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Rise and fall of f. scott fitzgerald
Rise and fall of f. scott fitzgerald
Rise and fall of f. scott fitzgerald
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F. Scott Fitzgerald is considered today as one of the greatest authors in American history. In fact, he is named after Francis Scott Key, who wrote the lyrics to the Star Spangled Banner. Francis Scott Key was a distant relative of Fitzgerald's, so writing must have been in his blood from birth. Being such a renowned author, he had his glory days. Although, not everyone would guess that he died believing himself a failure. Best known for his novel The Great Gatsby, which chronicled the 1920s in America, and also became a present day required read for high-school students (as many would know).
He depicted this era, as he crowned the term "The Jazz Age", as a time of ambition, extravagance, and wealth. He and his wife Zelda lived a life of prestige and luxury for nearly the entire decade. However, he also suffered from years of toil. Fitzgerald became a raging alcoholic, while Zelda was riddled with mental health issues. This alone was difficult for him to deal with. What made Fitzgerald believe he failed was that he received very little recognition from literary community. Only his earlier works such as This Side of Paradise, and Tender is the Night were the most recognized and most liked of his work. It was not until the publishing of the The Great Gatsby that Fitzgerald's life went downhill.
Convinced that the novel would be his most successful, he was extremely disappointed that the novel received heavy criticism and ultimately failed during his lifetime. Losing money, he then turned to alcohol as a source of comfort where he had no one. At the age of 44, F. Scott Fitzgerald died. At his funeral, his friend Dorothy Parker quoted the famous line from The Great Gatsby: "The poor son of a bitch," while in a mournful sorrow. His...
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...a Patch. When Zelda Fitzgerald became pregnant they took their first trip to Europe in 1921 and then settled in St. Paul for the birth of their only child, Frances Scott (Scottie) Fitzgerald, who was born in October 1921.
The Fitzgeralds expected to become affluent from his play, The Vegetable. In the fall of 1922 they moved to Great Neck, Long Island, in order to be near Broadway. The political satireòsubtitled “From President to Postman”òfailed at its tryout in November 1923, and Fitzgerald wrote his way out of debt with short stories. The distractions of Great Neck and New York prevented Fitzgerald from making progress on his third novel. During this time his drinking increased. He was an alcoholic, but he wrote sober. Zelda Fitzgerald regularly got “tight,” but she was not an alcoholic. There were frequent domestic rows, usually triggered by drinking bouts.
Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby is the one of masterpieces in American literature and the product of three years of the thorough work. It was unfair undervalued in the first part of the 20 Century and was banned in 1987. Fitzgerald wrote the short story Winter Dreams as he described as “a sort of 1draft of the Gatsby idea” (Hook 51). He finished the novel in the end of August 1924 and sent the manuscript to the Perkins, his editor, with the letter where he wrote: “I am sending you my third novel: The Great Gatsby (I think that at last I’ve done something really my own) but how good “my own “is reminds to be seen” (Hook 62). As all writings of Fitzgerald this novel represents the reality of the life through the author’s crystal-clear and romantic nature. Most of the reviewers were positive; for example, Edwin Clark wrote in the New York Times Book Review that The Great Gatsby was a “curious book, a mystical, glamorous story of today” (Pelzer 80). Fitzgerald’s friend, H.L. Mencken, wrote in Baltimore
What’s behind the brilliant mind that created The Great Gatsby and other F. Scott Fitzgerald works? Every author has their own set of inspirations and an eventual downfall of sorts. Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald was brought up to succeed in his writing, wholly inspired by the love of his life, Zelda Sayre, and eventually torn down by stress and alcoholism.
Francis Scott Fitzgerald also known under his writer’s name, F. Scott Fitzgerald, is revered as a famous American novelist for his writing masterpieces in the 1920’s and 1930’s. F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote about his extravagant lifestyle in America that his wife, Zelda, their friends, and him lived during that era. In fact, a lot of his novels and essays were based off of real-life situations with exaggerated plots and twists. F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novels were the readers looking glass into his tragic life that resulted in sad endings in his books, and ultimately his own life.
Like many of the greatest writers of all time F. Scott Fitzgerald implemented many of his own life experiences into his books. Fitzgerald’s life was very difficult and plagued with alcoholism, which greatly affected his relationship with his wife Zelda and his writing. Many of his most famous books, The Great Gatsby, This Side of Paradise, and Tender is the Night show the 1920’s culture that Fitzgerald lived around. The modernist period of the 1920’s was reflected in F. Scott Fitzgeralds marriage to Zelda through the now critically acclaimed The Great Gatsby.
