F. Scott Fitzgerald Biography
American Novelist and Screenwriter, famous for The Great Gatsby
Sep 24, 2007
F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote novels and short stories, and became a screenwriter in Hollywood. He is best known for his novel The Great Gatsby, which captured the spirit of the 'Age of Jazz' decade or the 'Roaring Twenties.' Some of his other known books were: The Side of Paradise, (1920) The Beautiful and the Damned (1922) and Tender is the Night. (1934)
Francis Scott Fitzgerald was born on Sept 24, 1896, in St. Paul, Minnesota. He went to Newman School and Princeton University but left to join the army in World War I, and spent most of his time writing his first novel, This Side of Paradise. The novel was based on his experiences at Princeton. Published when he was 24, it was a great success. That year Fitzgerald married the beautiful Zelda Sayre and began a life that was like those described in his books.
Tha Jazz Age and Roaring Twenties
The 1920s was called the Jazz Age, a period after World War I when Americans tried to live as if life were one long party. It was an age of new freedom, new music, new dances, short skirts, wild and unconventional behavior. Fitzgerald's books, especially his best known, The Great Gatsy, captured the 1920s age of jazz. During this time, he also published his short stories. One of his admirers among the younger generation of writers was J.D. Salinger.
The Fitzgeralds, with other carefree, rich Americans, often went to France to experience the pleasures of Paris and the French Riviera. He became friends with American expatriates in Paris including Ernest Hemingway. Fitzgerald wrote other novels and many short stories for popular journals to pay for his glamorous expensive lifestyle. Zelda – herself a writer and painter – became mentally ill, and Fitzgerald began to drink, increasing their need for money. He described his struggles to save Zelda, and to overcome his own problems in The Crack-Up.
Fitzgerald's Last Years
After the economic crash in America in 1929, when banks and business went bankrupt, himself driven by alcoholism and debts, Fitzgerald lost his popularity, and sales of his book slumped. Zelda grew increasingly ill and was confined in a mental hospital. Fitzgerald got a job as a screenwriter in Hollywood, living there almost unknown. On December 21, 1940, he died at age 44. In Hollywood he wrote his final, unfinished novel The Last Tycoon.
Trivia on F. Scott Fitzgerald
The turbulent love affair of F. Scott Fitzgerald and Hollywood gossip columnist Sheilah Graham was told in Graham's 1958 memoir that became a bestseller, Beloved Infidel. This book was made into a movie starring Gregory Peck (F. Scott Fitzgerald) and Deborah Kerr (Sheilah Graham.)
F. Scott Fitzgerald's Novels
- This Side of Paradise 1920
- The Beautiful and Damned 1922
- The Great Gatsby 1925
- Tender is the Night 1934
F. Scott Fitzgerald's Short Stories
- Flappers and Philosophers 1921
- All the Sad Young Men 1926
- Taps at Reveille 1936
F. Scott Fitzgerald's Books after He Died
- The Last Tycoon (Unfinished), 1941
- The Crack-Up 1945
Sources:
Goring, Rosemary, Ed. Larousse Dictionary of Writers. Larousse, 1994
www.fitzgeraldsociety.org/
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