Simmel and Fitzgerald: Secrecy and Knowledge in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Love of the Last Tycoon

Abstract The incomplete state of The Love of the Last Tycoon, which F. Scott Fitzgerald left unfinished at the time of his 21 December 1940 death, has contributed to a lack of scholarly conversation matching the voluminous attention given canonical Fitzgerald works such as The Great Gatsby. This article proposes that its “unfinishedness” provides a gateway for the application of sociological theory onto character analysis. Drawing from Georg Simmel’s “The Sociology of Secrecy and of Secret Societies” (1906), it argues that secrecy functions as a dualistic force because the act of sharing secrets propels the characters to create intimate connections, while the act of concealment creates relational tension and intrigue. Simmel’s theory that individuals’ relationships form through the mutual sharing and concealing of secrets provides the framework for textual interpretation. Through close reading analysis, the article focuses on three secrets revolving around Monroe Stahr’s relationships with Cecelia Brady and Kathleen Moore. Not only is the narrative replete with complications of truth, the novel itself perpetuates secrecy because its “unfinishedness” prevents the reader from accessing a completed version of the text as a whole. Concealment remains a dominant theme both within the text and surrounding it.