When luxuriant lifestyles of the 1920s, commonly labeled the Roaring ‘20s, come about, morality and individual ethics go instantaneously out of style. Along with these poor morals, crass materialism becomes widespread among the fortunate, transforming noblesse oblige into an unpopular belief, and furthermore leaving those incapable of tremendous success back in the dust. The inevitable alterations in morality repeatedly occur as America continues to progress, and several traits similar to those of the 1920s are visible today. Fitzgerald’s use of The Great Gatsby for social commentary is parallel to today’s social atmosphere.
Their blossoming relationship influenced his writing and contributed to his success. One year later, in 1919, Fitzgerald was discharged from war with the full intention that he marry Zelda. Unfortunately for Fitzgerald, Zelda grew impatient and felt he was not making enough money, so she broke off the engagement. The broken engagement fueled Fitzgerald to jump back into writing. In July 1919, he returned to St. Paul to complete This Side of Paradise.
Fitzgerald was gaining notoriety. It was said to be a representation of the free lifestyle and relaxed morals of what became known as the "Lost Generation.” This couple “personified the immense lure of the East, of young fame, of dissolution and early death.” (Milford, 2011, p. 6) She was said to be his muse, but there was also talk that he plagiarized much of his writing from her journals. In addition, to inspiring his major heroines, she supplied him with many other memorable lines. “Much has been written on Zelda Fitzgerald as F. Scott Fitzgerald's muse and as a victim of mental illness.” (Grogan, 2015, p.110) Zelda was considered an embodiment of the Jazz Age (1920-1929), and had a very tumultuous, substance abuse filled life with Mr.
Certain authors, including F. Scott Fitzgerald, wanted to reflect the horrors that the world had experienced not a decade ago. In 1914, one of the most destructive and pointless wars in history plagued the world: World War I. This war destroyed a whole generation of young men, something one would refer to as the “Lost Generation”. Modernism was a time that allowed the barbarity of the war to simmer down and eventually, disappear altogether. One such author that thrived in this period was F. Scott Fitzgerald, a young poet and author who considered himself the best of his time. One could say that this self-absorption was what fueled his drive to be the most famous modernist the world had seen. As The New Yorker staff writer Susan Orlean mentions in her literary summary of Fitzgerald’s works, “I didn’t know till fifteen that there was anyone in the world except me, and it cost me plenty” (Orlean xi). One of the key factors that influenced and shaped Fitzgerald’s writing was World War I, with one of his most famous novels, This Side Of Paradise, being published directly after the war in 1920. Yet his most famous writing was the book, The Great Gatsby, a novel about striving to achieve the American dream, except finding out when succeeding that this dream was not a desire at all. Fitzgerald himself lived a life full of partying and traveling the world. According to the Norton Anthology of American Literature, “In the 1920’s and 1930’s F. Scott Fitzgerald was equally equally famous as a writer and as a celebrity author whose lifestyle seemed to symbolize the two decades; in the 1920’s he stood for all-night partying, drinking, and the pursuit of pleasure while in the 1930’s he stood for the gloomy aftermath of excess” (Baym 2124). A fur...
By the end of World War I, many American authors were ready to change their ways and views on writing. Authors are tired of tradition and limitations. One of these writers was F. Scott Fitzgerald. Fitzgerald was a participant in the wild parties with bootleg liquor, but he was also a critic of this time. His book, The Great Gatsby is an excellent example of modernist literature, through its use of implied themes and fragmented storyline.
“Riding in a taxi one afternoon between very tall buildings under a mauve and rosy sky; I began to bawl because I had everything I wanted and knew I would never be so happy again.”(Fitzgerald). F. Scott Fitzgerald was born on September 24, 1896 in St. Paul, Minnesota, into a very prestigious, catholic family. Edward, his father, was from Maryland, and had a strong allegiance to the Old South and its values. Fitzgerald’s mother, Mary, was the daughter of an Irish immigrant who became wealthy as a wholesale grocer in St. Paul. His upbringing, affected much of his writing career. Half the time F. Scott Fitzgerald thought of himself as the “heir of his father's tradition, which included the author of The Star-Spangled Banner, Francis Scott Key, after whom he was named” (F. Scott Fitzgerald Biography). The other half the time he acted as “straight 1850 potato-famine Irish” (F. Scott Fitzgerald Biography). Consequently, he had typically indecisive feelings about American life, which seemed to him at once “vulgar and dazzlingly promising” (F. Scott Fitzgerald Biography). This idea is expressed in much of Fitzgerald’s writing. From an early age he had an “intensely romantic imagination” (F. Scott Fitzgerald Biography); he longed for a life of passion, fame and luxury.
