Editors' Note

Welcome to The F. Scott Fitzgerald Review 3.0!

With this issue we inaugurate our partnership with Penn State University Press, entering the third phase of our existence after a half-decade of self-publishing (2003-7) and another under the imprimatur of Wiley-Blackwell (2008-12). We would be remiss if from the outset we did not thank the Penn State staff for welcoming us with open arms: from press director Patrick Alexander to the great folks who compose the journals department—Diana Pesek, Julie Lambert, Astrid Meyer, Heather Smith, and Jessica Karp—we have been honored by the professionalism and the ambitions for our expanded growth and reach. We also appreciate the good humor with which they have accepted our excuses for the pokey pace at which we operate. It has been an almost overwhelmingly busy year for the Fitzgerald Society, what with Hollywood movies and Zelda novels, conference planning, and administrative changes. We could not have sailed into our eleventh issue as smoothly as we have without the patience and understanding of Penn State.

We also want to thank the folks most affected by the changes we just mentioned. Most obviously, our longtime executive director, Ruth Prigozy, stepped down in May after more than twenty years of running the day-to-day operations of the Fitzgerald Society. We all owe a huge debt of thanks to Ruth, who founded the Society with Jackson R. Bryer and Alan Margolies back in 1990 when some of us were but gleams in the eye of the MLA International Bibliography. Ruth has decided the time is right to relocate to Florida, although she promises to remain active at Society gatherings—indeed, those of you coming to Montgomery for the November conference will have the opportunity to thank her, personally and profusely, for all she has done for this organization.

Her decision has implications for how we do business. Most obviously, we have decided to relocate our management operations to Montgomery where Kirk Curnutt will handle both the membership rolls and the finances for the time being. The board of the Society will meet soon to decide whether to continue the office of executive director or whether to fold those responsibilities into the duties of Society officers. We would be happy to entertain any suggestions you might have on how you think the F. Scott Fitzgerald Society should operate.

Ruth's retirement also means we are losing Hofstra University as a sponsor. Over the years the former "Flying Dutchmen" (now "The Pride") have been exceedingly generous in providing the services of a student to help us process and manage correspondence and membership renewals. Most recently, we have benefitted from the help of Ms. Ashley Neglia, whom we also want to acknowledge, as well as provost Herman A. Berliner, who ensured that the commitment was maintained these two decades. At the moment, however, we have not been able to procure comparable institutional support, meaning that the hard work of doing mailings will fall on the shoulders of others. To sidestep some of that labor, we are including the dues notice for 2013-14 as the final page of the Review. While some of us renew automatically through Paypal, and while others renewed when they registered for the Montgomery conference, the vast majority send in checks in September and October. It is our hope you will simply clip the form from the back of this issue and mail it at your earliest convenience. If you have any questions about whether your membership is current, please email Kirk at kcurnutt@troy.edu and we will let you know immediately.

Between the loss of our Hofstra connection and Penn State University itself recently completing its three-year pledge cycle (courtesy of James L. W. West III), we are now down to two institutional sponsors for the Review. We are thus asking members to talk with their chairs and/or deans to see if we might find another two or three universities to invest in the annual F. Scott Fitzgerald Review. Most of our sponsors have pledged $2,000-$2,500 per year, but we will happily accept any amount a school may offer and gladly publicize the sponsorship. We all know how tight budgets are these days, but the truth is the Review is an expensive proposition, and membership dues alone will not pay for our printing and mailing. If you have any questions about what sponsorship involves, please contact Kirk, again at kcurnutt@troy.edu.

As we finesse these changes, we also want to note what a busy year 2012-13 has been. For that, we have one man to thank, and his name is not necessarily F. Scott Fitzgerald. It is Baz Luhrmann, whose grandiose movie adaptation of The Great Gatsby made a huge splash in mid-May, reigniting interest in the Fitzgeralds and jump-starting debates. Some folks loved the film, others hated it, but nobody can deny that for a few weeks in May we were the talk of the town. It was great fun at spring's end to follow the press, and, in some cases, to be a part of it. On our home page at www.fscottfitzgeraldsociety.org we have loaded some links to commentary from Society members such as Jim West, Anne Margaret Daniels, and Suzanne del Gizzo in case you missed them. We are always delighted to see our friends on the Huffington Post or to hear them on radio podcasts. Such moments are a reassuring sign that we do not labor in an academic vacuum but that F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald have consequence in the "real" world, wherever that mythological place might exist.

As we close yet another issue, we also want to thank our loyal staff, in particular, Society president Jackson R. Bryer, the editorial conscience of the Review in both principle and practice. The change to Penn State has created an immense workload for Jack as he details our editorial standards and design philosophy to a new team of colleagues. Simply stated, we could not issue the Review without him—which is our subtle way of saying, "Please do not retire."

Finally, nearly 150 of our readers will be packing their bags for Montgomery as this issue hits their mailboxes. Because it is never too early to start thinking about the next conference, we entertain any recommendations that Society members may have for our 2015 gathering abroad. The great news is that if your suggestion passes muster you may just get named site or program director for the event.

For those coming to Zelda's hometown, we look forward to introducing you to one of the most beautiful and historical of the South's capitals. For those who cannot make it, we hope to see you on the next go-round. Until then we leave you with our favorite Fitzgerald quote rediscovered over the summer, one that helped us put into perspective all the changes we have undergone this past year:

"So we'll just let things take their course, and never be sorry."

—"Benediction"