Francis Scott Key is also . [289][360], This preoccupation with the idle lives of America's leisure class in Fitzgerald's fiction attracted criticism. [175], While attending a lavish party at the Pickfair estate, Fitzgerald met 17-year-old Lois Moran, a starlet who had gained widespread fame for her role in Stella Dallas (1925). He is named after Francis Scott Key, who wrote the lyrics to the "Star-Spangled Banner" and is a distant relative. [149] Fitzgerald declined a $10,000 offer for the serial rights, as it would delay the book's publication. [306] With the publication of The Beautiful and Damned, editor Max Perkins and others commended the conspicuous evolution in the quality of his prose. His father, Edward Fitzgerald, had opened a wicker furniture business in St. Paul, and, when it failed, took a job as a salesman for Procter & Gamble. [328] Nevertheless, a minority opinion praised the work as the best American novel since The Great Gatsby. [21], During his sophomore year, an 18-year-old Fitzgerald returned home to Saint Paul during Christmas break where he met and fell in love with 16-year-old Chicago debutante Ginevra King. His mother was from a wealthy family, and his father, Edward, was a . [119] Fitzgerald wished to halt the show and disavow the production. [314] To this end, he consciously emulated the literary styles of Joseph Conrad and Willa Cather. [403] Fitzgerald frequently re-read Ginevra's story, and scholars have noted the plot similarities between Ginevra's story and Fitzgerald's novel. "[359] He "sensed a corruption in the rich and mistrusted their might. Hearst Magazine Media, Inc. Site contains certain content that is owned A&E Television Networks, LLC. [17], After graduating from Newman in 1913, Fitzgerald enrolled at Princeton University and became one of the few Catholics in the student body. [236], Soon after, a lonely Fitzgerald began a relationship with nationally syndicated gossip columnist Sheilah Graham, his final companion before his death. [70] Unable to earn a successful living, Fitzgerald publicly threatened to jump to his death from a window ledge of the Yale Club,[d][72] and he carried a revolver daily while contemplating suicide. of 'Gatsby' Era", "The Great Gatsby Line That Came From Fitzgerald's Lifeand Inspired a Novel", "The Downside of Paradise: Fitzgerald's Final Days", "The Great Gatsby's Creative Destruction", "As Big as the Ritz: The Mythology of the Fitzgeralds", "How 'Gatsby' Went From A Moldering Flop To A Great American Novel", "Scott and Zelda: Fractious in life, but together in death in a Rockville cemetery plot", "Slow Fade: F. Scott Fitzgerald in Hollywood", "An Affair of Youth: In Search of Flappers, Belles, and the First Grave of the Fitzgeralds", "F. Scott Fitzgerald's life was a study in destructive alcoholism", "Fitzgerald as Screenwriter: No Hollywood Ending", "Foreword for the interview with F. Scott Fitzgerald by Michel Mok", "Jersey Footlights: The Dark Side of Paradise", "Exploring the architecture and history of St. Paul's Summit Hill", "76 Years Later, Lost F. Scott Fitzgerald Story Sees The Light Of Day", "It's the Age of a Child Who Grows From a Man", "Review: 'Genius' Puts Max Perkins and Thomas Wolfe in a Literary Bromance", "Love Notes Drenched In Moonlight: Hints of Future Novels In Letters to Fitzgerald", "Calls to change U. of Alabama building name to honor Harper Lee instead of KKK leader", "Fans pay tribute to F Scott Fitzgerald in worldwide Facebook gathering", "F. Scott Fitzgerald and the American Dream", "Z: The Beginning of Everything review Come on Zelda, Scott, where's the passion? [261] When Fitzgerald's poorly embalmed corpse arrived in Bethesda, Maryland, only thirty people attended his funeral. The lost children of F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald. Mary's family was established in St. Paul high society; their home was at 481 Laurel Avenue in the wealthy Summit Avenue neighborhood. ', Name: F. Scott Fitzgerald, Birth Year: 1896, Birth date: September 24, 1896, Birth State: Minnesota, Birth City: St. Paul, Birth Country: United States, Best Known For: American short-story writer and novelist F. Scott Fitzgerald is known for his turbulent personal life and his famous novel 'The Great Gatsby. I left my capacity for hoping on the little roads that led to Zelda's sanitarium. [178] Fitzgerald was 31 years old and past his prime, but the smitten