Absolution (short story)

[3] In a letter to Maxwell Perkins, Fitzgerald stated that it was originally intended to be the prologue of his later novel The Great Gatsby, but that it "interrupted with the neatness of the plan".

[4] In 1934, Fitzgerald wrote in a letter to a fan that the story was intended to show Gatsby's early life, but was cut to preserve his "sense of mystery".

[3] "Absolution", narrated in the third person, focuses on a young boy named Rudolph Miller, who often fantasizes about a self-created alter ego called Blatchford Sarnemington.

Upon publication in All the Sad Young Men, the story was met with mixed reception.

[8] Some modern scholars have also drawn parallels between "Absolution" and James Joyce's short story "The Sisters".