F. Scott Fitzgerald was born Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald. He was the author of The Great Gatsby and was born on September 24, 1896 in St. Paul, Minnesota, and died on December 21, 1940 in Hollywood, California. Fitzgerald published the book The Great Gatsby on April 10, 1925, among other books like The Other Side of Paradise, another of Fitzgerald’s successes when living which permitted him to marry the woman he loved. Although The Great Gatsby was not much of a success during his time it became a very popular novel that appropriately portrayed the Jazz Age also known as the Roaring Twenties later in time. The author’s purpose for the book was to inform and at the same time entertain the audience of what the Jazz Age was mainly about and peoples
F. Scott Fitzgerald is known as the spokesman of the "Lost Generation" of Americans in the 1920s. The phrase, "Lost Generation," was coined by Gertrude Stein "to describe the young men who had served in World War I and were forced to grow up to find all Gods dead, all wars fought, all faiths in man shaken" (Charters 489). Fitzgerald exemplified the generation that Stein defined. His family, with help from an aunt, put him through preparatory school and then through Princeton University (Charters 489). Fitzgerald’s family hoped that he would stop "wasting his time scribbling" and would be serious about his studies (Charters 489). However, he left college before graduating and accepted a commission as a second lieutenant in the Regular Army during World War I (Charters 489). During his military service, he spent most of his time writing his first novel, This Side of Paradise (Charters 489). The peak of Fitzgerald’s fame as a writer came with the publication of The Great Gatsby, in 1925 (Charters 489). Fitzgerald, writing in the third person, reflected back fondly on the Jazz Age because "it bore him up, flattered him, and gave him more money than he had dreamed of, simply for telling people that he felt as they did, that something had to be done with all the nervous energy stored up and unexpended in the War" (Charters 489).
F. Scott Fitzgerald lived a short life of only forty-four years. He underwent many struggles during his lifetime, including alcoholism and the marital psychological issues with his ill wife. Although he experienced many rough patches throughout his lifetime, Fitzgerald was able to become one of the most well known American Authors of the 20th century. Fitzgerald was also able to be known as one of the most prominent novelists and short story writers of the 20th century. During his life time, Fitzgerald would have never dreamt of the importance his posthumous life has on the world today. He truly is the Spokesperson of the Jazz Age.
F. Scott Fitzgerald said, “I am not a great man, but sometimes I think the impersonal and objective quality of my talent, and the sacrifices of it, in pieces, to preserve its essential value has some sort of epic grandeur” (“F. Scott Fitzgerald” St. James). Fitzgerald had heavy drinking problems and faced many financial failures throughout his life of writing but has proved to be gifted in many ways of writing. Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald was a short story writer, an essayist, and a novelist that was most famous during the Jazz Age of the 1920s and the Great Depression of the 1930s.
Fitzgerald was born in St. Paul, Minnesota to Mollie McQuillan, the daughter of an Irish immigrant (Fitzgerald, Bruccoli and Baughman, 1994) and charming businessman, Edward Fitzgerald (Martin, 1985). Fitzgerald was christened ‘Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald’, in honour of his second cousin, Francis Scott Key, (Ibid, 2004). Francis Scott Key was an American lawyer, author, and amateur poet, from Georgetown. Key famously wrote the lyrics to the United States ' national anthem, "The Star-Spangled Banner" (Weybright, 2007). Fitzgerald 's mother, Mollie McQuillan, made her fortune in the wholesale grocery business (Pelzer, 2000). Fitzgerald’s father, Edward, although a businessman, Edward experienced only borderline financial success (Magill, 1999). The Fitzgerald family lived contentedly on the outskirts of the city 's most fashionable residential neighborhood, Summit Avenue, in a modest house, which was described by F. Scott Fitzgerald as “a house below the average on a street above the average” (Kane, 1976). The house has now been listed a National Historic Landmark for its association with the author of The Great Gatsby (National Historic Landmarks Program, 2007). The Fitzgeralds were supported largely and owed a lot to the liberality of the McQuillan family (Ibid,