Moran regarded him as a sophisticated, handsome, and gifted writer. [16] At Newman, Father Sigourney Fay recognized his literary potential and encouraged him to become a writer. His second novel, The Beautiful and Damned (1922), propelled him further into the cultural elite. [38], In June 1918, Fitzgerald was garrisoned with the 45th and 67th Infantry Regiments at Camp Sheridan near Montgomery, Alabama. Cartoonist Alison Bechdel Recalls Her Friendship With Ed Koren, 7. It was an age of miracles, it was an age of art, it was an age of excess and it was an age of satire. Wrong username or password. Now were pen pals. [323] Echoing this assertion, critics John V. A. Weaver and Edmund Wilson insisted that Fitzgerald imbued the Jazz Age generation with the gift of self-consciousness while simultaneously making the public aware of them as a distinct cohort. My mother didnt talk about him, says Lanahan. "[o][400][402] Similarly, Fitzgerald borrowed biographical incidents from his friend, Ludlow Fowler, for his short story "The Rich Boy". She has also written a book of her own about her mother, called Scottie the Daughter of The Life of Frances Scott Fitzgerald Lanahan Smith. His full name Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald was taken from his second cousin on his fathers side. [e][163][164] "I always felt a story in the [Saturday Evening] Post was tops", Zelda later recalled, "But Scott couldn't stand to write them. Francis Scott Fitzgerald was . [172] In December 1926, after two unpleasant years in Europe which considerably strained their marriage, the Fitzgeralds returned to America. [369][370] As a young boy growing up in the eastern Midwest, he perpetually strained "to meet the standard of the rich people of St. Paul and Chicago among whom he had to grow up without ever having the money to compete with them". [112] As she emerged from the anesthesia, he recorded Zelda saying, "Oh, God, goofo [sic] I'm drunk. In 1911, when Fitzgerald was 15 years old, his parents sent him to the Newman School, a prestigious Catholic preparatory school in New Jersey. F. Scott Fitzgerald married Zelda Sayre on April 3, 1920, in New York City. Jared Paul Stern. So he never followed up. F. Scott Fitzgerald. "Nobody was interested in politics," Fitzgerald declared of this particular generation,[392] and, as "it was characteristic of the Jazz Age that it had no interest in politics at all",[393] Fitzgerald's fiction reflected the contemporary zeitgeist's perfunctory cynicism and aversion to political crusades in the wake of Prohibition. [89] At the time of their wedding, Fitzgerald claimed neither he nor Zelda still loved each other,[87][90] and the early years of their marriage were more akin to a friendship.[88][91]. [157] Amid World WarII, The Great Gatsby gained further popularity when the Council on Books in Wartime distributed free Armed Services Edition copies to American soldiers serving overseas. [257] Watched by onlookers, he remarked in a strained voice to Graham, "I suppose people will think I'm drunk. [296] Although Fitzgerald imitated the plot of Mackenzie's novel, his debut work differed remarkably due to its experimental style. [98] "They did both look as though they had just stepped out of the sun", Parker recalled, "their youth was striking. "[272] His New York Times obituary deemed his work forever tied to an era "when gin was the national drink and sex the national obsession". Beginning in 1920 and continuing throughout the rest of his career, Fitzgerald supported himself financially by writing great numbers of short stories for popular publications such as The Saturday Evening Post and Esquire. [109] They remarked to friends that their marriage would not last much longer. Lanahan, who prefers not to reveal her age but coyly admits shes over 60, is one of two trustees of the Fitzgerald estate, meaning she has a say in who is granted rights to works such as The Great Gatsby and that she has a financial stake in its reproduction and licensing. He is best known for his novels depicting the flamboyance and excess of the Jazz Agea term he popularized in his short story collection Tales of the Jazz Age. They are different from you and me. [122] When not writing, Fitzgerald and his wife continued to socialize and drink at Long Island parties. [196] Piqued by what he saw as theft of his novel's plot material, Fitzgerald would later describe Zelda as