In 1930 she had a mental breakdown and in 1932 another, from which she never fully recovered. "[299] His work, they declared, pulsed with originality. [18] While at Princeton, Fitzgerald shared a room and became long time friends with John Biggs Jr, who later helped the author find a home in Delaware. His mother was of Irish descent, and his father had Irish and English ancestry. I think I started then to be a writer." [378] Much like Fitzgerald,[379] Gatsby's ancestry precludes him from the coveted status of Old Stock Americans. [340][341] In contrast to the older Lost Generation to which Fitzgerald and Hemingway belonged, the Jazz Age generation were younger Americans who had been adolescents during World War I and were largely untouched by the devastating conflict's psychological and material horrors. Along with her husband, novelist F. Scott Fitzgerald, Zelda epitomized the spirit of the times: carefree, fun-loving, and living for the moment. Isn't she smartshe has the hiccups. [219] Another biographer, Arthur Mizener, notes Fitzgerald had a mild attack of TB in 1919 and conclusively had a tubercular hemorrhage in 1929. [287], More so than most contemporary writers of his era, F. Scott Fitzgerald's authorial voice evolved and matured over time,[288] and his each successive novel represented a discernible progression in literary quality. F. Scott Fitzgerald's Writing Style in The Great Gatsby. [289][360], This preoccupation with the idle lives of America's leisure class in Fitzgerald's fiction attracted criticism. [171] Soon after, Zelda threw herself down a flight of marble stairs at a party because Fitzgerald, engrossed in talking to Isadora Duncan, ignored her. [180], Jealous of Fitzgerald and Moran, an irate Zelda set fire to her own expensive clothing in a bathtub as a self-destructive act. [160] Hemingway later recalled that, during this early period of their relationship, Fitzgerald became his most loyal friend. [281] By the 1950s, he had become a cult figure in American culture and was more widely known than at any period during his lifetime. "[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". [364] His novel, The Great Gatsby, underscores the limits of the American lower class to transcend their station of birth. "[359] He "sensed a corruption in the rich and mistrusted their might. [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. The next decade of the Fitzgeralds lives was disorderly and unhappy. [192], In April 1932, when the psychiatric clinic allowed Zelda to travel with her husband, Fitzgerald took her to lunch with critic H. L. Mencken, by then the literary editor of The American Mercury. During this period, Fitzgerald frequented Europe, where he befriended modernist writers and artists of the "Lost Generation" expatriate community, including Ernest Hemingway. [179] Consequently, she pursued a relationship with him. On July 23 rd, 1934, Earl W. Wilkins, an avid reader of Fitzgerald's, sent him a letter. He became a leading figure in the socially important Triangle Club, a dramatic society, and was elected to one of the leading clubs of the university. Senators, Robert F. "Bobby" Kennedy and Edward M. "Teddy" Kennedytheir legacy to the United States is immeasurable. Fitzgerald portrays the American Dream in the character of Jay Gatsby. [153] By the end of the year, the book had sold fewer than 23,000 copies. Fitzgerald's younger years. [213] The cost of his opulent lifestyle and Zelda's medical bills quickly caught up, placing him in constant debt. [182], The Fitzgeralds rented "Ellerslie", a mansion near Wilmington, Delaware, until 1929. [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. [385] Wilson argued that Fitzgerald's early works such as This Side of Paradise suffer from the defects of being meaningless and lacking intellectual substance. [326] Charles Jackson, author of The Lost Weekend, wrote that Gatsby was the only flawless novel in the history of American literature. [152] Despite this reception, Gatsby became a commercial failure compared to his previous efforts, This Side of Paradise (1920) and The Beautiful and Damned (1922). On September 24, 1896, Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald was born into an Irish Catholic family in St. Paul, Minnesota. [103] He became close friends with critics George Jean Nathan and H. L. Mencken, the influential co-editors of The Smart Set magazine who led an ongoing cultural war against puritanism in American arts. [190] They returned to America in September 1931. [125] While striving to emulate the rich, he found their privileged lifestyle morally disquieting. [119] Fitzgerald wished to halt the show and disavow the production. In the early 1920s, Scott and Zelda had the world at their feet. Some of Fitzgeralds finest short stories appeared in All the Sad Young Men (1926), particularly The Rich Boy and Absolution, but it was not until eight years later that another novel appeared. According to biographer Andrew Turnbull, "one day, drinking martinis in the upstairs lounge, [Fitzgerald] announced that he was going to jump out of the window. [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. The Fitzgeralds went to live in Europe, and became notorious for their free-spending . [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". [229] The sudden death of Fitzgerald's mother and Zelda's mental deterioration led to his marriage further disintegrating. After Edward's business failed, he was employed by Proctor and Gamble, and the family transferred to Buffalo . He is unconcerned about the sweating and suffering of the nether herd". Oftentimes the family trees listed as still in progress have derived from research into famous people who have a kinship to this person. [257] Watched by onlookers, he remarked in a strained voice to Graham, "I suppose people will think I'm drunk. Famous poet / F Scott Fitzgerald 1896-1940 Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald was born on September 24, 1896, in St. Paul, Minnesota, to Edward and Mollie McQuillan Fitzgerald. The Life of Frances Scott Fitzgerald Lanahan Smith. "There are all kinds of love in this world but never the same love twice." 4. He might have interpreted them, and even guided them, as in their middle years they saw a different and nobler freedom threatened with destruction. F. Scott Fitzgerald 1896-1940. [173], In 1926, film producer John W. Considine Jr. invited Fitzgerald to Hollywood during its golden age to write a flapper comedy for United Artists. Although she initially rejected Fitzgerald's marriage proposal due to his lack of financial prospects, Zelda agreed to marry him after he published the commercially successful This Side of Paradise (1920). He inspired Budd Schulberg's novel The Disenchanted (1950),[283] later adapted into a Broadway play starring Jason Robards. Along with writers Ernest Hemingway and T.S. Smith, a child . In 1937, Fitzgerald went to work in Hollywood. "[337] Echoing Hemingway's critique that Fitzgerald ruined his short stories by rewriting them to appease magazine readers,[167] Rosenfeld noted that Fitzgerald debased his gift as a storyteller by transforming his tales into social romances with inevitably happy endings. My poems (10) Titles list Rain Before Dawn THE dull, faint patter in the drooping hours Drifts in upon my sleep and fills my hair With damp; the burden of the heavy air [96] Fitzgerald likened their juvenile behavior in New York City to two "small children in a great bright unexplored barn. In an effort to abstain from alcohol, Fitzgerald drank large amounts of Coca-Cola and ate many sweets. [168], Hemingway alleged that Zelda sought to destroy her husband, and she purportedly taunted Fitzgerald over his penis' size. [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. [66] Rejected over 120 times, he sold only one story, "Babes in the Woods", and received a pittance of $30. "[257], The following day, as Fitzgerald annotated his newly arrived Princeton Alumni Weekly,[258] Graham saw him jump from his armchair, grab the mantelpiece, and collapse on the floor without uttering a sound. Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald was born on September 24, 1896, and named after his ancestor Francis Scott Key, the author of "The Star-Spangled Banner.". [202], Fitzgerald's own novel debuted in April 1934 as Tender Is the Night and received mixed reviews. [10] As a boy, Fitzgerald was described by his peers as unusually intelligent with a keen interest in literature. [94] The couple relocated two blocks to the Commodore Hotel on 42nd Street where they spent half an hour spinning in the revolving door. "[322] Gertrude Stein posited that Fitzgerald had surpassed contemporary writers such as Hemingway due to his masterful ability to write in natural sentences. His second novel, The Beautiful and Damned (1922), propelled him further into the cultural elite. [228] He later referred to this period of decline in his life as "The Crack-Up" in a short story. Born on September 24 54. [363], Following Fitzgerald's death, scholars focused on how Fitzgerald's fiction dissects the entrenched class disparities in American society. [b][44] Zelda was one of the most celebrated debutantes of Montgomery's exclusive country club set. [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]. In practical terms this meant that he had to support himself by writing short stories for popular magazines in order to get sufficient income, according to him, to write decent books. [Fitzgerald's] talent was as natural as the pattern that was made by the dust on a butterfly's wings. To maintain his affluent lifestyle, he wrote numerous stories for popular magazines such as The Saturday Evening Post, Collier's Weekly, and Esquire. [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. F. Scott Fitzgerald was named after a famous ancestorFrancis Scott Key. Alternate titles: Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald, Mellon Foundation Professor of Humanities, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York. For the rest of his lifeexcept for occasional drunken spells when he became bitter and violentFitzgerald lived quietly with her. "The poor son of a bitch," murmured his old friend Dorothy Parker, quoting Jay. [372][373] His later life as an expatriate in Europe and as a writer in Hollywood reinforced this lifelong sense of being an outsider. The song was inspired by seeing the American flay over Fort McHenry in 1814. 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