conquering people was crossed with triumphal arches and vivid with thrown flowers of white, red, and rose. All through the long spring days the returning soldiers marched up the chief highway behind the strump of drums and the joyous, resonant wind of the brasses, while merchants and clerks left their bickerings and figurings and, crowding to the windows, turned their white–bunched faces gravely upon the passing battalions.
About F. Scott Fitzgerald
Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald was born to a middle-class Catholic family on September 24, 1896, in Saint Paul, Minnesota. Fitzgerald got famous for his novel This Side of Paradise in 1920, a classic of American literature. His work often explored themes of joyous youth and promise, followed by despair and the American Dream's decline. He also wrote essays and short stories for magazines such as The Saturday Evening Post and Esquire. Find out more about F. Scott Fitzgerald at sevenov.com.
F. Scott Fitzgerald's Books on PageVio
Novels: This Side of Paradise | The Beautiful and Damned | The Great Gatsby | Tender Is the Night
Short Story Collections: Flappers and Philosophers | Tales of the Jazz Age | All the Sad Young Men | Taps at Reveille | The Pat Hobby Stories | Collected Stories of F. Scott Fitzgerald
Plays: The Vegetable; or, From President to Postman
Here's a full list of F. Scott Fitzgerald's books.