a plagiarist and a third-rate writer. [380] Consequently, Gatsby's ascent is deemed a threat not only due to his status as nouveau riche, but because he is perceived as an outsider. [405] His lifelong editor Max Perkins described this particular technique as creating the impression for the reader of a railroad journey in which the vividness of passing scenes blaze with life. [421] Fitzgerald's relationships with Sheilah Graham and Frances Kroll Ring respectively served as the basis for the films Beloved Infidel (1959) and Last Call (2002). Fitzgerald went to another school in New Jersey and eventually went to Princeton University in 1913. [4] His father, Edward Fitzgerald, descended from Irish and English ancestry,[5] and had moved to Minnesota from Maryland after the American Civil War to open a wicker-furniture manufacturing business. F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896-1940) is thought of as one of the great American novelists. [253] Edmund Wilson and Aaron Latham suggested Hollywood sucked Fitzgerald's creativity like a vampire. [321] By eliminating the earlier defects in his writing, he had upgraded from "a brilliant improvisateur" to "a conscientious and painstaking artist. "[323], Nine years after the publication of The Great Gatsby, Fitzgerald completed his fourth novel Tender Is the Night in 1934. [13] Fitzgerald attended St. Paul Academy from 1908 to 1911. While abroad in Europe, Fitzgerald wrote and published, In France, Fitzgerald became close friends with writers. "[312], Similar to Edith Wharton and Henry James, Fitzgerald's style often used a series of disconnected scenes to convey plot developments. It was the first time shed really learned about her grandfather, who died in 1940, before she was born. Following the deterioration of his wife's mental health and her placement in a mental institute for schizophrenia, Fitzgerald completed his final novel, Tender Is the Night (1934). [222] By 1935, alcoholism disrupted Fitzgerald's writing and limited his mental acuity. The Great Gatsby is considered Fitzgerald's finest work, with its beautiful lyricism, pitch-perfect portrayal of the Jazz Age, and searching critiques of materialism, love and the American Dream. I needed to catch up. [115] Metropolitan Magazine serialized the manuscript in late 1921, and Scribner's published the book in March 1922. By this time, the field of literature had greatly changed due to the onset of the Great Depression, and once popular writers such as Fitzgerald and Hemingway who wrote about upper-middle-class lifestyles were now disparaged in literary periodicals whereas so-called "proletarian novelists" enjoyed general applause. I know its impossible to get into that arena; he was too good.. [266] When Zelda died in a fire at the Highland Hospital in 1948, she was buried next to him in Rockville Cemetery. You've read The Great Gatsby, haven't you? [81], Fitzgerald's new fame enabled him to earn much higher rates for his short stories,[82] and Zelda resumed their engagement as Fitzgerald could now pay for her accustomed lifestyle. I've been drunk for about a week now, and I thought it might sober me up to sit in a library. He was named after the lawyer and poet Francis Scott Key, who wrote the lyrics to the national anthem of the United States, "The Star-Spangled Banner". Two decades after achieving bestseller status and literary fame, Scott was a has-been. [407] Later authors Budd Schulberg and Edward Newhouse were deeply affected by it, and John O'Hara acknowledged its influence on his work. We may earn commission from links on this page, but we only recommend products we back. Mark Twain. Lanahan has poured her creative energy into visual storytelling. THE story of F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald has been of obsessive interest to the public for more than 70 years -- not . "[322] Gertrude Stein posited that Fitzgerald had surpassed contemporary writers such as Hemingway due to his masterful ability to write in natural sentences. But that was a one-time thing, she says. While writing The Beautiful and Damned, Fitzgerald inserted sentences from his wife's diary. Always a heavy drinker, he progressed steadily into alcoholism and suffered prolonged bouts of writer's block. [235], Estranged from Zelda, Fitzgerald attempted to reunite with his first love Ginevra King when the wealthy Chicago heiress visited Hollywood in 1938. It was an age of miracles, it was an age of art, it was an age of excess, and it was an age of satire. [195] The story concerned a promising young American named Dick Diver who marries a mentally ill young woman; their marriage deteriorates while they are abroad in Europe. [205] The novel did not sell well upon publication, with approximately 12,000 sold in the first three months,[206] but, like The Great Gatsby, the book's reputation has since grown significantly.