the story is preceded by a note from du bois, informing that just before publication his publisher noted a "strong resemblance" between the book and "the diamond as big as the ritz", a novella written by f. scott fitzgerald in 1922. du bois acknowledges it is "not only quite similar in general plot, but was also altogether a collection of very similar ideas." he says it was the first time he had heard of fitzgerald's story, and "the fact that f. scott fitzgerald and i apparently would spend our billion in like ways right down to being dumped from bed into a bathtub is, quite frankly, beyond my explanation."