The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (short story)

Last updated
"The Curious Case of Benjamin Dam"
Short story by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Colliers22.png
1922 magazine cover
Wikiversity-Mooc-Icon-Further-readings.svg Text available at Wikisource
Country United States
LanguageEnglish
Genre(s) Short story
Publication
Published in Collier's
Publication typeMagazine
Media typePrint (magazine)
Publication dateMay 27, 1922

"The Curious Case of Benjamin Dam" is a short story about a man who ages in reverse, from senescence to infancy, written by F. Scott Fitzgerald. It was first published in Collier's Magazine on May 27, 1922, with the cover and illustrations by James Montgomery Flagg. It was subsequently anthologized in Fitzgerald's 1922 book Tales of the Jazz Age , which is occasionally published as The Curious Case of Benjamin Dam and Other Jazz Age Stories. [1] = The story was later adapted into the 2008 namesake film and the 2019 stage musical.

Contents

Plot

Benjamin Dam is born in Baltimore in 1860 with the physical appearance of a 70-year-old man, and already capable of speech. His father, Roger, invites neighbourhood boys to play with him and orders him to play with children's toys, but Benjamin obeys only to please his father. At five, Benjamin is sent to kindergarten, but he is quickly withdrawn after he repeatedly falls asleep during the children's activities. At the age of 18, Benjamin enrolls in Yale College, but he is sent home by officials who think that he is a 50-year-old lunatic. When Benjamin turns 20, the Button family realizes that he is aging backwards.

In 1880, when Benjamin is 20, his father gives him control of Roger Button & Co. Wholesale Hardware. Benjamin meets the young Hildegarde Moncrief, a daughter of General Moncrief, and falls in love with her. Hildegarde mistakes Benjamin for a 50-year-old brother of Roger Button and, as she prefers older men, she marries him six months later. She remains ignorant of his condition.

Years later, Benjamin's business has been successful, but he is tired of Hildegarde because her beauty has faded and she nags him. Bored at home, he enlists in the Spanish–American War in 1898 and achieves military triumphs, rising to the rank of lieutenant colonel. He retires from the Army to focus on his company, and receives a medal.

In 1910, Benjamin, now looking like a 20-year-old, turns over control of his company to his son, Roscoe, and enrolls at Harvard University. His first year there is a great success: he dominates in football and takes revenge against Yale for having rejected him years before. However, during his junior and senior years he is the equivalent of 16 years old, too weak to play football and barely able to cope with the academic work.

After graduation, Benjamin returns home, only to learn that his wife has moved to Italy. He lives with Roscoe, who treats him sternly, and forces Benjamin to call him "uncle." As the years progress, Benjamin grows from a moody teenager into a child. Eventually, Roscoe has a child of his own, who later attends kindergarten with Benjamin. After kindergarten, Benjamin slowly begins to lose his memory of his earlier life. His memory fades away to a point where he cannot remember anything except his nurse. Everything fades to darkness shortly after.

First appearance in Collier's, May 27, 1922, p. 5. BenjaminButton22.jpg
First appearance in Collier's, May 27, 1922, p. 5.

See also

Related Research Articles

<i>The Great Gatsby</i> 1925 novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald

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 mysterious millionaire Jay Gatsby and Gatsby's obsession to reunite with his former lover, Daisy Buchanan.

This article contains information about the literary events and publications of 1922. Under modern copyright law of the United States, all works published before January 1, 1923, with a proper copyright notice entered the public domain in the United States no later than 75 years from the date of the copyright. Hence books published in 1922 or earlier entered the public domain in the United States in 1998.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Miff Mole</span> American jazz trombonist and band leader

Irving Milfred Mole known professionally as Miff Mole, was an American jazz trombonist and band leader. He is generally considered one of the greatest jazz trombonists and credited with creating "the first distinctive and influential solo jazz trombone style."

<i>This Side of Paradise</i> 1920 novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald

This Side of Paradise is the debut novel by American writer F. Scott Fitzgerald, published in 1920. It examines the lives and morality of carefree American youth at the dawn of the Jazz Age. Its protagonist, Amory Blaine, is an attractive middle-class student at Princeton University who dabbles in literature and engages in a series of romances with flappers. The novel explores the theme of love warped by greed and status-seeking, and takes its title from a line of Rupert Brooke's poem Tiare Tahiti.

<i>Tender Is the Night</i> 1934 novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald

Tender Is the Night is the fourth and final novel completed by American writer F. Scott Fitzgerald. Set in French Riviera during the twilight of the Jazz Age, the 1934 novel chronicles the rise and fall of Dick Diver, a promising young psychiatrist, and his wife, Nicole, who is one of his patients. The story mirrors events in the lives of the author and his wife Zelda Fitzgerald as Dick starts his descent into alcoholism and Nicole struggles with mental illness.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Frankie Trumbauer</span> American jazz saxophonist and bandleader (1901–1956)

Orie Frank Trumbauer was an American jazz saxophonist of the 1920s and 1930s. His main instrument was the C melody saxophone, a now-uncommon instrument between an alto and tenor saxophone in size and pitch. He also played alto saxophone, bassoon, clarinet and several other instruments.

<i>The Beautiful and Damned</i> 1922 novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald

The Beautiful and Damned is a 1922 novel by American writer F. Scott Fitzgerald. Set in New York City, the novel's plot follows a young artist Anthony Patch and his flapper wife Gloria Gilbert who become "wrecked on the shoals of dissipation" while excessively partying at the dawn of the hedonistic Jazz Age. As Fitzgerald's second novel, the work focuses upon the swinish behavior and glittering excesses of the American social elite in the heyday of New York's café society.