[207]. [326] Charles Jackson, author of The Lost Weekend, wrote that Gatsby was the only flawless novel in the history of American literature. Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald (September 24, 1896 - December 21, 1940) was an American author of novels and short stories, whose works are the paradigm writings of the Jazz Age, a term he coined himself. [386], Wilson attempted to convince Fitzgerald to write about America's social problems, but Fitzgerald did not believe that fiction should be used as a political instrument. [267] In 1975, Scottie successfully petitioned to have the earlier decision revisited, and her parents' remains were moved to the family plot in Saint Mary's.[268]. We have to make decisions all the time about whats going to be allowed, and what the terms are, she says. Fitzgerald began work on his last novel, The Love of the Last Tycoon, in 1939. To criticize, correct or praise our reporting, please send us a letter to the editor or send us a tip. On September 24, 1896, Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald was born into an Irish Catholic family in St. Paul, Minnesota. [50] Dispatched back to the base near Montgomery to await discharge, he renewed his pursuit of Zelda. I didn't know till 15 that there was anyone in the world except me, and it cost me plenty. [141] She spent afternoons swimming at the beach and evenings dancing at the casinos with him. "[98], As Fitzgerald was one of the most celebrated novelists during the Jazz Age, many admirers sought his acquaintanceship. In 1922, Fitzgerald published his second novel, The Beautiful and Damned, the story of the troubled marriage of Anthony and Gloria Patch. He did need to make money. [214] When Ober ceased advancing money, an ashamed Fitzgerald severed ties with his agent believing Ober had lost faith in him due to his alcoholism. "[359] Consequently, he became a vocal critic of America's leisure class and his works satirized their lives. Were writing every other day.. [145] Jozan later dismissed the entire incident and claimed no infidelity or romance had occurred: "They both had a need of drama, they made it up and perhaps they were the victims of their own unsettled and a little unhealthy imagination. [324][325] Edith Wharton lauded Gatsby as such an improvement upon Fitzgerald's previous work that it represented a "leap into the future" for American novels,[324] and T. S. Eliot believed it represented a turning point in American literature. [349] They decried his use of modern "alien slang" and claimed his depiction of young people engaged in drunken sprees and premarital sex to be wholly fabricated. "I told [Luhrmann] that I really liked it, and he was . His friend Edmund Wilson edited and published an unfinished fifth novel, The Last Tycoon (1941), after Fitzgerald's death. F. Scott Fitzgerald then went to the St. Paul Academy, but was thrown out of the school when he was aged 16 for not working hard enough. Fitzgerald's mother, Mary McQuillan, was from an Irish-Catholic family that made a small fortune in Minnesota as wholesale grocers. [309], Although critics deemed The Beautiful and Damned to be less ground-breaking than its predecessor,[310][311] many recognized that the vast improvement in literary form and construction between his first and second novels augured great prospects for Fitzgerald's future. Till the age of 12, Fitzgerald lived in Buffalo, New . All content [14] At 13, Fitzgerald had his first piece of fiction published in the school newspaper. [10] As a boy, Fitzgerald was described by his peers as unusually intelligent with a keen interest in literature. [221], Fitzgerald's deteriorating health, chronic alcoholism, and financial woes made for difficult years in Baltimore. [204] Hemingway and others argued that such criticism stemmed from superficial readings of the material and from Depression-era America's reaction to Fitzgerald's status as a symbol of Jazz Age excess. [248] His work on Three Comrades (1938) became his sole screenplay credit. They possess and enjoy early, and it does something to them, makes them soft where we are hard, and cynical where we are trustful, in a way that, unless you were born rich, it is very difficult to understand. And she really resented it if we brought it up. [213] The cost of his opulent lifestyle and Zelda's medical bills quickly caught up, placing him in constant debt. [160] Hemingway later recalled that, during this early period of their relationship, Fitzgerald became his most loyal friend. Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald was born in St. Paul Minnesota on September 24, 1896. From 2014-2020, Seven Days allowed readers to comment on all stories posted on our website. Turning Trash Into Art for an Earth Day Lesson, 6. "[165] To supplement their income, Fitzgerald often wrote stories for magazines such as The Saturday Evening Post, Collier's Weekly, and Esquire. [238] After having a heart-attack at Schwab's Pharmacy, Fitzgerald was advised by his doctor to avoid strenuous exertion. My mother didnt know what people wanted, she says. She had enough pressure coming from the outside. "[97] Writer Dorothy Parker first encountered the couple riding on the roof of a taxi. He inspired Budd Schulberg's novel The Disenchanted (1950),[283] later adapted into a Broadway play starring Jason Robards. [384] His friend Edmund Wilson concurred with Millay's assessment and averred that Fitzgerald was a gifted writer with a vivid imagination who did not have any intellectual ideas to express. He met sports columnist Ring Lardner,[99] journalist Rebecca West,[100] cartoonist Rube Goldberg,[101] actress Laurette Taylor,[101] actor Lew Fields,[102] comedian Ed Wynn,[102] and many others. [240], Throughout their relationship, Graham claimed Fitzgerald felt constant guilt over Zelda's mental illness and confinement. [22][23] The couple began a romantic relationship spanning several years. F. Scott Fitzgerald, born Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald (September 24, 1896 - December 21, 1940) was an American author whose works became synonymous with the Jazz Age. [176] The Hollywood life's novelty quickly faded for the Fitzgeralds, and Zelda frequently complained of boredom. [a][3] His mother was Mary "Molly" McQuillan Fitzgerald, the daughter of an Irish immigrant who became wealthy as a wholesale grocer. F. Scott Fitzgerald is regarded as one of the greatest American authors of the 20th century. [183] Fitzgerald returned to his fourth novel but proved unable to make any progress due to his alcoholism and poor work ethic. He is best known for his novels depicting the flamboyance and excess of the Jazz Agea term he popularized in his short story collection Tales of the Jazz Age.During his lifetime, he published four novels, four story collections, and 164 short stories. [357][358] This recurrent theme is ascribable to Fitzgerald's life experiences in which he was "a poor boy in a rich town; a poor boy in a rich boy's school; a poor boy in a rich man's club at Princeton. F. In a real dark night of the soul, it is always three o'clock in the morning, day after day. Smith, a child . This is my immediate dutywithout this I am nothing. [347][348], The perception of Fitzgerald as the chronicler of the Jazz Age and its insouciant youth led various societal figures to denounce his writings. Make a one-time, tax-deductible donation to our spring campaign by May 12. [301] They highlighted the fact that the work had "almost every fault and deficiency that a novel can possibly have,"[302] and a consensus soon emerged that Fitzgerald's prosemanship left much to be desired. After a long struggle with alcoholism, he attained sobriety only to die of a heart attack in 1940, at 44. A hideous town full of the human spirit at a new low of debasement. [157], By the 21st century, The Great Gatsby had sold millions of copies, and the novel is required reading in many high school and college classes. [395][396] While writing This Side of Paradise, Fitzgerald quoted verbatim entire letters sent to him by his Catholic mentor, Father Sigourney Fay. [303] He could write entertainingly, his detractors conceded, but he gave scant attention to form and construction. When he was 13, he saw his first piece of writing appear in print: a detective story published in the school