This always struck me as the most unusual of F. Scott Fitzgerald's short stories - a curious idea that the author puts out there simply and matter-of-factly. It travels the whole of human experience with a small share of words. As most of you know by now because of recent press for the upcoming movie, Benjamin Button is born an old man and lives his life backward eventually returning to infancy where he simply fades from existence. "Then it was all dark, and his white crib and the dim faces that moved above him, and the warm sweet aroma of the milk, faded out altogether from his mind."
This is really a beautiful and touching story of the pain we suffer because of the impermanence of the human condition. When you read the short story, the emotion attached to the events will be your own as Fitzgerald tells us right from the beginning - "I shall tell you what occurred, and let you judge for yourself." However, the movie trailers I have seen are quite touching. Can't wait to see this.
Curious to read the story before you see it? You can read the entire text on line from the University of Virginia.
