F. Scott Fitzgerald Biography
· Born in St. Paul, Minnesota, on September 24, 1896
· Prosperous, but not “aristocratic” Midwestern family
o Descendant of namesake Francis Scott Key (who wrote “The Star-Spangled Banner”), the father’s side had aristocratic background and the mother’s side was newly rich Irish immigrants
o “That was always my experience: a poor boy in a rich town; a poor boy in a rich school; a poor boy in a rich man’s club.”
o St. Paul’s Academy—a Catholic prep school where he played mediocre football and did poorly in academics
· Princeton
o Triangle Club (musicals)
o uninterested in academic study; known as a poet
o fell in love (Ginevra) and she ignored him
o worked on a novel, The Romantic Egoist, which he never published
o never graduated—most young men of higher social class joined the armed forces
· World War I
o joined as a lieutenant in 1917
o wanted to be a dashing war hero; never actually fought in the war
o sent to Camp Sheridan in Montgomery, AL, where he met Zelda Sayre (daughter of judge and belle of Montgomery society)
o fell in love, agreed to be married
o continued to work on novel
(“If I stopped working to finish the novel, I lost the girl.”)
· Went to NY; couldn’t publish novel; Zelda ditched him
· Went home to St. Paul to rework novel (driven by desire to marry Zelda)
o Returned to NY and met Maxwell Perkins of Scribners Publishing
o Published This Side of Paradise in 1920; reconnected with Zelda and married in New York cathedral
o “I found that in 1919 I had made $800 by writing, that in 1920 I had made $18,000 [from] stories, picture rights, and book. My story price had gone from $30 to $1000.”
· The Fitzgeralds embodied the spirit of the Jazz Age, “the greatest, gaudiest spree in history”
o published The Beautiful and the Damned in 1921
o moved to Great Neck, Long Island, where he began his extravagant life
with Zelda
§ lots of drinking and partying (he eventually became an alcoholic)
§ Zelda had a mental breakdown in 1928 and was institutionalized in 1930
· The Great Gatsby, published 1925, was to secure his legacy in American literature.
· Scott and Zelda moved to Europe and lived with other American expatriates, including Ernest Hemingway, E.E. Cummings, Ezra Pound, and others.
· 1931: the Fitzgeralds final return to U.S. after several European trips.
o Tender is the Night, published 1934
o Rejected by public—later recognized as one of his greatest works
o In debt, Scott became a screenwriter—only one credited screenplay
· Died in 1940 of a heart attack (after many years of heavy drinking), with his last novel, The Last Tycoon, unfinished.
o He had outlived the Jazz Age—and his prominence in it—and had not yet recovered a positive critical reputation.
· In subsequent years, critics recognized his importance as a writer and the connection between his themes—love, money, dreams—and American identity.
· Wrote 160 short stories and 4 finished novels; addressed the American Dream
o usually tragic tone
o graceful and elegant style (sometimes sentimental)
o representative American viewpoint
o moralist—wanted to preach to people in some form, not entertain them