F. Scott Fitzgerald

Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald was born on September 24, 1896, in St. Paul, Minnesota, named after his distant relative, the author of the U.S. national anthem. He attended Princeton University, where he wrote for the Princeton Tiger and the Nassau Literary Magazine, but he dropped out in 1917 to join the army. His first novel, This Side of Paradise (1920), made him an instant celebrity and provided the money to marry Zelda Sayre, a Southern belle he had met in 1918.¹

Fitzgerald's second novel, The Beautiful and Damned (1922), and his story collections Flappers and Philosophers (1920) and Tales of the Jazz Age (1922) cemented his reputation as a chronicler of the era. However, the Fitzgeralds' extravagant lifestyle and Zelda's mental illness strained their marriage and his finances. After The Great Gatsby (1925) received mixed reviews, Fitzgerald spent years in debt, writing for Hollywood and struggling with alcoholism. His final novel, Tender Is the Night (1934), was a critical failure at the time, and he died of a heart attack on December 21, 1940, believing himself a failure.²

The Great Gatsby, set in the summer of 1922 on Long Island, tells the story of Jay Gatsby's obsessive love for Daisy Buchanan. The novel's themes of wealth, class, and the corruption of the American Dream have made it a staple of American literature. Initially selling poorly, it gained critical acclaim after Fitzgerald's death, especially during World War II when it was distributed to soldiers overseas.³

The novel's narrative technique, with Nick Carraway as a morally ambiguous narrator, and its use of symbolism—the green light, the eyes of Doctor T. J. Eckleburg—have been widely analyzed. It has been adapted into several films, including the 1974 version with Robert Redford and the 2013 3D adaptation by Baz Luhrmann. Today, it is often cited as a contender for the "Great American Novel."⁴

Fitzgerald wrote more than 160 short stories, many published in the Saturday Evening Post and other magazines to support his family. These stories, such as "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" (1922) and "Winter Dreams" (1922), often explore themes of youth, wealth, and lost love. His story "The Diamond as Big as the Ritz" (1922) is a satirical fantasy about a hidden mountain of diamond.

He also wrote essays and autobiographical pieces, collected in The Crack-Up (1945), which reveal his struggles with creativity and despair. His final, unfinished novel, The Last Tycoon, was published posthumously in 1941, edited by his friend Edmund Wilson. Fitzgerald's work as a screenwriter in Hollywood, though often frustrating, influenced his later fiction.⁵

Zelda Sayre Fitzgerald was not only Fitzgerald's wife but also a writer and artist in her own right. Their relationship was passionate and destructive, marked by heavy drinking, infidelity, and Zelda's mental breakdowns. In 1930, she was diagnosed with schizophrenia and spent much of the rest of her life in sanitariums. Fitzgerald drew heavily on their experiences for his fiction, and Zelda's own novel, Save Me the Waltz (1932), was published despite his objections.⁶

Fitzgerald's affair with Sheilah Graham, a Hollywood gossip columnist, in his final years provided some stability. He died in her apartment while reading the Princeton Alumni Weekly. His funeral in Rockville, Maryland, was sparsely attended, and Zelda, who died in a fire in 1948, was later buried beside him.⁷

Fitzgerald's name, Francis Scott Key, reflects his ancestry; he was a distant cousin of the composer of "The Star-Spangled Banner." He was also a Princeton dropout, but the university later awarded him an honorary degree posthumously in 1960.¹

His story "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" was adapted into a 2008 film starring Brad Pitt, but the film's plot diverges significantly from the original story. Fitzgerald also wrote a play, The Vegetable (1923), which was a commercial failure, and he contributed to the screenplay of Gone with the Wind (1939) in an uncredited capacity.

Fitzgerald's literary reputation suffered a decline in the 1930s, but the posthumous publication of The Crack-Up and the reissue of The Great Gatsby in 1945 sparked a revival. Today, he is considered one of the greatest American writers of the 20th century, and his works are studied worldwide.⁴

Jazz Age

The period in the 1920s characterized by jazz music, flappers, and a general sense of cultural and social change, popularized by Fitzgerald's writings.

American Dream

The ideal that anyone can achieve success and prosperity through hard work and determination, often critiqued in Fitzgerald's works.

Flapper

A fashionable young woman in the 1920s who defied conventional standards of behavior and dress, often featured in Fitzgerald's stories.