The Cycle of Trauma in The Love of the Last Tycoon: A Western

Abstract

My present study deals with the F. Scott. Fitzgerald’s male character, Monroe Stahr, in The Love of the Last Tycoon: A Western, which was first edited by Edmund Wilson and published in 1941, entitled “The Last Tycoon”, one year after Fitzgerald’s death. This novel can be seen as the resolution of Monroe Stahr’s trauma, whose desire is to win a beautiful woman after the loss of his beloved wife. Various literary studies, such as trauma theory, psychoanalytic approach, historical and biographical approach will be used to analyze the psychological loss and the varieties of traumatic continuation of the protagonist of the novel. It focuses on the thesis: Stahr has suffered traumatic losses of his wife and his girlfriend, and these experiences change his character fundamentally. The paper continues with the discussion using the extracts from the novel to exhibit the effects of Stahr’s trauma.