newspaper. [344][345] Due to this thematic focus, his works became a sensation among college students, and the press depicted him as the standard-bearer for "youth in revolt". [270] The few critics who were familiar with his work regarded him as a failed alcoholicthe embodiment of Jazz Age decadence. [249] His failure in Hollywood pushed him to return to drinking, and he drank nearly 40 beers a day in 1939. F. Fitzgerald was a bright, handsome and ambitious boy, the pride and joy of his parents and especially his mother. [94], In Winter 1921, his wife became pregnant as Fitzgerald worked on his second novel, The Beautiful and Damned, and the couple traveled to his home in St. Paul, Minnesota, to have the child. [117], Following Fitzgerald's adaptation of his story "The Vegetable" into a play, in October 1922, he and Zelda moved to Great Neck, Long Island, to be near Broadway. [123], Despite enjoying the Long Island milieu, Fitzgerald disapproved of the extravagant parties,[124] and the wealthy people he encountered often disappointed him. Da Capo Publishing, Inc. [186] During an automobile trip to Paris along the mountainous roads of the Grande Corniche, Zelda seized the car's steering wheel and tried to kill herself along with Fitzgerald and their nine-year-old daughter by driving over a cliff. Fitzgerald met 18-year-old Zelda, the daughter of an Alabama Supreme Court judge, during his time in the infantry. American author of novels and short stories, Born on Thursday, September 24, 1896 in St. Paul, Minnesota, USA , United States, Died on December 21, 1940 in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA, This form allows you to report an error or to submit additional information about this family tree: F. Scott FITZGERALD (1896), Copyright Wikipdia authors - This article is under licence CC BY-SA 3.0. [346] "No generation of Americans has had a chronicler so persuasive and unmaudlin" as Fitzgerald, Van Allen wrote in 1934, and no author was so identified with the generation recorded. [31] Her imperious father Charles Garfield King purportedly told a young Fitzgerald that "poor boys shouldn't think of marrying rich girls. She was 64. [294], For his first novel, Fitzgerald used as his literary templates H. G. Wells' 1909 work Tono-Bungay and Sir Compton Mackenzie's 1913 novel Sinister Street,[295] which chronicled a young college student's coming-of-age at Oxford University. She was sweet enough that you could see why Gatsby loved her. There are only the pursued, the pursuing, the busy and the tired. At the time, she says, she wasnt all that interested in the project and may have given the impression that she didnt approve. Fitzgerald is considered a member of the "Lost Generation" of the . Since the director made the movie in Australia one of the few countries where the copyright does not apply he didnt need to acquire rights, Lanahan explains. [362] For this reason, critics predicted that much of Fitzgerald's fiction would become timeless social documents that captured the naked venality of the hedonistic Jazz Age. [300], Although critics praised This Side of Paradise as highly original, they eviscerated its form and construction. [224] The article damaged Fitzgerald's reputation and prompted him to attempt suicide after reading it. [118] Although he hoped The Vegetable would inaugurate a lucrative career as a playwright, the play's November 1923 premiere was an unmitigated disaster. [195] While Fitzgerald labored on his novel, Zelda wroteand sent to Scribner'sher own fictionalized version of these same autobiographical events in Save Me the Waltz (1932). Magazines now accepted his previously rejected stories, and The Saturday Evening Post published his story "Bernice Bobs Her Hair" with his name on its May 1920 cover. [37] Hoping to have a novel published before his anticipated death in Europe,[35] Fitzgerald hastily wrote a 120,000-word manuscript entitled The Romantic Egotist in three months. In 1993, a new edition was published as The Love of the Last Tycoon, edited by Matthew J. Bruccoli. Weve all inherited that. [227] His attempts to write and sell more short stories faltered. [396] Fitzgerald acquiesced to this request, but the passages were restored in later reprints after Fitzgerald's death. [56][57], Upon his discharge on February14, 1919, he moved to New York City, where he unsuccessfully begged the editors of various newspapers for a job.