Chinese Lanterns in American Literature? – Gatsby and some Jazz Age Lanterns (though maybe not Chinese)

How remiss of me when rounding up references to Chinese lanterns in English literature in a previous couple of posts (Maupassant, Isherwood, du Maurier, Lawrence, Chesterton) to have neglected any American writers and their own references to Chinese lanterns. But America did go Chinese lantern crazy too, certainly in the Jazz Age at least….

And thanks for the emails from readers telling me not to forget the Chinese lanterns in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby.  

BUT, they’re not Chinese lanterns, even though people seem to remember them as such. The mysterious man himself out at his mansion on Long Island throwing extravagant parties to lure Daisy Buchanan – Chinese lanterns, and jazz, are the central icons of the parties. However, Fitzgerald only says “colored lanterns”, our imagination appears to have added the Chinoiserie touch rather than Fitzgerald.

Sorry – can’t find a Chinese lantern in any of the filmed versions….