''Firecrackers, a Realistic Novel'' is a 1925 novel by American author

Carl Van Vechten Carl Van Vechten (; June 17, 1880December 21, 1964) was an American writer and Fine-art photography, artistic photographer who was a patron of the Harlem Renaissance and the literary estate, literary executor of Gertrude Stein. He gained fame ...

. It is one of several fictional works published that same year which assayed the

temerity Temerity is a section of steep, gladed skiing terrain at Aspen Highlands, one of the four mountains owned and operated by the Aspen Skiing Company in Aspen, Colorado. "Boldness, to the point of being foolish," Temerity is designated as double-di ...

and

hedonism Hedonism is a family of Philosophy, philosophical views that prioritize pleasure. Psychological hedonism is the theory that all human behavior is Motivation, motivated by the desire to maximize pleasure and minimize pain. As a form of Psycholo ...

of the

Jazz Age The Jazz Age was a period from 1920 to the early 1930s in which jazz music and dance styles gained worldwide popularity. The Jazz Age's cultural repercussions were primarily felt in the United States, the birthplace of jazz. Originating in New O ...

including

F. Scott Fitzgerald Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald (September 24, 1896 – December 21, 1940), widely known simply as Scott Fitzgerald, was an American novelist, essayist, and short story writer. He is best known for his novels depicting the flamboyance and exces ...

's ''

The Great Gatsby ''The Great Gatsby'' () is a 1925 novel by American writer F. Scott Fitzgerald. Set in the Jazz Age on Long Island, near New York City, the novel depicts first-person narrator Nick Carraway's interactions with Jay Gatsby, a mysterious mi ...

'' and

Anita Loos Corinne Anita Loos (April 26, 1888 – August 18, 1981) was an American actress, novelist, playwright and screenwriter. In 1912, she became the first female staff screenwriter in Hollywood (film industry), Hollywood, when D. W. Griffith put h ...

' '' Gentlemen Prefer Blondes.'' Van Vechten dedicated this novel to his friend

James Branch Cabell James Branch Cabell (; April 14, 1879 – May 5, 1958) was an American author of fantasy fiction and ''belles-lettres''. Cabell was well-regarded by his contemporaries, including H. L. Mencken, Edmund Wilson, and Sinclair Lewis. His work ...

. The book is considered to be the fourth entry in a series about New York's "Upper Bohemians." ''Firecrackers'' chronicles the further adventures of characters—such as Paul Moody, Gareth Johns, Ella Nattatorrini, and Edith Dale—who appeared in Vechten's earlier works, ''The Blind Bow-Boy'' (1923) and ''The Tattooed Countess'' (1924).

Synopsis

During 1924, a blasé coterie of pleasure-seeking sophisticates are inordinately excited by a handsome and athletic newcomer to their social circle, Gunnar O'Grady, "a youth with the appearance of a Greek

Adonis In Greek mythology, Adonis (; ) was the mortal lover of the goddesses Aphrodite and Persephone. He was considered to be the ideal of male beauty in classical antiquity. The myth goes that Adonis was gored by a wild boar during a hunting trip ...

." Alternately seeking and avoiding their attentions, this enigmatic individual drifts through a series of menial vocations including furnace repairman, florist, waiter, and acrobat. O'Grady becomes an object of sexual fascination to many within the circle, including a precocious young girl, a thrill-seeking wife, and a bored husband. Tensions escalate as various persons within the coterie vie for O'Grady's companionship, and O'Grady finds his own desires stymied.

Reception

Writer

praised the novel in his personal correspondence to Van Vechten. In a letter dated July 27, 1925, Fitzgerald wrote: "I like 'Firecrackers''best of your four novels—It seems to me that this rather than ''The Tattooed Countess'' is your true line of genius. In he character ofCampaspe, for example, you suggest so much more than you say—she is the embodiment of New York, mysterious and delicate and entirely original."

References

Bibliography

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External links

* * * {{HathiTrust, htid=mdp.39015030715406 Fiction set in 1924 1925 American novels Jazz culture Alfred A. Knopf books Novels set in the Roaring Twenties Novels set in New York City 1920s LGBTQ novels