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F. Scott Fitzgerald鈥檚 1925 novel 鈥淭he Great Gatsby鈥� entered the public domain on Jan. 1, 2021. The book is already a staple of American life; it has been taught in schools for decades, and Hollywood blockbuster movie adaptations starring handsome actors have been followed, generation after generation, by other Hollywood blockbuster movie adaptations starring other handsome actors. But now, anybody can print and sell their own edition of what is widely considered to be one of the greatest American novels of the 20th century.聽

Dozens of publishers have been waiting eagerly for this moment, and as a result, the U.S. book market is now flooded with new editions of 鈥淕atsby.鈥� Hardcover editions, pocket paperback editions, annotated editions, illustrated editions 鈥� everyone with an oar in the water is hoping to cash in on the book without paying duties to the original publisher, Scribner.

Right alongside all those new editions of 鈥淕atsby鈥� will come adaptations, fantasias, Broadway musicals, and streaming series, along with literary pastiches of all kinds. Two of the highest-profile examples of the latter genre are 鈥淭he Fortunate Ones,鈥� Ed Tarkington鈥檚 lightly modernized transplanting of 鈥淕atsby鈥� to the suburbs of Nashville, Tennessee, and 鈥淣ick,鈥� in which Michael Farris Smith tells the backstory of 鈥淕atsby鈥� narrator Nick Carraway.聽

The appearance of such books 鈥� and we can safely assume these two are the first drops in a coming deluge 鈥� raises several sets of interconnected questions.聽

The fact that the market is now suddenly saturated with 鈥淭he Great Gatsby鈥� editions naturally invites reappraisal: Is 鈥淕atsby,鈥� in fact, all that great? It鈥檚 a slight thing 鈥� under 200 pages in most editions 鈥� and it exhibits neither the control of its predecessor, 鈥淭he Beautiful and Damned,鈥� nor the artistic sweep and bravado of its successor, Fitzgerald鈥檚 masterpiece 鈥淭ender Is the Night.鈥� It鈥檚 true that 鈥淕atsby鈥� memorably dramatizes the tawdry yearning for self-reinvention that characterized the 1920s, but it鈥檚 also a wan, predictable thing. 鈥淗e has been given imagination without intellectual control of it,鈥� writer and critic Edmund Wilson once wrote of his friend Fitzgerald, 鈥渉e has been given the desire for beauty without an aesthetic ideal; and he has been given a gift for expression without very many ideas to express.鈥� A bit too harsh, certainly, but as essentially true as every other verdict Wilson ever handed down.

So why the veneration? Why this unseemly mad rush of publishers eager to get their new editions into consumers' hands?聽

It鈥檚 possible the bookstores are a secondary hope behind classrooms: 鈥淭he Great Gatsby鈥� is a seemingly permanent staple of high school English curricula across the country, in ways that certainly aren鈥檛 shared by, for instance, Virginia Woolf鈥檚 鈥淢rs Dalloway鈥� or 鈥淢anhattan Transfer鈥� by John Dos Passos, two considerably better novels that also came into public domain in January.聽

As mentioned, "The Great Gatsby" is short. It鈥檚 the kind of thing you can assign to moody high school students without provoking too much grumbling. And the teachers assigning it now had it assigned to them when they were in school. And for all Fitzgerald鈥檚 coruscating narrative brilliance, 鈥淭he Great Gatsby鈥� is also a simple, straightforward tale of greed and overreach 鈥� easy fare for book reports. It鈥檚 immensely more accessible than 鈥淭ender Is the Night鈥� and might as well be a different species from 鈥淢rs Dalloway.鈥�

Whether or not 鈥淭he Great Gatsby鈥� is over-venerated, there still remains the question of all these adaptations that are sure to appear now that the book is in the public domain. Even in a somewhat thin or predictable novel, Fitzgerald is still a great American author, a daunting model for future imitators.聽

Michael Farris Smith鈥檚 鈥淣ick鈥� is a perfect, cautionary case-in-point. Smith has done a great deal of research into the Europe and America of World War I and postwar era, and he鈥檚 obviously given much thought to what 鈥淭he Great Gatsby鈥� hints about Nick Carraway鈥檚 past. But although the book is dutiful historical fiction, it lacks anything like the genius that animates 鈥淕atsby鈥� 鈥� which is unfortunate, because its subject matter invites direct comparison. Furthermore, a compelling reason for why anybody should care about Nick without that element is entirely absent; after all, even Brutus鈥� friends admitted that he was pretty boring until the Ides of March.

Likewise 鈥淭he Fortunate Ones鈥�: does anybody care about 鈥淭he Great Gatsby鈥� if it鈥檚 no longer 鈥淭he Great Gatsby鈥�? Ed Tarkington鈥檚 novel stars young Charlie Boykin, disadvantaged son of a single mother, who finds himself in the posh Yeatman School and surrounded by the wealthiest scions of Belle Meade, Tennessee, and begins to love their affluent world. It鈥檚 true that something of the essence of Jay Gatsby鈥檚 self-destroying discontent charges the pages of 鈥淭he Fortunate Ones,鈥� but for the most part, the patient doesn鈥檛 survive the transplant. It鈥檚 likely that only 鈥淕atsby鈥� can really be 鈥淕atsby.鈥�

Either way, readers will have plenty of opportunities to sort out these and other questions. And in the meantime, they鈥檒l also have plenty of options if they decide to revisit the old-school classic itself.