An Authentic Derivative refers to Buckley, but the context is about Tim’s son Jeff. Somewhere along the line it became alternative music, then alternative rock, then alt rock, and then independent rock or indie. When I was a teen, it was called underground music. Those who would really appreciate it are those who have followed indie rock for the last twenty years or so.

Majnan attempts unsuccessfully to win her back and goes crazy.Īn Authentic Derivative might initially appeal to a narrower audience than Gatsby (though Gatsby was not a terribly big seller in Fitzgerald’s lifetime). She marries a nobleman and appears content enough. Layla and Majnan were childhood friends, but Majnan (literally “madman”) is not socially acceptable to her father. Oh, An Authentic Derivative also mentions the medieval Persian tale of Layla and Majnan. But it is derivative the way Macbeth derives from King Saul, and The Mayor of Casterbridge derives from Macbeth, and Things Fall Apart from The Mayor of Casterbridge. Yes, An Authentic Derivative is indeed derivative. Bob Fey (Fay was Daisy’s maiden name) is the sleazy music promoter-the Meyer Wolfsheim-who claims at the end that he “made” Garrett “Wick” Sedgwick. The narrator, one Neil Oberlin (kneel, over the line?), is very much a questionable character like Nick Carraway (carried away?) who nevertheless sympathizes with the hero.

Instead of using money to impress the girl of his dreams, the Gatsby character here uses his music to do the same. Imagine The Great Gatsby told by a young and self-conscious David Foster Wallace who was born after 1980. Except that my copy is an e-book, so I guess that makes it hot off the hard drive or something. My copy of An Authentic Derivative tells me this was released in August 2015, so this book is hot off the press.

An Authentic Derivative by Caleb Coy