F scott fitzgerald biography powerpoint fourth edition

F. Scott Fitzgerald

1896-1940

Early life:

*Born in St. Paul, MN in 1896 into an upper middle class family.

*Wrote for his high school newspaper (St. Paul Academy)

*Dropped out of Princeton University to join the army; never

fought in WWI and this was one of his great regrets.

*While stationed in Montgomery, Alabama in 1918, he met his future wife, Zelda.

*After a number of rejections, his first novel, This Side of Paradise, is published. This new fame convinced Zelda to marry him.

(Mizener)

Fame and Fortune:

*Fitzgerald wrote of the wealthy, socialite lifestyle, which he and Zelda also lived.

*He captured the “roaring twenties” culture in his writing.

*Expatriate: Fitzgerald and Zelda lived and traveled in Paris, Italy, Switzerland, etc. They became friends with Ernest Hemingway and Gertrude Stein, among others.

(Willett)

A tragic life:

*Globe trotting and extravagance took its toll: Fitzgerald suffered from severe alcoholism and Zelda from mental illness.

*Zelda was in and out of mental health clinics from 1930 until her death in 1948.

*Fitzgerald wrote of his “crack-up” in an essay in 1936 in which he describes the financial and mental toll his lifestyle and wife’s mental state put him in.

*In the late 1930s, Fitzgerald began writing regularly again until he suffered a heart attack in 1940. (Mizener)

*His work did not earn the credibility and recognition it deserved until after his death. (Willett)

Novels:

This Side of Paradise (1920)

The Beautiful and the Damned (1922)

The Great Gatsby (1925)

Tender is the Night (1934)

The Last Tycoon (unfinished- 1941)

​

Bibliography

Mizener, Arthur. “F. Scott Fitzgerald.” Encyclopedia Britannica, Accessed 14

February 2017.

https://www.britannica.com/biography/F-Scott-Fitzgerald/Works

Willett, Erika. “F. Scott Fitzgerald and the American Dream.” PBS Online,

Accessed 14 February 2017.

http://www.pbs.org/kteh/amstorytellers/bios.html