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The real Jay Gatsby

Robert Coffin
Robert Coffin, who is said to have influenced F Scott Fitzgerald’s thinking when he created Jay Gatsby Credit: Trinity College

Mystique surrounds the fabulously wealthy Jay Gatsby, the eponymous hero of the quintessential American novel. Who exactly is he, where did he come from and how did he make his fortune?

In F Scott Fitzgerald’s novel, The Great Gatsby, Gatsby is coy – the subject of speculation and envy. He teases those drawn towards him by never quite telling the same story twice.

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