Flappers and Philosophers

Flappers and Philosophers is a collection of eight short stories by F. Scott Fitzgerald. The collection of stories includes 'The Offshore Pirate,' 'The Ice Palace,' 'Head and Shoulders', 'The Cut-Glass Bowl,' 'Bernice Bobs Her Hair,' 'Benediction,' 'Dalyrimple Goes Wrong,' and 'The Four Fists.'

Fitzgerald had originally been inspired to write short stories because he felt they were an excellent medium for dramatic irony; in contrast to the novel, in which the reader is told in great detail what each character says or does, in a short story "the reader only sees what the author chooses to disclose." This allowed Fitzgerald to create situations where the main character was fooling himself by believing something he wanted to be true.

It was through his short stories that Fitzgerald took the tragedy of characters like Jay Gatsby, and Daisy Buchanan into much darker territory than his previously published works—what one critic called “a ritualistic bloodletting staged among ultra-luxury’s most privileged participants.” With this shift towards more serious subject matter came an increased complexity of style.