<i>The Short Stories of F. Scott Fitzgerald</i>

The Short Stories of F. Scott Fitzgerald is a compilation of 43 short stories by F. Scott Fitzgerald. It was edited by Matthew J. Bruccoli and published by Charles Scribner's Sons in 1989. It begins with a foreword by Charles Scribner II and a preface written by Bruccoli, after which the stories follow in chronological order of publication.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Cut-Glass Bowl</span> 1920 short story by F. Scott Fitzgerald

"The Cut-Glass Bowl" is a short story by American author F. Scott Fitzgerald, first published in the May 1920 issue of Scribner's Magazine, and included later that year in his first short story collection Flappers and Philosophers. The story follows the lives of a married couple, Evylyn and Harold Piper, through various difficult or tragic events that involve a cut glass bowl they received as a wedding gift. In a copy of Flappers and Philosophers which he gave to literary critic H. L. Mencken, Fitzgerald wrote that he deemed the story to be "worth reading" in contrast to others in the volume which he dismissed as either "amusing" or "trash."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jay Gatsby</span> Character in the novel The Great Gatsby

Jay Gatsby is the titular fictional character of F. Scott Fitzgerald's 1925 novel The Great Gatsby. The character is an enigmatic nouveau riche millionaire who lives in a luxurious mansion on Long Island where he often hosts extravagant parties and who allegedly gained his fortune by illicit bootlegging during prohibition in the United States. Fitzgerald based many details about the fictional character on Max Gerlach, a mysterious neighbor and World War I veteran whom the author met in New York City during the raucous Jazz Age. Like Gatsby, Gerlach threw lavish parties, never wore the same shirt twice, used the phrase "old sport", claimed to be educated at Oxford University, and fostered myths about himself, including that he was a relation of the German Kaiser.

<i>The Curious Case of Benjamin Button</i> (film) 2008 film by David Fincher

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is a 2008 American fantasy romantic drama film directed by David Fincher. The storyline by Eric Roth and Robin Swicord is loosely based on the 1922 short story of the same name by F. Scott Fitzgerald. The film stars Brad Pitt as a man who ages in reverse and Cate Blanchett as the love interest throughout his life. The film also stars Taraji P. Henson, Julia Ormond, Jason Flemyng, Elias Koteas, and Tilda Swinton.

<i>Tales of the Jazz Age</i> 1922 story collection by F. Scott Fitzgerald

Tales of the Jazz Age (1922) is a collection of eleven short stories by F. Scott Fitzgerald. Divided into three separate parts, according to subject matter, it includes one of his better-known short stories, "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button". All of the stories had first appeared, independently, in either Metropolitan Magazine, The Saturday Evening Post, Smart Set, Collier's, the Chicago Sunday Tribune, or Vanity Fair.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">F. Scott Fitzgerald</span> American writer (1896–1940)

Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald was an American novelist, essayist, and short story writer. He is best known for his novels depicting the flamboyance and excess of the Jazz Age—a term he popularized in his short story collection Tales of the Jazz Age. During his lifetime, he published four novels, four story collections, and 164 short stories. Although he achieved temporary popular success and fortune in the 1920s, Fitzgerald received critical acclaim only after his death and is now widely regarded as one of the greatest American writers of the 20th century.

The 13th Satellite Awards, honoring the best in film and television of 2008, were given on December 14, 2008.

Jethro Compton is a British writer, director and theatre producer. He was educated at the University of York between 2006 and 2009 in English Literature. His most notable production to date has been the world première of The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance .

<i>The Treasury of Science Fiction Classics</i>

The Treasury of Science Fiction Classics is an anthology of science fiction stories, edited by Harold E. Kuebler, published in hardcover by Hanover House in 1954 with dust jacket art by Richard Powers. A Science Fiction Book Club edition followed later that year, but the volume has not otherwise been reprinted.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">F. Scott Fitzgerald bibliography</span>

Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald was an American author of novels and short stories, whose works are the paradigmatic writings of the Jazz Age. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest American writers of the 20th century. Fitzgerald is considered a member of the "Lost Generation" of the 1920s. He finished four novels: This Side of Paradise, The Beautiful and Damned, The Great Gatsby, and Tender Is the Night. A fifth, unfinished novel, The Last Tycoon, was published posthumously. Fitzgerald also wrote many short stories that treat themes of youth and promise along with age and despair.

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is a musical with book and lyrics by Jethro Compton, music and lyrics by Darren Clark, and based on the 1922 short story of the same name by F. Scott Fitzgerald.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Adaptations and portrayals of F. Scott Fitzgerald</span>

F. Scott Fitzgerald was an American writer known for his novels and short stories which often celebrated the decadence and excess of the Jazz Age. Many of his literary works were adapted into cinematic films, television episodes, and theatrical productions. Although a number of his works were adapted during his lifetime, the number of adaptations greatly increased following his death, and several cinematic adaptations gained considerable critical acclaim.

<i>The Curious Case of Benjamin Button</i> (soundtrack) 2008 soundtrack album by Alexandre Desplat

The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button (Music from the Motion Picture) is the soundtrack album to the 2008 film of the same name, released by Concord Music Group on December 16, 2008. It was released in physical forms as a two-disc album, with one disc containing the film's original score composed by Alexandre Desplat, and the other consists few classical songs as well as dialogues featured in the film. The David Fincher-directed film, written by Eric Roth and Robin Swicord is loosely based on the 1922 short story of the same name by F. Scott Fitzgerald, and stars Brad Pitt as the titular character, alongside Cate Blanchett, Taraji P. Henson, Mahershala Ali, Julia Ormond, Jason Flemyng, Elias Koteas, and Tilda Swinton.

References

  1. F. Scott Fitzgerald (2008). The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and Other Jazz Age Stories. Penguin Classics. ISBN   978-0-14-310549-7.