The novels and stories for which F. Scott Fitzgerald is best known examine an entire generation's search for the elusive American dream of wealth and happiness. The glamour and easygoing ways of the youthful, wealthy characters portrayed in Fitzgerald's novels This Side of Paradise (1920), The Beautiful and Damned (1922), and The Great Gatsby (1925) were taken from Fitzgerald's own life and that of his wife and friends.
Nevertheless, they reflect only one side of a writer whose second and final decade of work portrayed a life marred by alcoholism and financial difficulties, troubled by lost love, and frustrated by lack of inspiration. Much like his personal experience, Fitzgerald's works mirror the headiness, ambition, despair, and disillusionment of America in his lifetime.
Admires rich and beautiful
Born on September 24, 1896, in St. Paul, Minnesota, the son of well-to-do Midwestern parents, Francis Scott Fitzgerald was an exceptionally smart child with an early interest in writing plays and poetry. As a young man he copied the actions of the rich, youthful, and beautiful, a social group with whom he maintained a lifelong love-hate relationship.
Following two years in an eastern preparatory school, he enrolled in 1913 at Princeton University. His first stories appeared in Nassau Lit, Princeton's literary magazine, which was edited by his friend and fellow student Edmund Wilson.
Writes novels
Leaving Princeton for the army during World War I (1914-18), Fitzgerald spent his weekends in camp writing the earliest draft of his first novel, This Side of Paradise. The acceptance of this work for publication in 1919 and the resulting popular and financial success it achieved enabled Fitzgerald to marry Zelda Sayre. Zelda was a socially prominent young woman he had met and courted during his army days. She significantly affected her husband's life and career. During the 1920s she was Fitzgerald's private literary consultant and editor, while publicly she matched Fitzgerald's extravagant tastes and passion in living for the moment.
While continuing to illustrate the manners of the Roaring Twenties, Fitzgerald's second and third novels, as well as the story collections published between novels, were evidence of a growing awareness of the shallowness and brutal insensitivity that are sometimes part of American society. These weaknesses and America's lost ideals are movingly described in Fitzgerald's strongest and most famous work, The Great Gatsby (1925). Although it gained the respect of many prominent American writers and is now considered a classic, The Great Gatsby was not a popular success and marked the beginning of the author's decline in popularity.
Another commercial disappointment, Tender Is the Night (1934) reflected the disillusionment and strain caused by the Great Depression and Zelda's gradual deterioration from schizophrenia. (Schizophrenia is a mental disorder that leads to an inability to function normally.) Zelda eventually suffered a breakdown. These events scarred Fitzgerald, contributing to a deep despair. This brought his career to a near standstill during the mid-1930s. Fitzgerald described the unhappy events in detail in the three confessional "Crack-Up" essays of 1936, which brilliantly portray his pain and suffering. Trying to start anew, he became a motion-picture scriptwriter and began The Last Tycoon, a novel based on his Hollywood experiences. The novel remained unfinished when he died of a heart attack on December 21, 1940.
Critical evaluation
In his first two novels, This Side of Paradise and The Beautiful and Damned, Fitzgerald examined the lives of young characters who much resembled Fitzgerald and his friends. They lived for pleasure and acquisitions, yet also were jaded and rebellious. These wealthy Eastern youths helped secure the popular image of a "lost generation" both entranced and repelled by American materialism.
4 December 2012 Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald On September 24, 1896 in St. Paul, Minnesota, one of the most famous American novelist and short story writer was born. Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald is famous for writing novels and short stories about the life in the Jazz Age. The Jazz Age was a time period in the 1920s when jazz music and dancing became extremely popular. During his Hollywood years, Fitzgerald married his wife Zelda, where they partied and had an entertaining life together. Their…
Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald (September 24, 1896 – December 21, 1940) was an American author of novels and short stories, whose works are the paradigmatic writings of the Jazz Age[->0], a term he coined himself. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest American writers of the 20th century.[1] Fitzgerald is considered a member of the "Lost Generation[->1]" of the 1920s. He finished four novels: This Side of Paradise[->2], The Beautiful and Damned[->3], The Great Gatsby[->4] (his most famous),…
Clarissa Chambers LIT1000 M/W Noon Project Paper F. Scott Fitzgerald: A Literary Legend Large parties filled with dancing sounds from instruments that were just becoming popular; ladies dressed in a newer style than what was ever seen before and showed a more intimate look that made the men want to dance. Flashy materialistic items were purchased and Hollywood was born. Social get-togethers and traditions were crushed by the Great War and a newer society was developed. During this period, also known…
John F. Kennedy: A Biography Every person in the world has strived to be remembered as an important character in other people’s lives. Whether that person knew it or not, they had an impact on others. Some people try to model their behavior off of a specific person that has impacted the world greatly. For many people, that idol is America’s 35th president, John Fitzgerald Kennedy. His ability to lead and his determination make him a perfect example of what every person should strive to be. Even…
try to become a citizen but was unsuccessful. In January of 1963, Lee purchased a .38 revolver, and a rifle and telescopic sight through the mail in March. During April, Oswald shot at, but missed, Edwin Walker, a former army general (Britannica Biographies). Some say that Kennedy was one of the most influential presidents in the 20th century, and others say that he was reckless. One example of his recklessness would be during the Cuban Missile Crisis when the team he sent into cuba were captured and…
John Fitzgerald Kennedy’s Assassination | Western Civilization 102-01 | Kelsey October 24, 2012 | | | Sirchia 1 On May 29, 1917, in Brookline, Massachusetts, John Fitzgerald Kennedy was born into a rich, politically connected Irish-Catholic family from Boston. He was one of nine children born to Joseph P. Kennedy Sr. and Rose Fitzgerald. Born soon after America enters the First World War, JFK was the first President born into the 20th Century. Both of his parents were born…
Amanda Doheny English 100 @ 8:50 am Professor Cosand December 4, 2013 Concussions are Killer The magazine I will be writing for is Sports Illustrated. This magazine is based on sport related news such has game highlights, athletes’ biographies, and controversies within the game to name a few. I chose to write about the science behind concussions and why they are dangerous to our youth. Mainly based upon high school and college athletes that compete in high contact sports such as football…
The Great Gatsby is a novel by American author F. Scott Fitzgerald. The story takes place in 1922, during the Roaring Twenties, a time of prosperity in the United States after World War I. The book received critical acclaim and is generally considered Fitzgerald's best work. It is also widely regarded as a "Great American Novel" and a literary classic, capturing the essence of an era. The Modern Library named it the second best English language novel of the 20th century.[1] 1-The main events of…
establishment in the 60′s, he helped refresh movie music with badly needed infusions of jazz and soul. His landmark 1989 album, Back On The Block–named “Album Of The Year” at the 1990 Grammy Awards– brought such legends as Dizzy Gillespie, Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughan and Miles Davis together with Ice T, Big Daddy Kane and Melle Mel to create the first fusion of the be bop and hip hop musical traditions; while his 1993 recording of the critically acclaimed Miles and Quincy Live At Montreux, featured…
EDlTH WHARTON AT THE CINEMA In 1921 Edith Wharton sold the film rights to her Pulitzer Prize winning novel, “THE AGE OF INNOCENCE”, for $15,000. Seventy-two years later, Martin Scorsese has filmed Edith Wharton’s novel at a reputed cost of $30 million. In 1920 Edith Wharton was paid $18,000 by the New York monthly “PICTORIAL REVIEW”, a popular journal of the day, for the rights to publish her next serial. She was at this time an established literary figure, a writer of travelogues, novels, novellas…