Below is the picture circulating social media; here is a link to original publication of the, now viral, parody letter: https://www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/this-side-of-paradise-a-letter-from-f-scott-fitzgerald-quarantined-in-the-south-of-france
On March 13th, this work of parody was published by Nick Farriella on McSweeney’s, a daily humor website. He published a creation of a letter by Fitzgerald commenting on his experience with quarantine during the 1918 influenza outbreak. It was meant to highlight the similarities of quarantine and confrontation of epidemics throughout history, while bringing in a comedic element.
However, this screenshot (above) of the letter went viral on social media. I saw it posted on people’s Instagram stories and tweets and couldn’t help but look into it myself – discovering it was a parody. This presents how the spread of information via social media can be so rapid that the sources are not confirmed or even questioned. This points to a source of narrative shaping for diseases, as generations may absorb different information from their social media platforms.
Here is an article that was released in order to verify its falsity because of the drastic media sharing and response: https://www.reuters.com/article/uk-factcheck-quarantine-fitzgerald-lette/false-claim-this-is-a-1920-letter-from-scott-fitzgerald-in-quarantine-during-the-spanish-influenza-idUSKBN21733X