Classic Authors: F. Scott Fitzgerald
© Susan Jensen
F. Scott Fitzgerald was born in St. Paul, Minnesota, on September 24, 1896. His father worked as a furniture salesman, but left the business and lived off of his wife's sizeable inheritance. Fitzgerald grew up in a Catholic and middle class environment.
He attended several schools before landing at Princeton. His earliest writing appeared in his high school newspaper. He continued to write while at Princeton, publishing his work in the college's magazines and even writing scripts and lyrics for dramatic productions. In 1917, Fitzgerald dropped out of school to join the army. It was while stationed near Montgomery, Alabama, that he met and fell in love with Zelda Sayre, the Southern belle who would become his wife. Although Fitzgerald wanted to marry right away, Zelda refused to wed until he had made his fortune.
F. Scott Fitzgerald achieved his fame and fortune with the publication of This Side of Paradise in 1920. He had been working on the novel for several years and had rewritten it twice at the request of Scribners. The book made him rich and famous almost overnight. Zelda was convinced: they were married a week later. The Fitzgeralds now began to spend their newly-acquired wad, traveling and living in a dream world of ritz and glamour. Fitzgerald's second novel The Beautiful and the Damned, written a year after their marriage, reflected the high life that they were living. Three years later, following the birth of their only child, Fitzgerald wrote The Great Gatsby, his most famous novel.
But the high life soon began to take its toll. F. Scott became a notorious alcoholic and Zelda slipped into mental illness. She began seeking treatment in 1930 and continued until her death from a hospital fire in 1948. To pay for her medical treatment and keep himself out of death, Fitzgerald wrote magazine stories for The Saturday Evening Post and other publications. The years 1936-37 are known as the "crack-up" (based on an essay Fitzgerald wrote): F. Scott was ill, drunk and badly in debt.
Go To Page: 1 2
