Benjamin Read

Yes, we know there’s been a rather recent movie by David Fincher starring Brad Pitt and the wonderful Cate Blanchett with this very title. But it is perhaps a good idea to plunge ourselves into the depths of the “written version”, actually the “written original”. Brad and Cate are great but, as with all movies, they are not just stories but also interpretations of stories. The original always helps us get in the shoes of a director ourselves and cast our own characters in our private movies inside our heads.

The short story belongs to F. Scott Fitzgerald, otherwise known as the author of the Great Gatsby (movies seem to love Mr. Fitzgerald, here is the imdb link to a 2013 production of The Great Gatsby). This story, however, is part of Tales of the Jazz Age, a collection of short stories from the great ’20s. Benjamin Button is a strange case of backwards-aging person: he is born with the appearance of a 70-year old man and starts getting younger. You can imagine some of the complications of such a life, but can you measure with Fitzgerald when it comes to imagination? Put your imagination power to test and read his story: