Yesterday, the New York Times reported that Ernest Hemingway may have produced as many as 47 endings to his midcareer masterpiece, A Farewell to Arms. The so-called “Nada Ending,” for instance, which is No. 1:‘That is all there is to the story. Catherine died and you will die and I will die and that is all I can promise you.’ ” And the “Live-Baby Ending,” No. 7: “There is no end except death and birth is the only beginning.’ ”
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The Lost Endings to "The Great Gatsby"- Slate Magazine
Hahaha!
In the wake of this report, scholars and family members of F. Scott Fitzgerald dropped a second bombshell on the literary world, revealing no fewer than 47 alternate endings to the Jazz Age master’s own chef d’oeuvre, The Great Gatsby. The recent discovery brings the grand total number of Gatsby endings to 48—or, as one Fitzgerald expert put it, “one more ending than Hemingway, a lazy man and lesser talent, ever wrote.” Slatemanaged to acquire all 47 of Fitzgerald’s foiled attempts; the endings, unaltered, are reproduced below.
My favorites…
No. 9, “The Nude Beach Ending”: “Most of the big places were closed now and there were hardly any lights except the shadowy, moving glow of a ferryboat across the Sound. When it had passed out of range, I removed my pants.”
No. 10, “The Charlie Sheen Ending”: “On the last night, with my trunk packed and my car sold to the grocer, I went over and looked at that huge incoherent failure of a house once more, and I thought: Winning!”
No. 19, “The Shakespearean Comedy Ending”: “Just then Jordan Baker came up beside me and removed her hair. ‘Don’t worry about it—I’m actually a man,’ she said. ‘And your brother.’ ”
No. 29, “The Choose Your Own Adventure Ending”: “If you believe the cycles of American ambition to be ceaseless, turn to Page 3.”
